Should the guards... - by Haplo
c-thru on 13/5/2009 at 04:01
Fully or partially armoured guards are unlikely to jump into water. I recall that Frederick I Barbarossa attempted a similar feat and drowned. Perhaps instead they could alert other guards and search for sewer grates, or ladders, that lead out of the water.
BG_HHaunt on 13/5/2009 at 08:50
Quote Posted by Dia
But if guards could climb ladders while chasing you, would that mean they could climb up your rope arrows after you as well?
You would just retrieve the rope arrows back when you climbed on the roof and the rope will disappear like int thief 1/G/2.The guards will most likely fall down if they haven't reached the top.That would be cool:D
kamyk on 13/5/2009 at 10:55
That would be cool :)
Cerebration on 13/5/2009 at 16:54
If there's going to be another Thief title then development of AI and NPC behavour has to be the priority, as this forms the main part of the gameplay. A lot of the things people have been calling for in other threads (sprawling levels, interesting stories, rope arrows, etc) can and have been done already in the hundreds of FMs that have been created. If a new game simply ticked the same boxes as before I bet it would get slated for not being innovative enough.
Some of the questions about what guards should or shouldn't do have been discussed in quite some detail in relation to the Dark Mod. Some really good ideas have come up here, such as having guards throw junk at the player if they're out of range.
One thing I'd like to see would be an improvement to the way guards deal with sound, particularly the way they can still hear your footsteps even though you're near a lound sound source (e.g. a turbine). A simple way would be for certain sounds to be tagged as ambient or something, and have the AI detect such sounds in parallel with normal 'action sounds'. An ambient sound wouldn't cause a direct reaction, instead it degrades the AIs senses, making it harder to hear and react to action sounds, e.g. the player's footsteps.
There's also the the issue where a guard can hear a player even if other NPCs are moving around. A guard can always tell whether it has friends close by and this could modify a guard's reaction to hearing a noise. Only if a noise continues, or isn't answered by a friendly call, would the guard react. In theory this could allow challenging situations where a player sneaks past lots of guards, each one thinking that the footsteps they heard are being made by their colleagues.
SneakyJack on 13/5/2009 at 17:01
Quote Posted by Cerebration
If there's going to be another Thief title then development of AI and NPC behavour has to be the priority, as this forms the main part of the gameplay. A lot of the things people have been calling for in other threads (sprawling levels, interesting stories, rope arrows, etc) can and have been done already in the hundreds of FMs that have been created. If a new game simply ticked the same boxes as before I bet it would get slated for not being innovative enough.
Some of the questions about what guards should or shouldn't do have been discussed in quite some detail in relation to the Dark Mod. Some really good ideas have come up here, such as having guards throw junk at the player if they're out of range.
One thing I'd like to see would be an improvement to the way guards deal with sound, particularly the way they can still hear your footsteps even though you're near a lound sound source (e.g. a turbine). A simple way would be for certain sounds to be tagged as ambient or something, and have the AI detect such sounds in parallel with normal 'action sounds'. An ambient sound wouldn't cause a direct reaction, instead it degrades the AIs senses, making it harder to hear and react to action sounds, e.g. the player's footsteps.
There's also the the issue where a guard can hear a player even if other NPCs are moving around. A guard can always tell whether it has friends close by and this could modify a guard's reaction to hearing a noise. Only if a noise continues, or isn't answered by a friendly call, would the guard react. In theory this could allow challenging situations where a player sneaks past lots of guards, each one thinking that the footsteps they heard are being made by their colleagues.
Excellent points and ideas!
Esme on 13/5/2009 at 17:07
I just suggested AI who can climb over at the eidos forum
TTK12G3 on 13/5/2009 at 17:08
Quote Posted by Cerebration
One thing I'd like to see would be an improvement to the way guards deal with sound, particularly the way they can still hear your footsteps even though you're near a lound sound source (e.g. a turbine). A simple way would be for certain sounds to be tagged as ambient or something, and have the AI detect such sounds in parallel with normal 'action sounds'. An ambient sound wouldn't cause a direct reaction, instead it degrades the AIs senses, making it harder to hear and react to action sounds, e.g. the player's footsteps.
OK,
that's an innovation I'd actually like to see done.
TheCapedPillager on 13/5/2009 at 17:17
Quote Posted by Cerebration
In theory this could allow challenging situations where a player sneaks past lots of guards, each one thinking that the footsteps they heard are being made by their colleagues.
Great suggestion! This problem was quite an immersion breaker at times in the old games. You'd hear lots of guards walking around making loud noises and you'd take one step in your clickety-clack boots and they'd be all over you. How did they know?!?
