2005 F.E.A.R. AI & physics, nearly a decade without progress

[Linusinium]

First of all, sorry for the incoming wall of text. I'll try to pepper it with gifs to make it more readable and to point the unlucky ones that have yet to play this gem.

 Playing Shadow Of Mordor and Alien: Isolation recently got me thinking about this.

 

 

 

 

I was optimistic about the future of gaming when I played the awesome FEAR game but it turned out to be an exception rather than becoming the norm. 

I wish I could say it became the standard but games that have come out since don't have nearly as sophisticated AI as FEAR did.

 Typically, stepping up the difficulty in games doesn't produce smarter AI, it's either more of equally stupid bots at once to make objectives

 harder to achieve or it's just a boost in health points for the bots to give them slightly better odds vs. the player.

 More often than not, this results in frustration rather than a challenge or forces you to heavily exploit weaknesses you find in AI behavior. 

The outcome is far from desirable, dying because you didn't get to click the button 5 times in a second or still breezing through a supposedly harder game isn't the right solution. 

FEAR wasn't the first game to have enemies with a decent FOV, without severe glaucoma or late stage cataracts or to have NPC's attempt to flank you but it nailed that part and did a lot of other things right too.

 

 

 

 

IMO, FEAR was one of the the first titles that gave depth to AI behavior. If you run into a squad of 6 and eliminate 5 of them quickly or brutally, the last guy may give up and run.

 When they engage you, they'll use the environment against you. They crouch and go prone to shoot at you, knock objects over to create cover.

 If there are 2 or more enemies present, they may lay suppression fire on you to make it easier for the other to flank you. If you slaughter one of them, the next guy might refuse the order to step into his place.

 The spotting mechanics were realistic, enemy reacted to you using the flashlight properly unlike many games with NPC's oblivious to your actions.

 Even HL2, which had better AI than the average game of it's time looked flawed in comparison, an example:

 

 

 

That was one part of the equation, the other was getting feedback since the player was listening to enemy radio chatter. The dialogues helped the immersion and some of the exchanges were genuinely funny.

 The lead designer said they had to cut 40% due to limitations. Here is an example just to size up the scope, NPC's had a lot to say, took an arrow to the knee wouldn't have stood out:

 

 

The in game physics helped elevate the game to it's status. 9 out of 10 games feature indestructible/immovable books and magazines, you are lucky if you can get a bullet hole decal on them. 

FEAR let you shred paper to pieces if you wanted to. Back to the AI. Monolith used a different system by the name of STRIPS, developed by MIT. 

Being just a end user and a fan of a game nearly forgotten, I can't figure out why this hasn't been utilized more.

Here is an image from a document that goes deeper into detail, also linked below:

 

 

 

Link to the PDF detailing the "three states and a plan" approach:

 

http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~jorkin/gdc2006_orkin_jeff_fear.pdf

[Garuger]

Well they thinking how to mass produce rather than how to have more indepth AI as you said . However i would love more games like that

[techswede]

I know right 

I guess it's just cheaper for the devs to turn the enemies into dumb bullet sponges

 

And the AI's poor vision even bothers me in the metro series. Sure, Darkness helps a lot when you are hiding. But it should not make you invisible if you are standing just slightly to the left of someone... 

[Garuger]

I know right 

I guess it's just cheaper for the devs to turn the enemies into dumb bullet sponges

 

And the AI's poor vision even bothers me in the metro series. Sure, Darkness helps a lot when you are hiding. But it should not make you invisible if you are standing just slightly to the left of someone... 

Well the new Alien Ai game has a very "unpredictable" AI so i think they are on the right way

[techswede]

Well the new Alien Ai game has a very "unpredictable" AI so i think they are on the right way

Then i'll just have to cross my fingers and hope that it starts appearing in other games.. (I'll probably get shot for this comment) Because i've never really liked the alien movies. *Gasp Shock Horror from the audience and lightning strikes behind me*

[RelentlessAF]

Did you know Half-Life 1 also has hyper advanced AI for the time. This included, Bull Squids having a territorial attitude and only attacking you when they felt threatened and even the soldiers flanking and calling out strategies as you fought them. Even changing their tactics when you cut a few of them down.

[Applepienation]

I loved the AI in that game. Could never finish it, bitched out 2 or 3 times, but had a lot of fun while I was playing it.

[Garuger]

Then i'll just have to cross my fingers and hope that it starts appearing in other games.. (I'll probably get shot for this comment) Because i've never really liked the alien movies. *Gasp Shock Horror from the audience and lightning strikes behind me*

Well not all ppl like the same thing so i am not suprised if you dont like it

[Linusinium]

I loved the AI in that game. Could never finish it, bitched out 2 or 3 times, but had a lot of fun while I was playing it.

Are you a Canadian or a Can'tadian? Finish it before you lose your forum creds.

[Blue fellow]

FEAR had great particles but the physics sucked. Boxes would go flying when you walked on them and it sounded like a tornado. Nothing felt like it had enough mass. I think Half-Life 2 would be the golden standard for physics. I don't think Garry's Mod would be as good on any other engine, at least the old Garry's Mod where you built things instead of chasing around people in an office building :rolleyes:   

[Samfisher]

The guns in F.E.A.R... no progress made since too!

[frostin1990]

Yeah FEAR1 has the best AI i have ever seen in any game i love how they do suppression fire running forward and firing backwards when you tank all of a sudden  also the atmosphere is very immersive. one of the best FPS horror games ever made,played it like 50 times without slow motion  :lol:

[Noctus]

Just bought the F.E.A.R. bundle for under 6 quid  

 

Never thought about it before because i played S.T.A.L.K.E.R back in the day and i dunno why but it left a bad impression with me and because it's spelled the same with caps and full stop's i just assumed it's the same. guess it's finally time to see what everone is talking about

[Humbug]

FEAR was a top game, really enjoyed especially the last one hour of it.

[Linusinium]

Just bought the F.E.A.R. bundle for under 6 quid

 

Never thought about it before because i played S.T.A.L.K.E.R back in the day and i dunno why but it left a bad impression with me and because it's spelled the same with caps and full stop's i just assumed it's the same. guess it's finally time to see what everone is talking about

 

You are in for a treat.

If you get low FPS, going into device manager and disabling hid compliant devices fixes it. I was getting 15fps before and 300fps after. Here is the fix: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1279444

[Diederik_Gr]

FEAR was one of those games that blew me away (literally ) with how advanced the AI was, how entire squads would try different tactics to kill you. Not to mention the awesome particles, how stuff like monitors, glass, paperwork would all go flying along with bodies when a grenade explodes. The gore was also something i could easily enjoy.

 

Sad later installments in FEAR haven't been so good, FEAR 2 was a downgrade and FEAR 3 is just garbage.

 

Well the new Alien Ai game has a very "unpredictable" AI so i think they are on the right way

The alien is one with a very impressive AI i must say, but the rest not so much. The androids aren't much special and the humans could've had some work, no human with a proper brain would fire a gun at a person when his friend was just brutally murdered by an alien.

[Humbug]

Did you know Half-Life 1 also has hyper advanced AI for the time. This included, Bull Squids having a territorial attitude and only attacking you when they felt threatened and even the soldiers flanking and calling out strategies as you fought them. Even changing their tactics when you cut a few of them down.

Yes and that was in the 90s.

It was only a couple of years ago that people discovered that Valve had spent time on the AI for insects (roaches), which you see scurrying around but don't give a 2nd thought to. Most people just assumed it was scripted.

[frostin1990]

Yes and that was in the 90s.

It was only a couple of years ago that people discovered that Valve had spent time on the AI for insects (roaches), which you see scurrying around but don't give a 2nd thought to. Most people just assumed it was scripted.

And look at todays games  <_< all show and no substance 

 

[kainobean]

yes just yes fear was amazing and i even think the the graphics of the original game still hold up to now. i loved this game, beat this game, and nearly had a small heart attack with this game. i too wish more games where like this. heck been logging lots of hours into skyrim latly and the AI sucks so much that even on legenday i have no issues killing giants at low lvls. manly cuase the AI is to predictable.. fear always had me on edge when it came to battles and i always felt a sense of achievement when i won a large battle. infact this inspires me to go play it again and just marval at how well it runs on my new hardware ^.^

[jbr]

The maps where designed to make the AI appear smarter then they really are

and the radio chatter is fake.

 

 

Both confirmed by the developer, it's just an illusion.

[Linusinium]

The maps where designed to make the AI appear smarter then they really are

and the radio chatter is fake.

 

 

Both confirmed by the developer, it's just an illusion.

What would you describe as "real" chatter? Of course it's fake, at least it corresponded with the AI actions.

 

The AI is by far better than the cannon fodder in most recent games. Try the game, step up the difficulty then compare it to any recent shooters.

[GamerDude]

Man, I recall playing FEAR back when it was launched, my 9700Pro just about maxed it out at a whopping 1024x768, only effect I couldn't enable was smooth shadow (or sumthin' like that). I remember fondly that it was one of those games that really made an impression and stood out from the rest. Heck, I have it in my list of Steam games installed in ALL four of my rigs....

[jbr]

What would you describe as "real" chatter? Of course it's fake, at least it corresponded with the AI actions.

 

The AI is by far better than the cannon fodder in most recent games. Try the game, step up the difficulty then compare it to any recent shooters.

 

I've completed the game

 

The "Smart" AI is an illusion created by the map design and the radio chatter the developers talked about this in detail in articles and videos.

They didn't do anything special with the AI itself, it was all in the map design coupled with the sound.

 

The radio chatter does not describe what the AI is actually doing and seeing., they don't actually communicate with each other.

it's just an audio trick to complete the illusion using sound.

 

It's not like Arma where the AI actually do talk to each other, issue orders based on roles and a chain of command.

 

Read the developer articles discussing it, the AI is nothing special.

[MF Patrick]

I agree, the AI in F.E.A.R. is great but it's not the only game out there.

 

The AI in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a lot more complex and "complete" IMO.

Enemies will try to flank you, will try to sneak behind you ( the famous Cheeki Breeki ) and they'll use the enveironment to their advantage.

I Clear Sky and Call Of Pripyat NPCs have nades and they won't let you camp behind a wall ( In vanilla CS it's a little bit overkill but it can be fixed with mods ).

It's true, they can't interact with objects to create cover but that's because only barrels and small crates can be moved in that game.

This is mainly because of its huge maps and the A-Life. The NPCs fight each other, they fight mutants and even mutatns fight each other.

And the A-Life in STALKER is probably the best out there.

Shadow Of Mordor tried to do something very similar but the results are not as good.

 

Also, we have to consider mods when we mention STALKER.

Some mods improved the AI ( OGSE is the first one that comes to my mind ).

In general, the AI is STALKER is great.

You should give it a try.

 

 

Also, the AI of the Xenomorph in Alien Isolation is IMO a lot better than FEAR.

The Working Joes are retarded but that's to be expected. They are a bad copy of the Weyland Yutani Synthetics.

The human AI is completely retarded. Even on the maximum difficulty the human AI is bad.

But the Xeno AI is amazing.

It acts like a real hunter and it doesn't move on "rails". 

You try to get through the same section twice and the Xeno will do different things everytime.

It can hear everything, it can smell you ( This needs to be confirmed but I think it can smell you ) and it's completely unpredictable.

They have done a great job with that one.

[frostin1990]

I've completed the game

 

The "Smart" AI is an illusion created by the map design and the radio chatter the developers talked about this in detail in articles and videos.

They didn't do anything special with the AI itself, it was all in the map design coupled with the sound.

 

The radio chatter does not describe what the AI is actually doing and seeing., they don't actually communicate with each other.

it's just an audio trick to complete the illusion using sound.

 

It's not like Arma where the AI actually do talk to each other, issue orders based on roles and a chain of command.

 

Read the developer articles discussing it, the AI is nothing special.

I remember once i was camping in the air vent and killed 2 replica soldiers the third yelled "he is in the air vent" and sprayed bullets in the vent not sure how many of them responded but they sure are a lot smart.