I am concerned about Mob AI

Ok everything in starbound looks awsome. One thing has been nagging at me. I saw streams of the mobs. The mobs seemed, I don't know what's the word, lifeless? I know it isn't finished before you all attack me on those grounds. I know he said they were going to add different stuff to it but I can't but help think I will be disappointed.

Ok I tried my self to come up with ways to make 2D side scroller mobs interesting I came up with the following.

*Good mob sounds
*Mobs have habitats
*More moving body parts
*Distict Abilites like spit, increased reach, flying

In the end I think if Mario and a gumba. How more interesting can you make it? I think what I need to see is a finished version of at least one mob in action to rest my mind.

 

I think we will have a good idea of what will need to be changed/fixed when beta is released.

 

It has been stated that according the the parts on a mob, it will have different abilities and it will act differently. I think Tiy uses a purposefully bad AI during the streams so as to not give it away. And if that's nut the case, well he hasn't streamed in a veryong time, a strong indicator that they're working on it. I do think that one of the Devs said they were working on dynamic AI like a month ago, but idk.

 

One thing I hoped for was that they didn't just walk around, pause a bit, walk around and stuff. It would be a lot better if they had some kind of group AI as well, which affects their behavior when in groups of the same species.

 

Ya from what we have seen the AI isn't up to par yet. That's why they are still working on it I bet.

 

Think of the game Contra. That could be some awsome monster Abilites. But Contra is an Action game

 

I'm pretty sure in one of those streams he said he purposely spawned mobs that could only charge. (because he was working on the mob AI at the time)
And yes, they're planning on doing different types of attacks and sounds.
But one thing is bothering me a lot- in your post you wrote 'Mario and a gumba' when it is spelled 'goomba'. My dog's name is Goomba.

 

I do think I heard this too. The AI was specifically bad or something.

 

Lol my apologizes "Goomba"

 

all of this has been confirmed. the reason you don't see them is that they have been disabled in the livestreams cuz they're working on other stuff.

 

Yes, I agree. Code in an IF-THEN variable that effects movement based upon surroundings.

that would take some time, but be nice in a game like Starbound.

 

Sadly it's not as easy as an if-else statement. There would have to be a lot of other checks that go into it, such as finding out if there are, in fact, things in the proximity that would have an effect on their movement. That part can become pretty lengthy and tedious to manage. However, I honestly think that the AI will be pretty good; if it's not, isn't that what a beta is for?

 

To give you a more specific answer. In those streams they were testing the "charge" AI, so the rest were disabled, there are a lot of different AI behaviours, I don't remember the number but THINK it was around 30+, might be more by now. Each monster based on the way it was generated will have some of them. So don't worry ^^ you won't get bored. Also they swapped the horrible monster death explosions to ragdoll.

Tiy said he wanted a castlevania combat feel to the game, so I doubt they will release a half-assed combat system.

 

They purposly disable features during stream so as to not leak/spoil them mob ai variance is one of them please remember as the game is still in development they cant show us everything how ever i will say since most streams so the mobs charging like idiots its been confirmed they can do much more were just not allowed to see it

 

PvP all the way.

 

If you read the 1st post you will see that I adressed the fact I know it's not finished. Infact I made certain I did mention this because I knew posts like this would show up. I am just saying In a nutshell I hope they get the AI right.

 

I agree over 9000%. This was bothering me, i'm glad you brought it up. In the streams the mobs would be aggro'd and just sit jumping all over the place stuck on a buncha walls. IM SURE by next month WHEN THE BETA IS RELEASED (eh,Tiy,eh) that the AI will be improved. HOPEFULLY. Because to be honest, if the point of the game is randomly generated content that feels different, fighting a mob that does the same thing as all the other ones, just stuck together with different parts like frankenstein, ISNT the god-level of excellence i expect from Starbound and Tiy.

 

In one of the streams it was stated that the aggressive mobs only had ''charge AI'' implemented and that they will have many different methods of attack at release. It was also suggested that simply touching them will not harm you. (As they did in Terraria.)

 

Let mob drink from water(lava?) pools, eat sum grass and that's it.
God I don't know why this thread hyped me so much. Can't wait, give us newsletter.

 

Nothing to be concerned about, to quote the almighty Tiy: