In addition to a mixed bag of fixes, tweaks, and improvements, we have listened to the community and are focusing all our efforts on enhancing the AI system for the next update. As GameGuru starts users off with a typical FPS combat scenario out of the box, this is the area we are focusing on first.
As many of you know, though there is a lot of AI potential buried in the LUA scripting universe, not a lot is exposed to the user who just wants to drag in a character and hit go. To this end we have created additional behaviors to the soldier AI script that is used by default on most of the stock characters you get with GameGuru.
Whereas before they could guard, follow paths and then pursue the player; they can now seek cover positions properly, run faster when getting to a distant point and even roll out of the way if shot at. They can also crouch when they reach cover, and break from cover when the player gets too close. Put two soldiers in the same area, and each will select different cover positions to potentially flank the player, creating a much more dynamic combat theatre. We could also add new behaviors such as jumping over obstacles and shooting from around corners, but we felt it prudent to fully explore the areas of finding cover and avoiding shots from the player as these are the key attributes to making a soldier harder to hit and demand more skill from the player. You can also appreciate as this is a completely open game maker, with the ability to create a dizzying array of different scene layouts, it makes sense to make sure these two key factors are working fine before taking on entirely new behaviors.
This short video demonstrates some of the new AI behavior released in today's GameGuru update. At timestamp 0:03 you can see the nearest enemy running for cover. Later at 0:10 we break cover to chase down the player that ducked back behind the pillar. At 0:14 the second enemy uses a crouch dash to get closer to the player for more effective fire, and later on at 0:27 an enemy rolling out of the way when under fire.
At each encounter, the basic trick of the enemy AI is to keep moving, causing the player to adjust their firing line and keeping the game-play flowing.
We continue to work on these AI elements, but you can give them a test run right now by switching your version of GameGuru to the Public Preview Build via Steam properties dialog and letting us know what you think, and if you have created a scenario that requires a more refined control over cover locations. We look forward to seeing what you create from this additional AI.
As the enemies improve in intelligence, you will probably want better weapons to equip the player with, and it just so happens we have some of the best weapons you will find in any game maker. When you are starting your next FPS combat game, definitely check out this pack: