This week we have added some placeholder audio, set the AI up to factor shadows and sound into their detection process, added a directional threat detector to the HUD, and added a new AI NPC to the game, in the form of the Civilian class.
New AI NPC – Civilian
We’ve added a Civilian NPC who will alert nearby Guard Dogs if they spot the player, then run and hide while the Guard Dogs move in for the kill. We aim to have three types of civilians in the final game, the Engineer (who will work more efficiently with robotic enemies), the Scientist/Doctor (who will be better at alerting human enemies) and the Facility workers (who will be able to lock doors or vents if they see you, etc).
In general, civilians will be the least dangerous enemies the player will encounter, but their ability to quickly alert other enemies makes them an ever present danger as the player explores the facility. We will be adding more types of human enemies over the next few weeks so we should have some interesting AI interactions to show!
Threat Indicator
One of the things we learned from demoing the game at GameBridge was that the 3D nature of movement in Daedalus can make it difficult to tell where someone may have spotted you from. At the time, the build contained only surveillance cameras, so with the addition of moving enemies it became clear that we needed to add some visual aid to the player to help them if they get spotted.
This will look a lot nicer in future builds, but already it makes a huge difference in helping the player avoid immediate detection.
Shadow and Distance visibility
Enemies are now aware of how lit the player is, so if the player hides in complete darkness, they won’t be seen. Speed and distance are also factored into the player’s visibility, if the player moves quickly in a lit up area, enemies will spot them faster. Likewise, the enemy will reach their alert stage later if the player is far away.
Each enemy will have slightly different detection parameters, so learning who can detect what will be a big part of passing through difficult areas.
Audio and AI Noise Detection
We have also added audio detection to the enemies. If the player creates a noise that is within the hearing threshold of an enemy, and the volume of the noise is sufficiently loud, the enemy will begin to investigate the source of the sound. We’ve also added basic audio to the drone, enemies and other miscellaneous sounds to help us test this.
More to follow next week! We are currently looking into adding a hacking minigame to computers in the environment, so if all goes well with that there will be an breakdown as to how it will work in the next update. Thanks for checking out the game! Next update will be on the 5th September!
EVIL GAMES 