1.6 Patrol

Patrol

The AI element patrol is one that is used in my game from the get go, the zombie AI's will patrol between two points in room B and by using this algorithm technique it makes the game more realistic instead of two zombies just standing there waiting for the player character to enter the room.

So you can see that the element of patrol has been added here as the zombie AI have been tasked to walk between point 1 and point 2, during this the AI will stay on alert awaiting for the player character to enter the room and from there they will go from a wander state to an attack state (1.5 State Machine).

"The ideal sequence of patrol points will depend on the way you want the NPCs to behave. For example, a robot would probably just visit the points in a methodical order while a human guard might try to catch the player out by using a more random pattern. The simple behaviour of the robot can be implemented using the code shown below."(7)

This quote it from the documentation manual so its hard to argue, but the reason I have added this quote is because they state that a robot will just go from point to point as directed but another more intelligent AI would go off path to get to the same point but to take another route either to avoid another AI, player character or danger factor. It shows us that there is more to this element that just a basic set of instruction telling an agent to go from point A to point B.

Games where you see the patrol element added to AI characters would be Battlefield (soldiers marching between two or more points guarding its territory) or maybe in the game Total War (a unit of soldiers can be given instructions to march from point A to point B to move into position.

So you can see that adding the patrol element can bring a great simulation of real life by giving the soldiers a purpose to be there, there is no need to stand about when they can be made to walk about a look busy. Another small tactic used to emerge for the best player experience.