Question about AI

Hi there. This is something that's been bugging me for a long time. Whenever you see developers and such talk about how the AI in their game is great, it always seems to come down to this: The enemies you face do indeed act really well, but your allies are horribly stupid. This is really noticeable if you decide to do something along the lines of a team death match, but every other player is a bot. The enemy will hunt you down and work well, but your team will sit in corners and shoot at walls. In games where allies can revive you, they will often ignore you and justy run by you, while if you watch your enemies they will indeed revive each other.

I'm no game developer, so I don't understand how the process works, but why is AI like this? Can't enemies and allies use the same AI?

i think its so u cant hide in a corner and let ur teammates do all f the killin.....while i wish ur teammate were better.....on par with the enemys.....but i think that could make the game too easy......which is never a good thing

i think its so u cant hide in a corner and let ur teammates do all f the killin.....while i wish ur teammate were better.....on par with the enemys.....but i think that could make the game too easy......which is never a good thing

lpjazzman220

I agree with this. It would probably be really easy for a developer to make some super-smart AI that does all the work for you, but then the game would be playing itself. On the other hand, you don't want to make the AI too stupid, otherwise they'll just hinder the player's progress.

I've encountered some games where enemy AI is better than friendly AI, but it doesn't bother me. Its strange though ;)

The AI for fighting is relatively easy to make and do well. You perceive enmies as "better" because the only interaction you get with them is the same hostile actions. With allies you see how they act beyond that since they arent fighting you. I can promise you the enemy AI is just as bad, but you never get to see that side of them.

But yes, generally the AI is on your side is also made to be slightly worse as its expeccted that you will be picking up the slack to compensate as difficulty.

i also find in alot of games.....i can watch the enemy ai walk right past the friendly ai, who cant shoot, and get into a good position to shoot me.....while i dont think the friendly ai should be the super special trained level of soldier they are supposed to portray, i think should be able to cover firing sectors and keep enemies off of you back while you are coving your sector and keeping you buddies from getting flanked.....nothing upsets me more than holding ground for around a min.....droppin 20 or 30 enemies and have my friendly ai not move from the building im in.....yet i get shot in the back....while im on the top floor of the building where my troops are also hunkered down

Ugh... I do wish the friendly AI was better in some games myself.

Specifically Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2.