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Because FEAR's AI was the product of an extremely focused game with very little "unpredictable" elements. It's easy to seem awesome when you have just do extrem

Because FEAR's AI was the product of an extremely focused game with very little "unpredictable" elements. It's easy to seem awesome when you have just do extremely little well. I would argue STALKER has the best AI in any FPS.

boyter 10y ago
What I loved about STALKER is that it felt like a living world. I remember watching a group of fellow stalkers being beset by bandits. During the whole firefight I was just watching it from a safe position. The fight ended and the stalkers continued to walk in the same direction they were following before. I did nothing but observe the action which was unscripted. I really got the impression that a million little actions were happening around me even if I was not there to observe them.
- NTripleOne 10y ago
  Have you played any mods that expand the ALIFE system? There are some that run the entire ALIFE simulation in every map all the time, groups of stalkers can be having gunfights, trading, looting corpses, putting things in containers, etc etc - so every time you revisit an area after not being there for a while, people have moved, inventories have changed, piles of mutant and stalker corpses make appearances, all sorts. It really keeps the game fresh and exciting.
  - lovehashbrowns 10y ago
    Great, thanks. You just made me want to play STALKER again. :\
    - ionised 10y ago
      I play through all three games maybe once a year. They are easily my favourite gaming experiences.
- Pica_soO 10y ago
  They had a AI-driven ecosystem in mind, but scraped it. The agents, just snowballed the whole Eco-system.. meaning.. a mutated dog chases a rat, both run into a mutated boar, thus the chase cascades through the level.. until some incredibly strong monster hunts a tsunami of mutated boards towards the player. Which is cool.. but not fun.
  - bryondowd 10y ago
    Reminds me of Everquest, circa 2000, when a player got in over their head and started a 'train to zone'. Enemies would chase you to the end of the map/zone, so when a player realized they couldn't win a fight, they'd beeline for the boundary, and often picked up dozens of other enemies along the way. When they crossed the zone boundary, all those enemies would suddenly have no target, and fixate on any poor soul who happened to be nearby, or along their route back to their spawn area. Haven't thought about that in a long time.
JustForFun 10y ago
Well, actually, STALKER used GOAP as well: https://aigamedev.com/open/interviews/stalker-alife/ https://aigamedev.com/open/interviews/stalker-alife/ Enjoy. -- JustForFun.
- dkersten 10y ago
  Oh, I had forgotten about this! Thanks for posting the link (I actually read this article back in the day). The STALKER series was my all time favourite shooter series, and I'm sad that STALKER 2 never saw the light of day :( PS, a friendly note in case you didn't know: people typically don't sign comments on HN (as the guidelines say, your comment is already "signed" with your username)
  - ionised 10y ago
    There is a slim chance STALKER 2 will happen, as Sergey Grigorovich reopened GSC Gameworld in 2014, making Cossacks 3. When asked about STALKER he said that it is a possibility provided GSC can make a successful (and profitiable) go of it again, giving them the resources to make a true STALKER sequel. On the plus side Grigorovich resisted all attempts to take over the STALKER IP, I'm convinced he wants to do it right, if it is going to be done at all. On the other negative side, most of the original STALKER devs have joined other companies in the time between GSC first shutting down and reopening.
    - dkersten 10y ago
      Thanks for that information! Hopefully something will come of it, although as you say, the original revs won't be working on it... Still, I'm hopeful.

boyter 10y ago

What I loved about STALKER is that it felt like a living world. I remember watching a group of fellow stalkers being beset by bandits. During the whole firefight I was just watching it from a safe position. The fight ended and the stalkers continued to walk in the same direction they were following before. I did nothing but observe the action which was unscripted. I really got the impression that a million little actions were happening around me even if I was not there to observe them.

NTripleOne 10y ago
Have you played any mods that expand the ALIFE system? There are some that run the entire ALIFE simulation in every map all the time, groups of stalkers can be having gunfights, trading, looting corpses, putting things in containers, etc etc - so every time you revisit an area after not being there for a while, people have moved, inventories have changed, piles of mutant and stalker corpses make appearances, all sorts. It really keeps the game fresh and exciting.
- lovehashbrowns 10y ago
  Great, thanks. You just made me want to play STALKER again. :\
  - ionised 10y ago
    I play through all three games maybe once a year. They are easily my favourite gaming experiences.
Pica_soO 10y ago
They had a AI-driven ecosystem in mind, but scraped it. The agents, just snowballed the whole Eco-system.. meaning.. a mutated dog chases a rat, both run into a mutated boar, thus the chase cascades through the level.. until some incredibly strong monster hunts a tsunami of mutated boards towards the player. Which is cool.. but not fun.
- bryondowd 10y ago
  Reminds me of Everquest, circa 2000, when a player got in over their head and started a 'train to zone'. Enemies would chase you to the end of the map/zone, so when a player realized they couldn't win a fight, they'd beeline for the boundary, and often picked up dozens of other enemies along the way. When they crossed the zone boundary, all those enemies would suddenly have no target, and fixate on any poor soul who happened to be nearby, or along their route back to their spawn area. Haven't thought about that in a long time.

JustForFun 10y ago

Well, actually, STALKER used GOAP as well: https://aigamedev.com/open/interviews/stalker-alife/ https://aigamedev.com/open/interviews/stalker-alife/ Enjoy. -- JustForFun.

dkersten 10y ago
Oh, I had forgotten about this! Thanks for posting the link (I actually read this article back in the day). The STALKER series was my all time favourite shooter series, and I'm sad that STALKER 2 never saw the light of day :( PS, a friendly note in case you didn't know: people typically don't sign comments on HN (as the guidelines say, your comment is already "signed" with your username)
- ionised 10y ago
  There is a slim chance STALKER 2 will happen, as Sergey Grigorovich reopened GSC Gameworld in 2014, making Cossacks 3. When asked about STALKER he said that it is a possibility provided GSC can make a successful (and profitiable) go of it again, giving them the resources to make a true STALKER sequel. On the plus side Grigorovich resisted all attempts to take over the STALKER IP, I'm convinced he wants to do it right, if it is going to be done at all. On the other negative side, most of the original STALKER devs have joined other companies in the time between GSC first shutting down and reopening.
  - dkersten 10y ago
    Thanks for that information! Hopefully something will come of it, although as you say, the original revs won't be working on it... Still, I'm hopeful.