AI Director

Games Other Halo
1

This came from my post in the Campaign replayability thread.

If ANYTHING, an AI director is absolutely mandatory for ensured maximum enjoyment of multiple Campaign playthroughs, even if it means sacrificing a bit of the graphics to compensate. If anyone has played Left 4 Dead, they know what I’m talking about.

An AI Director is something that alters the game you play as you play it. It can spawn enemies randomly, spawn weapons in random locations, health, etc., etc. It even sometimes alters the layout of the map (ala Left 4 Dead 2), and picks different pathways for you.

Why is this needed? To put the Campaign gameplay enjoyment, RIGHT UP THERE with Matchmaking. Using a system like the Director adds infinite amounts of replayability to the Campaign. The unpredictability of Left 4 Dead is what makes it exhilarating and extremely fun. Halo has had this somewhat, but it only affected enemy ranks, and somewhat what the enemies dropping out of scripted dropships were.

I think it would be a very, very nice deviation from the regular Halo formula. If it was implemented, there would still be scripted enemy events, but here’s how I think it would turn out.

The AI Director would obviously create his own unique encounters time and time again by spawning mostly random enemies and weapons around that part of the map where you were in, partially based on how well you were doing. Occasionally, he’ll spawn a dropship or a wave of enemies when you’re not expecting it, making for some pressure and tension. He’ll spawn the rare allies and health/upgrades on Legendary when you’re doing exceptionally poorly as well.

The higher the difficulty, the more unforgiving he is. THIS could be a SOLUTION to Legendary’s current formula, which is to just give enemies ridiculous amounts of health/shields. The AI Director would make them more aggressive, and he would have them actually rush your position en masse on Legendary.

Replayability is everything when it comes to games today, so other than a hypothetical, tiny drop in the graphics to compensate for all of that live processing, there’s no reason not to implement this for the Campaign. Sure’s there’s Firefight which is random itself, but the Campaign keeps you moving; you’re actually striving toward a goal, not just racking up points and surviving in one position.

2

> This came from my post in the Campaign replayability thread.
>
> If ANYTHING, an AI director is absolutely mandatory for ensured maximum enjoyment of multiple Campaign playthroughs, even if it means sacrificing a bit of the graphics to compensate. If anyone has played Left 4 Dead, they know what I’m talking about.
>
> An AI Director is something that alters the game you play as you play it. It can spawn enemies randomly, spawn weapons in random locations, health, etc., etc. It even sometimes alters the layout of the map (ala Left 4 Dead 2), and picks different pathways for you.
>
> Why is this needed? To put the Campaign gameplay enjoyment, RIGHT UP THERE with Matchmaking. Using a system like the Director adds infinite amounts of replayability to the Campaign. The unpredictability of Left 4 Dead is what makes it exhilarating and extremely fun. Halo has had this somewhat, but it only affected enemy ranks, and somewhat what the enemies dropping out of scripted dropships were.
>
> I think it would be a very, very nice deviation from the regular Halo formula. If it was implemented, there would still be scripted enemy events, but here’s how I think it would turn out.
>
> The AI Director would obviously create his own unique encounters time and time again by spawning mostly random enemies and weapons around that part of the map where you were in, partially based on how well you were doing. Occasionally, he’ll spawn a dropship or a wave of enemies when you’re not expecting it, making for some pressure and tension. He’ll spawn the rare allies and health/upgrades on Legendary when you’re doing exceptionally poorly as well.
>
> The higher the difficulty, the more unforgiving he is. THIS could be a SOLUTION to Legendary’s current formula, which is to just give enemies ridiculous amounts of health/shields. The AI Director would make them more aggressive, and he would have them actually rush your position en masse on Legendary.
>
> Replayability is everything when it comes to games today, so other than a hypothetical, tiny drop in the graphics to compensate for all of that live processing, there’s no reason not to implement this for the Campaign. Sure’s there’s Firefight which is random itself, but the Campaign keeps you moving; you’re actually striving toward a goal, not just racking up points and surviving in one position.

I can type in annoying colors to!

I see what you are getting at here, but it would make Mythic runs impossible because you couldn’t guess weapon and enemy spawns. I honestly don’t think its very good idea.

3

Well in Glasslands the forerunner buildings did move around and react to human presense and stuff, plus Frankie said that “we’re done with stationary forerunner objects” so i guess that could mean an opportunity for different paths and stuff.

it would be good, but i wouldn’t want it to be too daft. plus, don’t affect the weapons. if i want a sniper and there should be one there i don’t wanna end up with an smg or something…

4

Now this is an Idea I can go with, it really does seem that valve has set the bar for the campaign co-op as well as single player campaign experience.

5

> > This came from my post in the Campaign replayability thread.
> >
> > If ANYTHING, an AI director is absolutely mandatory for ensured maximum enjoyment of multiple Campaign playthroughs, even if it means sacrificing a bit of the graphics to compensate. If anyone has played Left 4 Dead, they know what I’m talking about.
> >
> > An AI Director is something that alters the game you play as you play it. It can spawn enemies randomly, spawn weapons in random locations, health, etc., etc. It even sometimes alters the layout of the map (ala Left 4 Dead 2), and picks different pathways for you.
> >
> > Why is this needed? To put the Campaign gameplay enjoyment, RIGHT UP THERE with Matchmaking. Using a system like the Director adds infinite amounts of replayability to the Campaign. The unpredictability of Left 4 Dead is what makes it exhilarating and extremely fun. Halo has had this somewhat, but it only affected enemy ranks, and somewhat what the enemies dropping out of scripted dropships were.
> >
> > I think it would be a very, very nice deviation from the regular Halo formula. If it was implemented, there would still be scripted enemy events, but here’s how I think it would turn out.
> >
> > The AI Director would obviously create his own unique encounters time and time again by spawning mostly random enemies and weapons around that part of the map where you were in, partially based on how well you were doing. Occasionally, he’ll spawn a dropship or a wave of enemies when you’re not expecting it, making for some pressure and tension. He’ll spawn the rare allies and health/upgrades on Legendary when you’re doing exceptionally poorly as well.
> >
> > The higher the difficulty, the more unforgiving he is. THIS could be a SOLUTION to Legendary’s current formula, which is to just give enemies ridiculous amounts of health/shields. The AI Director would make them more aggressive, and he would have them actually rush your position en masse on Legendary.
> >
> > Replayability is everything when it comes to games today, so other than a hypothetical, tiny drop in the graphics to compensate for all of that live processing, there’s no reason not to implement this for the Campaign. Sure’s there’s Firefight which is random itself, but the Campaign keeps you moving; you’re actually striving toward a goal, not just racking up points and surviving in one position.
>
> I can type in annoying colors to!
>
>
> I see what you are getting at here, but it would make Mythic runs impossible because you couldn’t guess weapon and enemy spawns. I honestly don’t think its very good idea.

I must say bright yellow is much more annoying than blue lol

PeacE
ShadEO9

6

> I must say bright yellow is much more annoying than blue lol
>
>
> PeacE
> ShadEO9

I know, its so hard to read. lol

Its even worse when you do this.

7

Would make for a good villian to

8

Maybe, but that might be a bit too controversial.

9

We may have to wait until Halo 5/6 for this to happen. Halo’s AI aren’t dumb a linear like Left 4 Dead’s zombies. They’re complex and smart. We may need to wait for the next Xbox.

10

> > This came from my post in the Campaign replayability thread.
> >
> > If ANYTHING, an AI director is absolutely mandatory for ensured maximum enjoyment of multiple Campaign playthroughs, even if it means sacrificing a bit of the graphics to compensate. If anyone has played Left 4 Dead, they know what I’m talking about.
> >
> > An AI Director is something that alters the game you play as you play it. It can spawn enemies randomly, spawn weapons in random locations, health, etc., etc. It even sometimes alters the layout of the map (ala Left 4 Dead 2), and picks different pathways for you.
> >
> > Why is this needed? To put the Campaign gameplay enjoyment, RIGHT UP THERE with Matchmaking. Using a system like the Director adds infinite amounts of replayability to the Campaign. The unpredictability of Left 4 Dead is what makes it exhilarating and extremely fun. Halo has had this somewhat, but it only affected enemy ranks, and somewhat what the enemies dropping out of scripted dropships were.
> >
> > I think it would be a very, very nice deviation from the regular Halo formula. If it was implemented, there would still be scripted enemy events, but here’s how I think it would turn out.
> >
> > The AI Director would obviously create his own unique encounters time and time again by spawning mostly random enemies and weapons around that part of the map where you were in, partially based on how well you were doing. Occasionally, he’ll spawn a dropship or a wave of enemies when you’re not expecting it, making for some pressure and tension. He’ll spawn the rare allies and health/upgrades on Legendary when you’re doing exceptionally poorly as well.
> >
> > The higher the difficulty, the more unforgiving he is. THIS could be a SOLUTION to Legendary’s current formula, which is to just give enemies ridiculous amounts of health/shields. The AI Director would make them more aggressive, and he would have them actually rush your position en masse on Legendary.
> >
> > Replayability is everything when it comes to games today, so other than a hypothetical, tiny drop in the graphics to compensate for all of that live processing, there’s no reason not to implement this for the Campaign. Sure’s there’s Firefight which is random itself, but the Campaign keeps you moving; you’re actually striving toward a goal, not just racking up points and surviving in one position.
>
> I can type in annoying colors to!

My color isn’t on the other side of the damn spectrum and unreadable, so I don’t know what you’re trying to say.

Your Mythic point is a pretty petty reason to disagree as well.

11

This would be such a great idea, I would absolutely adore to see something like it implemented into Halo 4 or any other future Halo game. However, it’d be nice if you could turn it on or off for those people who would dislike it for some strange reason.

12

> Your Mythic point is a pretty petty reason to disagree as well.[/color]

Yep because completely ruining peoples campaign enjoyment is nothing more than a petty point. You are trying to enrich some people experience by ruining others.

And you said it yourself, it won’t happen. So why are you even still trying to argue your point? Did I strike a cord because I made fun of your colored text?

13

> > Your Mythic point is a pretty petty reason to disagree as well.[/color]
>
> Yep because completely ruining peoples campaign enjoyment is nothing more than a petty point. You are trying to enrich some people experience by ruining others.

How selfish.

The entire friggin’ game mode > Mythic junkies.

14

I completely agree. I’m a campaign junkie but they do quickly become annoyingly predictable, even when they occasionally vary the ranks you still know what’s going to happen.

15

It’s been my opinion for the last decade at least that as soon as first-person shooters are capable of generating random enemy placement and/or number, they will more than quadruple their replayability. I don’t necessarily need all the other features of this AI director from Left4Dead (if the game always matches your skill, then you never excel or become overwhelmed; unless, of course, you can turn the feature off) but I would like random enemy placement each time I play through a level.

16

It should be optional.

I hate how AI spawns can be random and how the geometry in H1 changes. And I especially hate being forced to take a path.

H2 had the right kind of linear: consistent, never changing enemy spawns. Jackal alley was all about memory. Then came H3 and the Jackal snipers and marksmen in the sniper forest spawn in randomly designated places. That gets annoying. Sure it forces players to play more cautiously, but there are other ways to do that.

Another example. On AotCR, when you get on the bridge, the patrolling Elite could be anywhere. That gets irritating when you want to finish him off fast or if you’re trying to be stealthy.

I would like campaign to be appealing to everyone, not just standard campaign players. What about SLASO, tricking, glitching, collecting, megabattles, etc.? Those things are becoming more and more inconvenient. The cp system is one of the most disappointing aspects of Halo I’ve come across. It was great in CE and now it’s a disaster.

There were several megabattles in CE. In H2, there’s just the Heretics on The Arbiter, and that only amounts to about 25. In H3, there’s around 50 Covies on The Storm, but they’ll are territorials.

There is AI collection potential in multiple levels, but that’s unpleasant because of how AI can climb stuff, how they drive away with my vehicles, how they disappear, how they get killed off by the game, etc. Vehicle collections are also annoying because of how the AI are such poor drivers now.

Then there’s tricking. The setups take even longer now and the setups are often a one time chance thing because of the lack of cps, forcing one to start all over again if he messes up. Often, you have to do it on Co-op.

Then there’s glitching. The scripting gets in the way so many times…

Finally, SLASO. SLASO was meant to be enhancement of combat. Now it’s difficult to the point where one must skip some parts to even complete the level.

Replayability is ensured by how many things one can do in the game because those lead to a change of experience. Look at CEA SLASO. It had the potential to be something engaging but it’s now mostly just a grenade spamming fest. I’m pretty much fed up with Halo which is why I’m being patient with Halo 4. 343 can take their time with it. I do not want a rushed sub par game.

17

I don’t like it, but that’s just my completely biased opinion based on the fact that I hated Left 4 Dead.