Tactical AI Kit Released for TGE and Torque 3D 1.0.1!
by Bryce · 03/23/2011 (1:25 pm) · 28 comments
Tactical AI Kit Released for TGE 1.5 and Torque 3D 1.0.1!
One month after the launch of the Tactical AI Kit, I'm now releasing ports of it for Torque 3D 1.0.1 and (if you still even remember what it is...) Torque Game Engine 1.5.2. That may seem oddly specific, but I made these versions because I haven't forgotten about the good 'ole crowd of TGE users out there, and to show the Mac users some love. Versions for TGEA 1.7.1 and 1.8.2 are coming right up.You can still buy the kit if you're using Torque 3D 1.1 Beta 2, or Torque 3D 1.1 Beta 3. That was the first release, found at last month's blog here.
There's no way I can get through this blog without thanking everyone out there. Many thanks to all who supported me by buying themselves a copy of the kit. You're all amazing, and believe me when I say that I couldn't have done this without the encouragement and suggestions you've given me in my previous blogs.
What's this "Tactical AI Kit" you speak of?
AI is pretty cool. Most games these days are expected to have some sort of single player campaign, and the shooter types especially require decent AI that comes close to matching the player's skill.Fun Facts:
1) If the AI is too easy, the game is too easy, and the developer is then forced to make up for that with high numbers of said easy AI. This is when the game gets repetitive, and ends up sucking profusely.
2) If the AI is dumb, well, take a wild guess. Immersion is shattered, your game becomes a joke. Consequently, your game begins to profusely suck.
3) Some game designers decide to counter these unwanted characteristics by making their AI too hard. This is typically done through cheating. You can usually fool the player with this for a while, but after some time of playing, he'll catch on and realize that the enemy has somehow acquired the ability to see through walls. As you may have guessed by now, this causes profuse suckage.
Unacceptable, my AI cannot be easy, dumb, or unfair.
Right you are, Header 3. After wasting away precious years of my life playing games with the aforementioned bad qualities, I've grown to hate bad AI. When I got to my AI programming stage of my Torque experience, I grew to like doing it, and I vowed to never let my implementation succumb to those pitfalls. Thanks to that, the Tactical AI Kit is born.If you think your game could do better without the curse of bad AI, you might want to grab yourself a copy for the engine you're using. If you're curious, don't believe me, or are just looking for an evening's entertainment...
Try the free demonstration game!
Six example missions of varying types, from intense stealth play to loud and fast assault missions -- all missions of different types using the same AI behavior. If you'd like to put them to the ultimate test, try these "cheat" codes in the console:
$lc.i=true : Invincibility
$lc.team=-1 : AI won't attack you (if they aren't already)
Also, if you've got a buddy and a LAN connection, give multiplayer a go!
Disclaimer: The maps in the demo aren't included by default with the Tactical AI Kit to reduce unnecessary clutter, but they're still compatible with the TGE version of the kit if you want to drop my artwork into your own TAIK install.
If you like what you see, buy the kit to get the code for your game! Complete with text and video documentation, implementation is a breeze.
Torque Game Engine -- Supported!
Torque Game Engine Advanced -- Coming soon
Torque 3D 1.0.1 -- Supported!
Torque 3D 1.1 Beta 2 -- Supported!
Torque 3D 1.1 Beta 3 -- Supported!
Click to buy the Tactical AI Kit!
If you've got anything to say, either leave a comment here or send me an email (my address is listed in my profile). I'm willing to answer any question you may have, so if you're curious about any aspect, let me know!
#3
However, if you're looking to get the Torque Game Engine version, that's a whole other engine with substantially different installation code, so unfortunately I'd have to charge separately for that one. But again, if it's a Torque 3D version you want and you already own one of the Torque 3D ports, fire me an email and you'll get it for free.
@Steve: Indeed it is, mate!
I don't care if I'm made fun of for using that word as an American. That's a bloody nice word...
03/23/2011 (5:55 pm)
@Mquaker: That's going to depend. You already own the kit for Torque 3D 1.1, so you can get the Torque 3D 1.0.1 version for free if that's the one you want (same family of engines, pretty minor differences in the kit code).However, if you're looking to get the Torque Game Engine version, that's a whole other engine with substantially different installation code, so unfortunately I'd have to charge separately for that one. But again, if it's a Torque 3D version you want and you already own one of the Torque 3D ports, fire me an email and you'll get it for free.
@Steve: Indeed it is, mate!
I don't care if I'm made fun of for using that word as an American. That's a bloody nice word...
#4
03/23/2011 (9:14 pm)
@Bryce: Good job getting the TAIK ports out the door! 
#5
03/24/2011 (5:15 am)
Whats the ETA on getting your web site up with forums? Even a basic one which is only a couple hours work. I really like the product, its the best out there but I would also like to see what other people are working on, what enhancements and bug fixes you are working on, etc. Just get a nice little TAIK community going. 
#6
Also, I think I encountered some kind of bug while playing the demo. After a while, once an enemy saw me he would just fall to the ground and die.
03/24/2011 (9:16 am)
Is the T3D (mostly 1.1) version exactly the same as the demo in terms of how it plays? I really like the feel of the character control and view.Also, I think I encountered some kind of bug while playing the demo. After a while, once an enemy saw me he would just fall to the ground and die.
#7
To everyone else: If you are one of those who bought the Torque 3D kit last month (the first release), you can get the Torque 3D 1.0.1 version for free because it's in the same family of engines, and the affected code is not very different. However, since TGE is almost entirely a different engine and the AI installation code is substantially different, I'd have to charge separately if that's the version you want.
@Devildrew: Sean Rice is so kindly helping me set up a store+forum system, but it may take a bit of time. He and I are working on it, it should hopefully be up by the time I release the kit for TGEA.
@Adam: The controls and weapon mechanics are mostly just for demonstration purposes, the main idea behind the demo is showing how the AI would look and perform in a somewhat-polished game. The Tactical AI Kit does come with the same character models as examples, because they are already animated for stances and taking cover, and it also includes a basic weapon that's set up for AI use. Here's a quick screenshot showing the cleanest install possible.
I didn't want to introduce too many specific items from my project into the kit, because I wanted to make it easier for others to merge the kit into their project, which is probably a lot different from what I've got going. I can try to help you recreate the same "feel" of the demo if you'd like, send me an email and I'll get you started.
As for the spontaneous deaths, that's something I forgot to remove before releasing the demo :P It's a "cheat" I put in while messing around with a friend. It displays a picture of a rather unflattering-looking individual, and will kill everyone who looks at it. You can enable it by pressing L . And while we're on the topic of things I forgot to remove, don't press 4 :)
03/24/2011 (9:36 am)
@CSMP: You're an exception, as we had a pre-established deal that you were pre-buying the TGE version. I've contacted you about it.To everyone else: If you are one of those who bought the Torque 3D kit last month (the first release), you can get the Torque 3D 1.0.1 version for free because it's in the same family of engines, and the affected code is not very different. However, since TGE is almost entirely a different engine and the AI installation code is substantially different, I'd have to charge separately if that's the version you want.
@Devildrew: Sean Rice is so kindly helping me set up a store+forum system, but it may take a bit of time. He and I are working on it, it should hopefully be up by the time I release the kit for TGEA.
@Adam: The controls and weapon mechanics are mostly just for demonstration purposes, the main idea behind the demo is showing how the AI would look and perform in a somewhat-polished game. The Tactical AI Kit does come with the same character models as examples, because they are already animated for stances and taking cover, and it also includes a basic weapon that's set up for AI use. Here's a quick screenshot showing the cleanest install possible.
I didn't want to introduce too many specific items from my project into the kit, because I wanted to make it easier for others to merge the kit into their project, which is probably a lot different from what I've got going. I can try to help you recreate the same "feel" of the demo if you'd like, send me an email and I'll get you started.
As for the spontaneous deaths, that's something I forgot to remove before releasing the demo :P It's a "cheat" I put in while messing around with a friend. It displays a picture of a rather unflattering-looking individual, and will kill everyone who looks at it. You can enable it by pressing L . And while we're on the topic of things I forgot to remove, don't press 4 :)
#8
It's not that Fruit Salad Song again, is it? *shudders*
03/24/2011 (9:44 am)
Quote:
And while we're on the topic of things I forgot to remove, don't press 4
It's not that Fruit Salad Song again, is it? *shudders*
#9
...Murderer...
03/24/2011 (9:46 am)
@Steve: You wouldn't ever have to hear that song in that demo game had you not topped too many innocent civilians....Murderer...
#10
Lol!
03/24/2011 (10:54 am)
Quote:You wouldn't ever have to hear that song in that demo game had you not topped too many innocent civilians.
...Murderer...
Lol!
#11
03/28/2011 (5:23 pm)
Omg... what did I miss?
#12
It punished the player for killing too many innocents by tormenting them with this gem of a song.
03/28/2011 (5:38 pm)
Old old old old demo game...It punished the player for killing too many innocents by tormenting them with this gem of a song.
#13
Nightvision doesn't go off at respawn.
PlayGUI doesn't update to a new screen resolution and stays as a 1024x768 box (BAD!!!! Very BAD!). Suggest setting horiz/vert resizing to width and height, or whatever it is in TGE.
03/28/2011 (5:41 pm)
Whilst I remember - found a couple of issues with the demo, Bryce.Nightvision doesn't go off at respawn.
PlayGUI doesn't update to a new screen resolution and stays as a 1024x768 box (BAD!!!! Very BAD!). Suggest setting horiz/vert resizing to width and height, or whatever it is in TGE.
#14
D'oh!
That's probably from when I installed the CG Water. It had a tricky setup that involved putting a TSControl inside another TSControl (bwommmmm) or some other odd setup of the sort.
On second thought, are you using the demo posted on the previous release blog, or the one linked on here? The two are slighty different, I thought I removed that TSControl nonsense in this blog's demo.
03/28/2011 (5:47 pm)
Quote:Nightvision doesn't go off at respawn.
D'oh!
Quote:PlayGUI doesn't update to a new screen resolution and stays as a 1024x768 box
That's probably from when I installed the CG Water. It had a tricky setup that involved putting a TSControl inside another TSControl (bwommmmm) or some other odd setup of the sort.
On second thought, are you using the demo posted on the previous release blog, or the one linked on here? The two are slighty different, I thought I removed that TSControl nonsense in this blog's demo.
#16
03/28/2011 (6:14 pm)
Read the end of comment #7, and use that image wisely :)
#17
And weapons ammo, messages. Only health does resize correctly
03/28/2011 (6:56 pm)
Dowloaded the new one and whilst the main PlayGui is fixed on resizing, some hud elements such as your compass, xp, and blood/hit overlay are stuck to 1024 or don't resize correctly.And weapons ammo, messages. Only health does resize correctly
#18
03/28/2011 (7:00 pm)
Bah humbug. I guess one of these days I should probably sit down and learn about the HorizSizing and VertSizing GUI fields, I'm guessing that's the culprit.
#19
eg:
If you've got an element at bottom left - you want right and top.
An element at top right - left and bottom resizing.
You want something to resize and stretch across the full screen - width height.
03/28/2011 (7:14 pm)
opposite from where you want them closest:eg:
If you've got an element at bottom left - you want right and top.
An element at top right - left and bottom resizing.
You want something to resize and stretch across the full screen - width height.
#20
03/28/2011 (11:31 pm)
Thanks for the advice, I applied those fixes. See if this does any better: client/scripts/playGui.gui 
Torque Owner Mquaker
Mquaker Studio
possible download already puchased user?