New Horizon on 6/4/2008 at 23:22

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Ha ha, yeah...we did put your name in there...not many people caught it. :)

Not sure if you heard, but we released an alpha demo mission a few months ago. Lots of bugs, but that's an alpha for you. :) We've been making lots of progress since then. The AI have improved a lot since the demo.

In non-mod related projects, my band is releasing the first song from our upcoming CD tonight. If anyone is interested, they can listen to the radio station online at (www.krock1055.com). It will be played sometime between 9pm and 10pm GMT -4 tonight. My band is called Intoxicado, and the song is called Rock and Roll Ain't Pretty.

What has been happening with you?

Specter on 7/4/2008 at 02:49

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SWEET! Ive got the perfect track! I dedicate it to our anatomically ambiguous friend pictured above:

...
Zwitter
ich bin so verliebt
Zwitter
ich bin in mich verliebt...


Ich bin alleine doch nicht allein
ich kann mit mir zusammen sein
ich küsse früh mein Spiegelbild
und schlafe abends mit mir ein
wenn die anderen Mädchen suchten
konnt ich mich schon selbst befruchten
so bin ich dann auch nicht verzagt
wenn einer zu mir "Fick dich" sagt

Zwitter
ich bin so verliebt
Zwitter
ich bin in mich verliebt...

EDIT
I guess this is a treasure hunt post. You gots to translate to laugh... if you laugh... you might not.

jtr7 on 7/4/2008 at 03:22

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That's right, you usually aren't, taffer. Speaking of asshattery, it's English.:p

I'd say the higher-resolution graphics would best apply to the skins and textures.

jtr7 on 7/4/2008 at 03:38

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Shadow puppets.


No. Since the player is encouraged to be stealthy and NOT get caught (assassin-style players and melee-lovers aside), the AI could be better at letting the player know that they done taffed up if they aren't stealthy, but that's not as important as giving them motion-captured and more varied animations, ladder climbing abilities, mantling abilities, a sense of smell, and an ability to move objects to get to you. I'm kidding, that wouldn't be any fun.

I would like to see an improvement in stealth that is defined by an increase in the NEED to be stealthy, the NEED to NOT get caught, and greater tension created by knowing there are dire consequences to getting caught, which all in all means a greater high when you do manage to escape with your life. Greater stealth could be required by having stronger consequences for returning to a place you stole from before, especially recently. Some places could have an increase in guards, police patrols, added security systems, or even jerry-rigged booby-traps.

TDS had a system in place, but it was not used as much as it could have been, where your actions were flagged and were used to create the illusion that your actions were being talked about. I'm not talking about the bold example of allying with the Factions, but how murdering in a mission meant the fences (mostly Perry) heard about it and questioned it. That could be expanded on to really change how the game goes for the player. The difficulty levels would influence how much you could get away with unstealthy behavior, and the memory of your actions as seen and heard through changes in AI behavior after the fact.

What if the AI that sees you blows a horn (bangs a gong, get it on), and other AI are alerted, not by sound, but by the triggered flag, creating the illusion that they heard? What if it happened more often that being seen fleeing the scene of the crime causes more guards, bounty hunters, and police to populate the streets after a couple of minutes? More near the building you were caught in, less as you move away. Say, the idea of a bounty hunter looking for you would work with the previous game systems, and just like Curtis, the bounty hunter is only a problem if you increase your noteriety. That wasn't inspired by thiefinthedark's game thread, but it was most-likely subliminally triggered. And like the Enforcers and Curtis, they shouldn't be so easy to deal with.

If noisemaker arrows are merely another tool of the trade, unless the player character makes them his- or herself, few thieves, guards, police, and Keepers should be fooled by them. Distracted, yes, but highly alerted and not so quick to go find the noisemaker.

And can we get birds, fish, carrion divers, pigs, and the apparently-taboo children (which aren't scaled down from adult meshes, etc.), burricks (doesn't mean we have to interact with them, they can be walking around somewhere we don't have to go), Dreckboun cash pits, bears and bear pits, buggies, stables, squishy boots after swimming and water dripping off the player onto the ground (as temporary as Dark Engine blood), a storyline that stretches over months and seasons as in TDP/Gold and TMA. The Baron, the war, Blackbrook, etc.

Renault on 7/4/2008 at 04:06

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There's lots of things that could be added to increase stealth AI - noticing doors/windows that are opened and/or unlocked, noticing missing guards or guards not at their posts, missing loot, objects out of place, better vision, better hearing, unpredictable/random patrol routes, alerting other AI when suspicious things happen, etc. Some of these have been done in the OMS and some in FMs, but all could be either added or improved on.

Picture a guard seeing an open door, increasing his alert level but not indicating it to the player. Then he doubles back unexpectedly to see if he can catch his prey unaware.

Or how about the guard notices missing loot, walks away, and then returns with 2 friends.

Or a guard relocking a picked door. Or going into a stealth mode of his own after suspicious activity, sneaking up silently on the player. The possibilities are endless.

I've also always thought it would be great if knocked out guards actually woke up. Maybe only on a higher difficulty setting though.