6 replies to this topic

[Tecknowolf]

I have noticed that flying monsters in MMO's tend to hover in one place, why is that and will new games be able to fix this? Can't you have an area pathing mob?

[Ninpo]

Tecknowolf, on 12 February 2012 - 03:23 AM, said:

I have noticed that flying monsters in MMO's tend to hover in one place, why is that and will new games be able to fix this? Can't you have an area pathing mob?

The Dragons in Skyrim tend to do pretty well at being quite random.

[Tecknowolf]

true, though that is a single player RPG, MMO's on the other hand are far more computation intensive.

[Ninpo]

Yeah that's true, I forgot that you'd mentioned MMO's XD

[alphadog]

Tecknowolf, on 12 February 2012 - 03:23 AM, said:

why is that

Because it's easier and you have time-to-market pressures

Tecknowolf, on 12 February 2012 - 03:23 AM, said:

will new games be able to fix this?

Usually, only if they feel there's a reason to do this.

Tecknowolf, on 12 February 2012 - 03:23 AM, said:

Can't you have an area pathing mob?

Yes. Pathing is well-understood and lots of canned algorithms exist out there. A*, D*, Floyd-Warshall and other graph algos, etc.

They still have to be incorporated into a game by the designers, though.

[TheNut]

I think the principal of it has to do with the gamers moreso than technological constraints. By keeping the mobs confined to an area, it allows gamers to plan their attacks and have a socially rewarding gameplay. If the whole system was random and chaotic, you would get a lot of grievance from players that die frequently from high level mobs that wondered off the path. You would also run into problems where high level mobs find their way to starter towns, wrecking total havoc. That's not to say mobs are statues though. They do move around, albeit confined to a specific region or scripted to travel a specific path. I think it's important to remember that MMOs are social games first and realism is not even a considered topic.

[Justin Henry]

One way is within the game engine, set an area around a mob in which it can travel inside, and when it reaches the border, have it change direction and go within the restricted area. This can be done in both 2d and 3d but 3d is a bit more complex. a basic mechanic would be something like if(x > 20 || x < -02) then place a code for the direction change. Something similar of course