Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 7-11.
The Enemy taking damage
Enemies, Intelligence, and Philosophical Zombies
The problem with the enemy Drone created so far rests not so much in anything
he does
, but in
what
he doesn't do
. Right now, he stands motionlessly on the spot wherever we put him, and he
takes damage when delivered. But he doesn't move in any appropriate respect, he doesn't fight
back, and he doesn't even try to avoid attacks. In short, he doesn't do anything we'd expect an
“intelligent” person to do in the same or similar circumstances. As a result, the Enemy is technically
functional but is practically unconvincing. And so to solve this issue, we enter naturally into the world
of
artificial intelligence
. But what is that, really? What does it amount to in practice for CMOD? And
more importantly, what does it mean for your games?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a huge and controversial field. But a narrow part of it is worth considering
here very briefly, pertaining to philosophy. Within this field, there are some who consider the word
artificial
in the term
artificial intelligence
to be highly misleading and incorrect. They say, when you
really think about it, the only good basis you have for believing that other humans are intelligent
is from what
you personally observe them doing
. Everybody could really be zombies, for all you
know. After all, you can't open people's heads and see them thinking. You can't see their
thoughts
