Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Checking back against our original results shows us that the threat scores for
Boss Man have not changed. This makes sense because his weapon, our weapon,
and the distance between us have not changed. On the other hand, because he is
now only 20 feet away from the detonator, our urgency level for him has climbed
to 0.669. Despite the fact that Baddie and Evilmeister have a more important
(lower) threat ratio than does Boss Man, the Arch Dude's proximity to the awful
annihilatory apparatus drops his final score under that of the other options. Our
decision would now be to attack Boss Man with our machine gun.
Dude, There Were Dudes Everywhere!
In one last test, our original three Dudes are joined by reinforcements. There are now
eight Dudes total: four Bad Dudes, three Evil Dudes, and their infamous Arch Dude
leader, Boss Man. They are armed with different weapons, and arrayed at different
distances away from us and from the detonator.
Dude
Distance
Dist. to Det.
Weapon
Baddie 1
40
50
Pistol
Baddie 2
80
125
Machine Gun
Baddie 3
30
130
Shotgun
Baddie 4
60
90
Shotgun
Evil Genius
120
80
Rocket Launcher
Evil Knievel
180
40
Machine Gun
Evilmeister
60
110
Machine Gun
Boss Man
90
125
Rocket Launcher
At first glance, it is difficult to sort through the list and determine who might
be the highest-priority target. Consider the following observations:
Baddie 3 is closest to us and has a powerful shotgun.
Evil Knievel is closest to the detonator.
Baddie 1 is close to us
and
to the detonator.
Baddies 1 through 4 have only 50 points of health and are, therefore, the easiest
to kill.
Boss Man is the most accurate shot and has a rocket launcher.
Unfortunately, none of those observations bring us to the correct conclusion.
Only when we run the information through our algorithm do we take
all
of that
information into account, rate it according to the formulas we have devised, combine
