Repurposing A17 Vulture AI/etc?

[Dragontear]

Posted this in the A17 Dev thread, but feeling it'd be no harm in placing this here too for curiousity's sake.

 

During Madmole's Day1 video, he makes a point of elaborating about the reworked Vulture AI; It effectively stalks the player, albeit at very close range, becoming more likely to attack if the player is harmed, sick, etc.

 

Would it be possible to reuse this AI logic for zombies? Whether normal enemies, or for a specific type? Could also apply this to wolves to make them act more naturally; less obvious threats.

 

For a specific zombie type; 'Stalker Zombie' remains at roughly 50-80 blocks away from the player, unlikely to approach unless the player is harmed, sick or otherwise distracted/weakened. You could see this zombie move around in the distance, giving the appearance of merely watching you... until you're somehow vulnerable, smelling blood it may become aggressive, but you wouldn't know for certain when.

 

Going further with this tangent, maybe this Stalker Zombie could use the Deer's 'flee' behavior based upon its health or distance to the player, maybe if a coder felt malicious, could also add the Zombie Cop's vomit attack.

 

Combining that, you now have a kind of zombie that stalks the player from a distance, flees if approached or sufficiently damaged, occasionally hurling vomiting at the player at a certain range, and when the player becomes vulnerable somehow, the Stalker Zombie approaches to attack.

 

With the day and night phases altering zombie behavior, this thing could be fairly 'placid' during the day, staying much further away, unlikely to attack at all, but following the player at such a distance that engaging in melee would require a little commitment. During the night or heavy rain/mist, it closes in, vomiting at the player from a distance, and then sharply approaching to attack, becoming a constant, paranoia-driven thorn in one's side.

 

Perhaps it could be a potentially new Zombie Stalker type? Or very well be rolled into the present Feral Zombie which looks unlike any other right now, seems quite predatory and horrific as-is.

 

As above, parts of this 'stalking' behavior could be added to common zombies - a few commons here and there that don't automatically march towards the player as expected, instead simply hanging around at a distance, becoming aggressive during the night or when provoked.

 

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Would certainly appreciate further thoughts and ideas, thank you. ^^

[razor1612]

This has been a "wet dream" for a few years, and I would really like this to be implemented.

[Dimpy]

This a great idea. Horror games are so much more interesting when all the enemies don't just throw themselves stupidly at the player. On the other hand, mindlessly lurching toward the survivors without any kind of complex behavior is kind of the trademark attribute of zombies.

While the zombies should certainly receive some more nuance to make combat more interesting, I think most of interesting behavior should be focused on the animals instead to accentuate the zombies' mindlessness, and to make them feel more realistic. As of A16, the behavior of animals is not really much more interesting than the zombies. Snakes and bears seem hellbent on killing the player, charging without any regard to self-preservation, while in reality they would be much more defensive.