I finally fixed a really stupid issue with my pathfinder. I was reading Amit’s excellent path finding article when I noticed that specific heuristics are best used in specific situations. I realized I was using a non-diagonal weighted heuristic against weighted diagonal movement tiles. So, I made them all jibe and 90% of my funky path results are now fixed.
I spent a little time smoothing out the NPCs, making sure their bullets hurt only bad guys, making a HUD indicator to note when you are being followed, and other various things.
Trying to get a Security Guard that is following me to be judicious with his weapon has been really fun. The Security Guards that you can beckon have a tighter line of vision than enemies, so you have to be smart about directing them. This means a head-on fight will 99.9% of the time result in the bad guys winning. So, the Security Guard needs to flank and ambush to be used effectively. I can definitely see super careful players clearing out entire floors if they can find a Security Guard.
I’ve completed 2 more floor (level) skeletons, bringing the total floor count to 10. Those have now been sent out for gameplay testing. The magic number I’m shooting for is 50 floors of gameplay, so I’m making slow but steady progress on that front.
I’ll finish up this post with some animated GIFs!
Clea hides from patrolling Sentinels. She waits patiently for her chance to slip past.
Clea alerts a Sentinel and gets mauled by an Attack Dog. Goes to show that running is not an effective strategy.
Clea is spotted by a Security Camera, alerting nearby Sentinels.
