Hi! In the planning of my adventure platformer i've been looking around for various types of plattformer AI methods. I've learned one thing all really good plattformer AI's have in common. They don't exsist. Let me explain futurer.
What is a really good platformer AI to me? Well, the ultimate AI is an enemy with editable running speed and jump strength that you can put into a level, tell it where to go, and it will find the fastest way to get there. If you can acomplish that it will be easy to expand the AI to whatever you want it to be.
An AI usually works with different "routines". One routine would for example be "Idle" Where the enemy is just standing still. Common in platformers is to have an Idle routine, and when the player is in the line of sight you activate the Walking routine to chase the player. Well, if this ultimate AI was created we could have routines like
ON GUARD: The enemy is searching for clues of where the player might be (for example the sount of the player landing on the ground with a certain speed) and when he get one the "go-to spot" is set to that position!
SEARCHING: The go-to spot is set at random positions close to where the AI saw/heard the person for the last time.
HUNTING: The enemy is hunting the player, allways setting the Go-to to where he last time saw the player. If the player disappears behind something, the enemy moves to that spot and then switch to searching to explore the area futhurer.
It would also be possible to for example make the enemies able to call for backup. The go-to points of all enemies in a large area would be set to where the first enemy is. Or instead of calling for help the enemie could run to the closest friend before he tries to attack you. It's lika a clich� in "Game-making-idea-talk" but THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!!!
I've looked arount for different methods, and the closest one so far was using nodes. Little clues that are spread around the level to help the AI's to find it's way. That however is not really what i'm looking for, since it requires lots and lots of time, and whenever you change anything in the level you have to replace the nodes.
I have some ideas that theoreticaly should be possible, but before i start my explanation i would like to hear your thoughts about this. Does anybody know a good method to create the ultimate platformer AI? Have you seen any articles/tutorials on the subject (not just AI, but this kind of AI)? Do you have any ideas how to solve it?
Every help in the hunt for the ultimate platformer AI is appreciated!
Attan