First of all, I want to start this off by saying that I'm sorry this update took... oh God... that really took 3 years, didn't it? Sure did. If you want some assurance that this update is going to be a big one, the three years of feature creep the kit went through should be some consolation.

The Tactical AI Kit 2.0 + Weapon Pack

Now available for Torque 3D 3.0 and 3.5

The much anticipated (I hope?) update to my AI solution is now available to download through the HNGamers store . This update comes with plenty of bugfixes, tons of new features, and an improved Creator interface to improve workflow. We also see the introduction of the TAIK Weapon Kit, which provides weapons and polished FPS mechanics to aid in the production of your game.

Wait... what?

Never heard of the Tactical AI Kit? Fret not. Over the last several years, I've been building a set of artificial intelligence code and artwork that you can plug into your project. The AI is set around typical FPS combat, and they are smart -- scarily smart, but without cheating. They can only see things that they can actually see, so there will be no magically knowing anyone's position or anything unfair like that. They'll use cover, toss grenades, assist their friends, and much more. My ultimate goal was to be able to fight an enemy that was smart enough to be a formidable opponent without resorting to making them superhuman; I wanted to be outsmarted, and that's what I made.

Take a gander at the full feature list:

Tactical AI Kit Feature List

New Features

- Integrated Recast pathfinding allows you to define walkable area in your map in minutes
- Refined Creator interface
- Precompiled grenade trajectories: AI can now throw grenades to places they cannot see by tossing them through windows or bouncing them off of walls.
- "Battle Chatter" system allows AI to dynamically and audibly communicate with each other
- New animations for using and sliding into cover, throwing grenades, walking, and more
- LOD for AI: fine tune AI resource usage through the Creator by limiting cover searching and thinking based on distance from human players
- Improved AI assist functionality: AI Players will actively move toward the sound of combat
- Revamped cover functionality
- AI players will sneak up on close, unaware enemies for a clean melee kill
- Many bugs fixed, a huge amount of settings and behaviors redesigned and tuned up

Existing Features

- Fully dynamic AI solution that encourages replay value by randomizing select behaviors and avoiding doing the same thing twice. Players are able to sneak past AI to avoid conflict if they want to (and if map design permits)
- Complete multiplayer compatibility
- AI Players will seek out cover when attacking threats, hiding while taking fire and leaning out to attack threats
- Complex reaction state for realistically reacting to gunfire, bodies, sniper fire, and much more
- Alert level system starts NPCs off in a casual, non-alert state. This alert level changes depending on what happens around them.
- Zone system and an AI Manager will disable AI Players in a level depending on the position of human players to improve performance
- Squad support allows you to group any number of AI together. Objectives can be given to an AI squad leader to lead his men, or a human player can command them to move, hold, and regroup.
- Built-in respawning capability
- Complex vision system will factor in light, fog, and the color scheme of your level

TAIK Weapon Pack

For those looking for an easy way to implement common FPS mechanics, look no further. I am including this pack with the Tactical AI Kit because I got a lot of requests for assets from the demo, so this is for those who were interested in getting features from it.

- 28 weapons from the demo included
- Attachment support for sights, sound suppressors, and grenade launchers
- "Aim down the sight" mechanic supports iron sights, various optics, and sniper scopes
- Weapon reloading, bolt-action and pump-action supported
- Two primary weapon slots and one pistol slot
- Bullet penetration: rounds will punch through thin surfaces
- Melee takedown system lets you make flashy up-close fight animations that work for both humans and AI
- High quality sound and particle effects for gunfire, bullet impacts, and explosions
- Full multiplayer support
- Custom weapon GUI showing ammo count, attachments, weapon name and graphic

This is essentially a true FPS starter kit, this is a very good solution for those looking for a good starting template to build a FPS off of. With most of the common shooter mechanics already built in, you'll save yourself a lot of time.

So What Do I Get?

TAIK 2.0 comes with the AI Kit, full documentation in text and video form, the latter now being available on YouTube, and the code + assets for the Weapon Pack.

What If I Already Own the Kit?

If you already bought a copy of the kit, you get 2.0 for free! That includes the weapon pack. I'll send an email out to current TAIK owners, but if you didn't get it, give me a heads-up at tgebryce@yahoo.com and I'll make sure you get hooked up.

How Do I Know This is Any Good?

You can be the judge of that; I encourage you to play the demo! Keep in mind the AI has changed since the demo, so they are even smarter and run more smoothly now than they did when I released this demo last spring. TAIK 2.0 will contain all artwork, weapons, and mechanics you see in the demo -- the AI is in the AI Kit half, and everything else is included with the weapon pack.



The TAIK Stealth Challenge is still a thing! In my last blog, I mentioned that anyone who could complete the Snatch and Grab mode in the airport without killing or alerting anyone would get a free copy of the kit. Turns out you guys are actually really good at that, making that a huge mistake, but I'm still willing to offer %20 off the kit to anyone who completes the challenge.

Is it time for the big link to the store? Yes?

Buy the Tactical AI Kit 2.0 + Weapon Pack for $84.95!

Drop a comment below if you have any questions about features or otherwise, I'll be glad to answer them. Happy Torque'ing everyone!