Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
For example, a “Common Infected” zombie in
Left 4 Dead
has very little
brain power, but is clearly always thinking about one thing: how to reach,
kill, and eat the player characters. These zombies' simple pathfinding and
suicidal attacks make it very clear what they want, what they're willing to
do to get it, and, on a moment-to-moment basis, what their rudimentary
intelligence tells them they should be doing to accomplish their goal.
A more complex adversary such as an enemy soldier in a
Call of Duty
game will take cover, switch weapons depending on player location, and
even try to flush a hunkered-down player out of cover with a well-tossed
grenade. The goal might be similar to that of a
Left 4 Dead
Infected (i.e. kill
the player) but the tactics and intelligence on display are quite un-zombie-
like.
What the Character Is Capable of Doing
The range of an NPC character's in-game capabilities must be well
matched to everything else that's been established about him. Program-
ming the AI so its desires and intentions are aligned with its character
design is pointless if we then fail to follow through with giving her the abil-
ity to
act
on those desires and plans, in what at least appears to be an ef-
fective manner.
An NPC that's been framed as superintelligent in the narrative must be
able to carry that aspect out in actual gameplay, or we'll once again bump
up against the problem of ludonarrative dissonance. The same holds true
for a character who's been built up in the fiction as a powerful threat.
All disciplines should be involved to create an NPC that's fully realized
and consistent in terms of appearance, behavior, and abilities. Team mem-
bers must work together from soup to nuts, eventually “bringing it home”
so that everything about that character (or character class) clicks in the fi-
nal game. Here is a highly simplified example for a “badass” character:
▪
Narrative: She talks and acts like a badass.
▪
Design and Engineering: She is very difficult to defeat in gameplay.
▪
Art: She looks very tough.
▪
Animation: She moves in a confident and threatening manner.
▪
Audio: She sounds dangerous.
