About AI and Scripting

[Dr.Sbaitso]

I just read that interview a couple days ago with Gabe where he says that the monitor knock down thing was not scripted which was a big debate and i watched the e3 movie again looking at the AI. In the scene where Gordon is moving through the streets with Barney and the scientists, Gabe says that non of this was scripted and Barney says "Cover me Gordon" so Gordon lays down some covering fire and you can see Barney run across the screen to the other side. Now that is so crazy, I wonder what he would have done if Gordon hadnt started shooting, laying down covering fire. Would he have said something or just sat there? DId anyone else think that part was uber cool? And did anyone else catch anymore cool AI parts that were like very desrete, not like the door one but some of those smaller ones?

 

[Ridic]

yea that part was cool, maybe if u didnt cover him, he might have gotten injurd or died or wait there or ask another ai, dunno. i think there will have to be some scripted events though, just depends what are and what arnt

 

[Apos]

I think there is some real confusion over what "scripted" means. Of course the scientist responding to the computer monitor was "scripted" in the sense that Valve decided that the scientist would respond that way to that sort of event, they recorded the sound of his voice, they animated him to be able to look, and they programmed him to respond to certain events in a certain way.

What Gabe means is that the event is not a little program that runs when you trigger it by knocking over that monitor. Instead, it is built into the scientist's AI: it recognizes when you've changed the environment in some particular way, and has a response tailored to event that it chooses to run based on the importance of other things it's doing.

 

[Dr.Sbaitso]

Then in the HL1 sense it is not scripted.

 

[Apos]

Not in the HL1 sense, no. But too many people are taking "not scripted" to mean that the game magically writes itself as things go along, and the designers didn't program in particular events. It's GOOD that there's this sort of direction to the design. As Gabe said, the idea that you just set up a few rules and expect a game to emerge is a "doomed strategy." What they want is to script a game experience without making it feel like your choices are overly constrained in how to react to the situations they throw at you, and also that the game will respond to what you do rather than ignoring you.

 

[Dr.Sbaitso]

Right that is what i always meant when i say scripted as in HL1. I figured that is what everyone else meant but i guess not.

 

[Ridic]

no apos, thats just "game" ur talking about. scripted is that like in HL1 the scientest did that exact same things each time and died the exact same way. for instace, the elavator crashing with the guys in it is scripted(hl1) and when ever u see a scientest about to die from a scripted event u cant save him.

 

[Apos]

No, scripted is simply tailoring an event to happen a certain way. They still do that, it's just that the reactions are more dynamic and are made in smaller pieces that are interchangeable in different configurations.

I never really understood people's beef with the "scripted" events in HL1 was anyway. It was the coolest thing since sliced bread to have in a game back then. It wasn't very interactive, but then you didn't have as many ways to interact anyway.

 

[Xelnein]

asdf

going into the room where you get knocked out 8( ... man i threw so many grenades in there... bastards.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Re: asdf

Originally posted by Xelnein
going into the room where you get knocked out 8( ... man i threw so many grenades in there... bastards.

One time i even used noclip to check...what can i say, i was young a naive. Fortunately i still am young, but not so ignorant