Messages

1

Programming / Re: Legalized items/exp farming

« on: October 24, 2013, 06:02:56 AM »

Theoretically, why not? However, my first impression is that if a player wants to skip playing and just let the AI fast-forward some tasks for him then there's something wrong with the gameplay.
In the bat wings example, why not change the quest or recipe to get just one wing that's harder to find? The amount (20) seems like just a cheap move to make the player spend more time with the game. And the exp example - this seems like the whole game is crap and only getting achievements or levels is fun.
In my opinion the core gameplay should be so interesting that you actually want to do it. Things like leveling up should be secondary - a byproduct of having fun with the game.

2

Programming / Re: Torso & Head direction

« on: December 13, 2012, 07:21:25 AM »

I guess the reason why it worked well in older FPS is that they are from the ego perspective so you see the world from the characters perspective and you're less likely to think in world-coordinates then in a topdown view.

That is true. I must have suffered a temporary brain dysfunction when writing my previous post and forgot about this detail I tried your link and it really does seem a bit cumbersome. However, the Scheme 1 with Shift is not what I meant. In your example in Scheme 1 when you just walk normally the arrow keys work relatively to the character but when you press shift they switch and work relatively to the screen - this is the most confusing to me. It would be easier if it stayed relative to the character so that you would not have to change the perspective in your head. What I mean is: the character is facing N, you press right arrow (RA) to turn E, you press up arrow (UA) to walk E, you press and hold shift and press UA and you still move E (shift just means "no turning" but when going forward no turning is involved anyway), you hold the shift and press RA and you now move S (right arrow meaning move to the right according to character's perspective without turning). That would be what I meant and what I think would be easier to grasp. However, I'm not so sure anymore if that would actually be easy and clear enough.

3

Programming / Re: Torso & Head direction

« on: December 11, 2012, 12:23:31 PM »

... Anyway, I was thinking I could simply have it so that if you hold down shift and a movement key, you keep your direction; if you don't, then you move as normal. Would be very simple to implement, I think...

I was thinking about exactly the same solution. That does not seem to be complex at all. Actually, if you also implement the type of movement where you advance with the up arrow and turn with left/right arrows then together with the shift functionality this is exactly like movement in old-school FPSs (e.g. DukeNukem3D).

4

Programming / Re: Modular monster intelligence system

« on: December 07, 2012, 07:23:48 AM »

I've had a bit of experience with neural networks so just wanted to add my two cents. First, I don't think this approach will be that slow. If coded right and efficiently I think you can make it work pretty well. Besides, I think it's not necessary to run the UseTheBrain for every creature every single turn. You may want to make creatures reconsider their actions only every x turns (and additionally in case of an event like being stabbed in the back or something   so that only a fraction of creatures uses their brains every turn. This may also make it more natural and avoid situations in which a creature does something like:
Turn 1 = I see a precious ring -> I'm going North. Turn 2 = I'm to close to the enemy -> I'm fleeing South. Turn 3 = I see a precious ring -> I'm going North, etc...

But the most important thing I wanted to stress is that you did not really mention anything about learning the neurons which is actually (in my opinion) the best you can get from a neural network. You could actually create a tool that would use the game engine to, let's say place a Goblin and a Wolf in an enclosed location and make them fight. Based on their actions and the outcomes the learning function would adjust the goblin neurons and wolf neurons. That would allow you to create some pretty clever creatures automatically. What is more, you could make this work during regular games. The game could learn based on player's actions to be generally better but also to learn the player's game style. Let's say you are a melee killer... the word spreads and then you start encountering enemies that are affraid to come close and prefer to throw things at you from afar. That could be pretty interesting.

Generally, I like your idea of making use of neurons.

5

Programming / Re: Linux

« on: November 14, 2012, 07:31:25 AM »

This is my first post on the forum so hello to all of you.

As far as C# in Linux you should be fine with mono as long as you don't use any system - specific stuff. I made some testing some time ago and usually the same code (without any system-specific things) just compiles without problems on both systems and works. You should be good if you only use the standard Console output.

Another approach, that I'm actually taking in the project I'm working on right now is to separate the game engine from the thin presentation layer. The engine code will most likely be pretty much platform independent so that can be one library or set of libraries that will compile easily in both VS in Windows and Mono on Linux. Then you add two separate light clients - one for Windows and one for Linux that just handle the application window, key press capturing, etc. that may be more system specific. This works very well for me.