Project 7: Opponents

• Save the pieces of the  project so you can later demonstrate each one

• Make a directory ~/video/project7 in your home directory

• In game design, the algorithms underlying intelligent behavior are referred to as AI, or Artificial Intelligence. The aiDumbBiped01.wdl script  provides basic animation of models, enabling characters other than the player to move about in a game.
  
• Copy one of the levels from a previous project to the project7 directory, and use it for the current project.
•  Then, place a player model  and add the behavior script plBiped01.mdl by right-clicking the model. 
  
• Add a third-person camera.
  
• Build and run the game to check for errors.
• Next, add a second model to the level, such as hero.mdl and place the new model directly in front of the player, away from any walls, and facing away, as illustrated below.

• Add the AI script aiDumbBiped01.wdl to the game
  
• Add the behavior aiDumbBiped01 to the opponent
  
• Then, build and run the game.
• When the game first runs, the new character should run away from the player.  However, the player will probably stop after hitting the first obstruction (due to some script bugs? in current version)
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• Make a new copy of the aiDumbBiped.mdl (from the template_6/code subdirectory of 3D GameStudio), and place the copy in the directory of the game. 
  
• Rename the copy aiDumbtw.wdl, and avoid using a long file name since this may cause errors in the game. 
  
• Open the new aiDumbtw.wdl script file in SED, and edit as described in Chapter 8, including lines as below:
  

• Further down in the file,
  

• Near the bottom of the aiDumbtw.wdl file, rename the action AiDumbtw. 
  
• Hopefully the opponent will reun around the level, and slide along walls
• Once the game is running properly, experiment with different settings for the AI model.

• Even more erratic behavior can be created with some randomization. 
  
• As described in Chapter 8, add code  
  

• Rebuild and run the program. 
  
• The model should exhibit fairly random behavior. 
  
• Experiment with other randomizations
  

• Add a Spider model as an opponent (download from Conitec http://coniroot.de/~pirvu/au/models/zipped/Spider.zip )
  
• Add the  aiFPS01.wdl script
• Change to a first-person camera
  
• Add the AIFPS01_Guard behavior to the spider
• Rebuild and run the game
• You should have spiders chasing   the player as below (after walking near the spiders)
  

• The random movements of the preceding section may be fine for some games, but often it is desirable to have characters follow defined paths.
• Add a path for one of the spiders to follow as shown below

Figure 3.  Path added for path-following spider.

• Add the path number ot the propertirs of the AIFPS01_Guard behavior of the spider.  Remove any other opponents from the game.
  
• Rebuild and run the game.
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Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Paul Weldon