Howdy y'all.
I was wondering if anyone know of any games where you're moving around a map or board and being chased by an entity or threat that agros on a player?
What games did this well in your opinion?
Howdy y'all.
I was wondering if anyone know of any games where you're moving around a map or board and being chased by an entity or threat that agros on a player?
What games did this well in your opinion?
Haven't played this, but this part of the review stuck in my mind.
Zombie Princess and the Enchanted Maze?
I don’t see the rules available anywhere for the game.
If it was a computer game, you’d end up using something called the A* algorithm. It is computationally heavy, but deals with changing terrain without much additional load.
Careful design of the maze could simplify the algorithm immensely. At the extreme, an single large open square just requires moving directly toward the target. A maze that seldom forces one to turn away from the core (think Pac Man) is almost as easy to navigate.
A* is a minimization algorithm that is extremely efficient, but I don’t think there’s much to be taken from there into the board game realm. Also, AI shouldn’t act perfectly in a typical game (other than Chess, etc), because it’s not very realistic. If there’s someone chasing you and they always take the optimal path no matter what you do, you’re never tricking them successfully or getting away from them.. not much fun.
Just to be clear, A* is the most efficient known algorithm of its type, which is why it's baked into everyone's GPS and Maps app. It's just heavy to do by hand.
But there is the idea that AI should be heading for where it "thinks" you are, not necessarily where you actually are.
I doubt it makes sense to fully implement these steps in a board game, but it would go something like this:
1. Determine player's estimated position. If the player is visible, estimate is perfect. If possibly visible (through brush or something) then there is a chance of a perfect estimate. Otherwise the AI uses a set of heuristics to update from the last estimated position.
2. If the estimated position should be visible, but player isn't there, do something in line with the AI's supposed level of intelligence. Nearly mindless zombie would probably switch to a mode of wandering randomly.
3. Move toward the estimated position. If it's supposed to be a really smart AI, it can move toward the estimated location at the time of intercept.
Something in that vein, however, is probably what the OP is after.
That sums it up pretty well.
A* involves a heuristic value that lets the search proceed efficiently. A real enemy wouldn't have that.. they'd be doing something more like a greedy algorithm. (also, A* does a prospective search.. it doesn't move and recompute.. it computes the whole path from the starting point to the goal at once)
If there are two choices, left and right, and the AI thinks you're off to the left, it should probably choose the left one. If it knows you're in the boiler room and it knows the layout of the ship, it's heading for the boiler room by the shortest route. If it's a zombie, random. If it's a dog, maybe it can follow a scent trail.
You may want to take a look at burglar bros. It is a co-op where you play as the burglar against the guards. It uses random movement for the guards unless the player sets off an alarm then the guard moves to the alarm (where the player is) The play area is only 4x4 which probably helps greatly with the guards effectiveness.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172081/burgle-bros
Also there was a thread similar to this a while ago.
https://www.bgdf.com/forum/game-creation/mechanics/way-make-none-player-...
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