[Kde-games-devel] Kapman

[Ian Wadham]

On Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:51 am, Matthew Woehlke wrote:
> Emil Sedgh wrote:
> > 2)the game is so easy.i passed to level 13 without any problem.it looks
> > like that the speed of those ghosts-or-whatever-you-call-them increases
> > in every level, but the increasing level is not enough.
>
> I've mentioned the "dumb" AI... the version I've been looking at
> literally chooses a random direction. Lots of room for improvement, and,
> while the best idea I have is several hours' work, there are a few
> techniques that would give a *huge* improvement in about an hour or less.
>
> I've already thought about making the AI dependent on a difficulty
> level. The current AI could be "easy"...
>
The ultimate AI would be a path-finding algorithm, see Chapter 11 of
Martin and Andi's book.  I have toyed with introducing one in KGr, but
I think it would make the game diabolical.

In the "Traditional" algorithm the enemies just try to get to the same
horizontal row as the hero and only then try to move horizontally to
get to the hero.  That's really dumb, but allows for puzzle possibilities
in higher levels and for getting the enemies to work *for* you.

In the "KGoldrunner" algorithm the enemies alternate between trying
to get to the same horizontal row or vertical column as the hero.  That
makes them more aggressive and arcade-like, but also makes it harder
to compose interesting levels (mazes).

IMO the AI should not be *too* "smart" because that can reduce the
overall fun factor.

Cheers, Ian W.

P.S. The code for that stuff in KGr is a mess and due for a re-write.
So please do not seek any "inspiration" from it ...