Incorporating Half-Life 2 and The Sims A.I. Innovations into BioShock
By Shawn on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 12:56 PM PST In Computer, Game Companies, Games, Microsoft
A recent editorial explains how game innovations from other titles have been incorporated into BioShock to make it the incredible game it’s shaping up to be. The game takes the definition of properties of objects from Half-Life 2, An object made of wood, whether a chair or a door, can be busted or burnt. Add to this the A.I. from the The Sims and you’ve got a game that does away with a lot of the scripting seen in Half-Life and the Halo series.
The A.I. is divided into three classes of behavior; the protectors (Big Daddies), the gatherers (Little Sisters) and the hunters (Splicers).
Each of these classes have very specific properties defining their behavior. The Little Sisters are always looking for corpses to plunder. So, in effect, the Little Sister Objects are continuously shouting out “I need a dead body that still has Adam”. Corpses will be shouting out “I am dead and have Adam”. So, when a Little Sister comes across a corpse, wherever it is, she will stop and plunder it. Similarly, the Big Daddy is constantly asking the Little Sister “Are you O.K.?” and the Little Sister is saying “I am safe”. When she changes her tune, or when someone attacks the Big Daddy outright, the Big Daddy rushes to protect her. Of course, it is much more complex than that, but that is the basics of it.
I was worried when they mentioned the mythical AI of Half-Life 2. Unlike games before this which keep boasting of artificial intelligence, this might actually be the real deal for once.
Both Half-Life games have been historically overrated by the media. Neither game was “first of” at anything.
I pulled out Unreal (not Tourney) the other day. I forgot how good that AI was in that game.
Half-life and half-life2’s AI was the greatest of many games, quake 3 had good ai too btw