So I'm trying to test a new mode for Murder Mansion (exact details will not be given at this time), and the darn bots keep killing me (which hinders my testing, as death in this mode removes your progress towards a goal)

I guess that makes an aspect of the testing a success (the results of being murdered are working correctly) and I'm glad to see that my little bots are becoming somewhat of a threat, but it's getting to be a pain...lol

Of course, in this case, it's my fault that they're getting in my way...

Game Modes are handled by the offspring of a GameMode object that has a set of procs that handle game mode-specific functions (like Setup(), DeathHandling(), PhoneUse(), etc) The parent object has all of these functions defined to control the "Classic" mode, and then for each of the other modes, the necessary functions are overwritten...

Well, in this particular game mode, the players shouldn't be focusing on attacking each other, so the bots shouldn't be coming after me... However, the one game mode function I didn't re-define for this mode's handler happens to be the one that checks the mob's view, and picks a target to attack...

It actually kind of surprised me the first time it happened... I was wandering around, doing the things I wanted to test, when I wandered into the attic, and was soon shot by a bot who had apparently just picked up the revolver... I didn't even see him there until after the hit (know how the light in the attic flickers? well, he was in the dark when he fired the first shot)

That's a good thing, too, though... It proved that the bots will attack from the proper range of the weapon they're holding (I hadn't stumbled on anyone that was carrying a ranged weapon before now, so all attacks had come from right next to me)

Then, on a subsequent session, a bot had singled me out, and had chased me all around the mansion trying to get me with his knife... He actually eventually got me in a corner and ended it...

All in all, though I still haven't even gotten to test out the mode system that I wanted to (namely, the mode-winning condition), I'm very pleased (if even a little bit surprised!) at how well the AI is doing now...

They're still not up to what I want them to be (they currently lack any sort of strategy outside of picking targets to kill when passing them on the map and chasing them down to attack until they're dead, or socialization skills outside of saying a few things like greetings at the beginning of a round, or when passing each other), but they seem to be a giant leap ahead of the previous bots (you know, the ones who would drop what they're doing to exclaim "I'm hungry", even when being attacked...lol)

In overall progress, I actually think a release is coming very soon!