Dodge state for monsters

[Zippy]

Sounds to me that this would require some rewriting of the monster AI to determine when a missile/etc is coming at it... which probably wouldn't be a pretty thing.

Unless, of course, you want to do it Doom 3 style... when getting hit a monster will occasionally jump or strafe to the left or right quickly. Ah, but then again, that itself is already possible with some clever use of DECORATE. Just some jumping in the PAIN state and maybe a script or two... ta da.

So, to sum up... I don't think it's worth it.

[Graf Zahl]

Sounds to me that this would require some rewriting of the monster AI to determine when a missile/etc is coming at it... which probably wouldn't be a pretty thing.

Yes, it does. And there the trouble already begins. How do you determine it? How smart would you make the monsters? What exactly should they do? And most importantly: How do such monsters react to a hitscan attack?

Unless, of course, you want to do it Doom 3 style... when getting hit a monster will occasionally jump or strafe to the left or right quickly. Ah, but then again, that itself is already possible with some clever use of DECORATE. Just some jumping in the PAIN state and maybe a script or two... ta da.

So, to sum up... I don't think it's worth it.

I agree. But with the pain state it can't be done well because that is called after the monster is hurt. But for a simple shielding effect look no further than Hexen's Centaur.

[MasterOFDeath]

Hmm... good point about the AI. Doom's old engine has crap for what can be expanded with AI...

Oh well, still not a bad idea, just limited by an 11 year old engine again!

[Cutmanmike]

Well maybe something could be done. I mean we can get the distance between two things, and we have thrustthing. It's just giving projectiles tags

[Graf Zahl]

No, it's not just that. Do dodge properly a monster had to check every single projectile in a certain radius - and then depending on position, direction and speed determine what to do about it. Yes, it's not impossible but don't expect this to be solvable with auch a simplistic approach.

[DoomRater]

I remember a discussion about this before, but I really wanted to see the discussion once again.

How do such monsters react to a hitscan attack?

Currently, the stock weapons are not hair trigger so the monster could dodge to the side when he notices the player facing in his general direction and has the fire state activated. That's the approach I'd use. Oh wait, the chaingun is hair-trigger, I forgot. Still, then the monster would be less likely to be hit by the second chaingun shot. The troubles begin when the chaingun is left on- does it dance?

By the way, how did the cajun bots handle the chaingun? Or did they ignore it? Either case, I'd probably end up writing the responses to hitscan and projectile seperately... if I went back and studied C++ a bit more.

[Cutmanmike]

No, it's not just that. Do dodge properly a monster had to check every single projectile in a certain radius - and then depending on position, direction and speed determine what to do about it. Yes, it's not impossible but don't expect this to be solvable with auch a simplistic approach.

I see... Oh well, this is doom2 not doom3 so who cares eh?

[Xenaero]

AND NO ONE THOUGHT OF THIS ALREADY AFTER I WENT ON A RAMPAGE BEFORE ABOUT IT? Ugh god I need some pills...