[MUD-Dev] Re: mobile movement

[Ling]

On Mon, 11 Jan 1999, quzah [softhome] wrote:

> Perhaps you could add in another factor when path finding then. Already
> people do a cost_per_[move/square] calculation when finding the path with
> the lowest "cost", how about adding in a safety factor then? Any square
> with an aggressive mob in the area has a higher safety coast or something
> similar. In addition you could set it up per terrain type (as it is in
> your standard diku-esque) to where it not only has a normal movement cost
> assigned to it, but also a safety factor. Say a "road" type terrain would
> have a low cost of movement, and a good safety value. However, if you had
> an overgrown path (Yes, it goes a bit beyond the standart sector types in
> diku, but it could be a lot more fun :) would have a bit higher movement
> cost, yet be easier to move on than thick forest, and would have a better
> safety factor than thick forest, yet a worse safety than normal road. It
> would be a sort of perceived safety.

I remember reading about a study that simulated people walking around in a
forest.  The path they chose was dependent upon how the ground felt, ease
of crossing and where they were going.  This meant that these agents will
take a nice, well marked out path even tho it adds the extra time.

The neat result this study obtained was that by varying the distance the
agents can see and making the ground they traversed wear, patterns like
you would see in a real forest emerged.

There was also a flurry of postings on rec.games.design about traffic jams
on C&C type games.  One solution posted suggests the movement cost
evaluation should take into account of delays due to a million other units
trying to use the same path.

Personally, I like JCL's highway analogy.  It does have its faults but it
does mean builders could lay down the major trunk routes themselves with
the algorithm taking care of the niggles.  Maybe an extension of this
could be for the pathfinding algorithm to figure out the distance between
A and B, if they are less than X units then take the direct route
otherwise slide onto the highway.

The ambitious mud designer will, of course, not define the highways and
write an algorithm which tracks players and extrapolate the routes from
the players' movements. :)

  |    Ling Lo (aka Lethargic Lad)
_O_O_  kllo at iee.org