Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
no health pack nearby, the arbitrary decision to “go get some health� could send us
off on a wild goose chase (because everyone knows that geese provide health). We
can't decide to hide unless we know there are decent hiding places nearby. What
constitutes “nearby� anyway? And what are we hiding
from
? What if we could eas-
ily win the battle because the
attack
decision tells us the Dudes that are arrayed
against us have no hope at all? We would have no reason to hide even if there
was
“the very bestest hiding place in the history of ever� right next to us! In fact, because
we completely overpower them, we
can
take a moment to fulfill that burning desire
to pause and take a photo of the poor Dudes for our MySpace page prior to blow-
ing them up.
The point is, all of those decisions are related through information that is
specifically tied to them. Based on criteria that each would process on its own—
hide
needing a convenient hiding spot, for example—the possible decisions would
generate their own utility values. We can then compare and contrast these utility
values to decide which action best suits our needs at the moment.
The moral of the story of the Dudes is:
We can't make decisions without information.
Information is often ambiguous until we relate it to something.
We can combine lots of little decisions into bigger decisions.
We can roll bigger decisions into huge decisions.
Beware the Evil Genius with the rocket launcher!
There is one problem with all of the above, however: Information rarely stays
the same—and especially not for very long.
So
then
what do we do?
