http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6A4ruv78PU
So I've managed to get the AI working fairly well with a mixture of pathfinding and waypoints.I also managed to get the flamethrower working with AI enemies and also cutting down on the resources they use.
As a result, with up to 16 enemy AI, the game runs pretty well. Of course, it appears slow in the vid because fraps is a CPU hog and I only have a single core. I'll be releasing this current build as a demo for those who want to play it. Only problem is that it's got some heavy CPU needs, so if it runs slow for you then your CPU just doesn't make the cut , sorry -__-.
Currently the demo only let's you play as green team but that'll be updated in the next build, which should be within the next few days. Also, when dying, your turrets and base will be randomized, so don't expect to use the exact same tank twice (it can happen though).
Edit: Demo here: http://www.byond.com/developer/Bravo1/Tanx
movement speed varies ever so slightly, as does defense.
I agree the machine gun is OP, I'll nerf that for the next demo version. | |
I quite enjoyed playing this.
Although, with the AI, sometimes their pathfinding can lead them to ramming into walls(probably due to an enemy being on the other side) which will make them seem like they're 'stuck' until a different enemy around them appears. Also, when two NPCs fight, they don't seem to keep distance at all. They just ram into eachother and go all out(Which can be handled with what Robert suggested). Other than that, and the machine gun being OP, it's great. :) | |
Yeah, I've noticed the AI trying to molest the walls from time to time. They keep their targets even at a distance, I'll make it so that they drop a target if it's too far away or behind a wall.
As for them ramming into each other, I have no clue, they're programmed to stop moving toward their target if it's within a distance of 3 tiles form them, but for some reason they just keep going. I'll look into that (it might be the fix so they could use flamethrowers). The machine gun was toned down a bit already, so the next demo version will have it. They now have a delay of 1 so they fire slower, making up for the damage they do. For the next update I'm looking forward to adding the "chain turret" which is the same as the machine-gun however it fires at full speed. Why do this? The next update will include pickups and the main cannon will require ammo, you start with proportional caches of ammo though, the chaingun will probaby have nearly 1000 rounds while the cannon will have around 100. Defeating an enemy tank will drop repair kit which restores 10% health and 20% ammo. Meaning that each repair kit gives you enough ammo to defeat at least one enemy. Your secondary weapon will always have unlimited ammo, but will be noticeably weaker. Other potential turret types: Missile, Laser, Sniper, Shotgun. Missiles move slower than shells but they hit harder and can track toward enemies. Laser weapons do more damage than shells, but they have limited ammo and they do small amounts of heat damage to your tank as you fire. A double edged sword. You will not be able to fire if your health is too low. Sniper is a fast powerful shell but has limited ammo and very long firing delay. Shotguns do about the amount of damage as a machine gun bullet but they fire 8 rounds in a random spread. It has a long firing delay. New base types: Tri, Spike. Tri is fast but has no armor, great for moving around but terrible in taking punishment. Spike has lower defense than the default base, but ramming into enemies will damage them, based on how fast you're moving. Those are all the ideas I have slated for right now. I'll try to get them done in the next day or two. | |
http://www.byond.com/members/13Y0ND
Visit that link, has a huge list of free BYOND sources! It'll help your games a lot! | |
It runs very nicely. Just two things I noticed:
1. It looked like sometimes turfs were being drawn partially over top of a tank. Is there anything that's ever changing a mob's layer? I was shooting and moving while it happened so I couldn't get a screenshot in time. It didn't happen very often. This could just be a trick my eyes are playing on me. 2. It was a little fast-paced to sit back and observe how the AI works. They seemed to get in traffic jams. I'm sure the AI is still very much in development, but do AI mobs have any kind of evasive maneuvers? | |
1. it does happen. The base of the tank is at OBJ_LAYER while the turret is at FLY_LAYER to keep the turret above the base, but also keeping the base below the bullets (which are at MOB_LAYER) When a mob is destroyed it changes to OBJ_LAYER and then back to normal at respawn. I don't know why the overlap happens since nothig is being put below or equal to TURF_LAYER, but it happens.
2. They currently don't do any evasive manuevers, I imagined they were difficult enough to deal with on their own, but people are asking for better AI so I guess I'll oblige them. I can set it up so that they will circle strafe their enemies, but I'm not entirely sure how that will work when it comes to the environment, chances are they will bump into walls and make themselves easy targets while trying to evade. Do you have any suggestions for an evasion system? currently all I can see making them do is to strafe, which has issues. | |
Make the evasive maneuvers applicable to the type of tank.
A big heavily armored flamethrower tank could just charge in like a moron or do a mild serpentine style evasive maneuver. Medium/balanced tanks could do a wider serpentine with some back/forth movement to stay in a reasonable range for their weapons. The fast/light tanks could run circles around an enemy at a distance(bumping a wall could just reverse the direction of the orbit) or go for a figure 8 pattern, moving away while the enemy undoubtedly comes in closer to make up the distance between himself and the sniper wielding tri-style tank. | |
Also, a question: Are you concerned that there will be one weapon that is clearly the best?
It seems like weapons will be situational. There might be one weapon that is theoretically the most effective but you wouldn't want everyone on your team to use it. For example, suppose the machine gun is the best but the flamethrower is useful when there's a large clump of enemies - you'd rather have 7 machine guns and 1 flamethrower than 8 machine guns. Will you be able to customize what weapons your AI teammates use? (If you've explained any of this stuff already, I apologize. I tend to browse the BYOND site on my phone, but my phone doesn't like your CSS (it doesn't let me scroll) so I can often only read part of your blog posts.) chances are they will bump into walls and make themselves easy targets while trying to evade If they try to evade but fail (just get stuck running into a wall) that's no different than not trying to evade at all. At least if they try there's a chance it'll be effective. Do you have any suggestions for an evasion system? You could just give them a chance to decide to move away from their target (as they get weaker the chance increases). When an enemy is hit, have them move in a direction based on the direction of the projectile that hit them (ex: you get hit from the south so you move east or west, you wouldn't want to move north or south cause that'd keep you in the line of fire). I'd just play the game for a while and study how you play. I expect that players will either: 1. Park themselves a bit outside of the action and fire away from a somewhat safe distance (maybe they keep moving back and forth a little to not be such an easy target). 2. Be right next to enemies and keep moving. I'm sure different weapon types would lend themselves to different tactics. Instead of having the enemies move towards their target, have them try to maintain a certain distance from their target. This could also be useful if you can customize the behavior of your AI teammates - set the flamethrowers AI to be "agressive melee" so he always runs into the thick of things and set your sniper AI teammate to keep a safe range. These behaviors can be achieved by just tweaking the distance a tank prefers to be from its enemies. | |
Well, I set up a simple one and they seem to be fucking pros at dodging because I'm having a lot of trouble hitting the bastards. I made it so that they try to maintain a distance of 2 blocks, this is so that they can get a cleaner shot on their target while also moving away from flamethrower or spike tanks should they come too close.
Yes, there will be situational weapons, for example the shotgun and flamethrower weapons are spread damage types, the shotgun being more consistent, while the flamethrower being more randomize, having the possibility of doing greater damage, but never guaranteed. Using either of those on a group of enemies will definitely bring the hurt and in a big fight is definitely something you want, but in a 1 on 1 match, or against enemies with thick armor you'll want to go with heavier weapons, favoring damage rather than crowd control. You will be able to create custom teams, however the tanks will be based of presets. A heavy tank will have the mammoth base (looks like an H) and a dual turret, while a speedy tank will have a chaingun turret and a Tri base. Of course there will be at least 5 different types. If you're going up against a heavily armored team it might be best to fit your team with heavy tanks to get past their armor, or if they're a speedy bunch then flamethrowers or shotguns could take them out quite well. Each team setup will have it's own weaknesses and strengths, mostly it'll come down to how you play, but choosing a bad team will make you lose just as easily. Well, that's mostly speculation and all that. The team matches will definitely be fun, especially if you're playing in a PvP server where things can get very unexpected and fun, but players will definitely enjoy single player or mixed mode. If you're already having some fun with it then it'll definitely get better as I make progress on it, as every time I start a test run I find myself playing more often than testing XD. Anyways, hopefully when you get to a comp you can read all of this. o__o | |
wrote a review nice game
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I can't stop laughing that comic is fucking great XD. "im out numbred!" and then the little beard on "other green tank".
I'm in tears dude, thanks. Also, when you tried hosting it did you host from Dreamseeker or DreamDaemon? DreamDaemon works a bit better with hosting I think. | |
AI could do with a little more dodging to up the difficulty, maybe put repair kits scattered around and give a bonus for staying alive longer.
Also, I didn't notice any kind of significant difference between the tank bases, are they just aesthetic for now?