New Interview on GamesRadar

[Non-Sequitur]

Originally posted by iamironsam
Ok, but without throw anything from the leak out there, can you honestly find any flaws in Lombardi's statements?

The fact that they weren't able to use the AI in the E3 videos is a big pointer that something isn't right with his claim that they just decided to try out the Strider in a City 17 map on a whim, and that it instantly decided which course of action to take by using it's AI. Why if so much progress had been made with the AI at that point did they feel the need to fake it? Couldn't they have just waited a bit longer and finished the AI before exhibiting an imitation of what it's supposed to be?

 

[Non-Sequitur]

Originally posted by BlazeKun
Can you hear valve going "It's not doing the cool stuff, try it again!" for 3 hours trying to get a demo that does what they want?

Doug clearly states that the Strider AI was up and running in a City 17 map rather soon after it was suggested. He said it tried to blow up the bridge but couldn't, so it crept under it. And it apparently did this on it's first time... Why not put a little more work into it and release the media once the AI is ready? Why go to all that trouble to script something that will never be played other than with the intention to decieve?

 

[BlazeKun]

Originally posted by Non-Sequitur
Doug clearly states that the Strider AI was up and running in a City 17 map rather soon after it was suggested. He said it tried to blow up the bridge but couldn't, so it crept under it. And it apparently did this on it's first time... Why not put a little more work into it and release the media once the AI is ready? Why go to all that trouble to script something that will never be played other than with the intention to decieve?

Because it's quicker to just add a script then try for a long time on something that the strider doesn't want to do when they want it to do it.

 

[liminal]

The process of designing any game takes several years to implement. During this process many maps are made and then scraped as newer and better ideas get implemented. When Doug was referring to moment when the Valve team decided to place the Strider in the City maps how do you know he was referring to the Strider map in the “beta” at all?

For all we know he was merely commenting on some earlier versions from a few years ago when they made the decision to use the Strider in the city. Of course the Strider would be already included in the newer builds.

You can’t imply that he lied because of what you saw in the beta. None of us have enough information about what is going on inside of Valve to draw that conclusion.

 

[BlazeKun]

Maybe they wanted the strider to run through and blow the bridge... but he felt like trying to kill all the freedom fighters first. That would have taken longer, and would not have been a good demo, for lack of showing the cool stuff quickly while he kills a bunch of them. They were all beyond the bridge shooting the strider, surely he would have killed them first had he not been scripted to get beyond the bridge first.

 

[Non-Sequitur]

Originally posted by liminal
The process of designing any game takes several years to implement. During this process many maps are made and then scraped as newer and better ideas get implemented. When Doug was referring to moment when the Valve team decided to place the Strider in the City maps how do you know he was referring to the Strider map in the “beta” at all?

For all we know he was merely commenting on some earlier versions from a few years ago when they made the decision to use the Strider in the city. Of course the Strider would be already included in the newer builds.

You can’t imply that he lied because of what you saw in the beta. None of us have enough information about what is going on inside of Valve to draw that conclusion.

I'm not going just by the beta, but by the official E3 videos.

He was definitely talking about the map we see in the E3 video.
"And then the contextual AI surprised us, because when the Strider came up to the bridge in the demo, it obviously made him stop. His AI assessed the situation and he tried to blow it away, but he couldn't. So then he crept down, went underneath it and popped back up."

 

[liminal]

That could have happened on a different map that had a bridge in it that was non-destructible. They could have seen the AI's reaction to it and then later made the newer bridge able to be destroyed.

I can't see how you are so positive that your options are facts.

 

[BlazeKun]

AFAIK the Contextual AI works on sort of a priority system. There is lots that it can do, but does what would be the top priority. Now, what would you rather do. Kill a bunch of guys who are trying to kill you, or get beyond a bridge while they are shooting at you? The choice is pretty obvious.

 

[Non-Sequitur]

Originally posted by liminal
That could have happened on a different map that had a bridge in it that was non-destructible. They could have seen the AI's reaction to it and then later made the newer bridge able to be destroyed.

I can't see how you are so positive that your options are facts.

DOUG LOMBARDI SAID:

"because when the Strider came up to the bridge in the demo"

That means to me, they put it in the map we see in the E3 vid.

 

[Non-Sequitur]

Originally posted by BlazeKun
AFAIK the Contextual AI works on sort of a priority system. There is lots that it can do, but does what would be the top priority. Now, what would you rather do. Kill a bunch of guys who are trying to kill you, or get beyond a bridge while they are shooting at you? The choice is pretty obvious.

So if the choice to blow away the bridge is illogical, why did they include it in the scripted E3 sequence in the first place? And why did they program the AI that Lombardi talks about to try shooting at an obstruction before ducking under it?

 

[BlazeKun]

Originally posted by Non-Sequitur
So if the choice to blow away the bridge is illogical, why did they include it in the scripted E3 sequence in the first place? And why did they program the AI that Lombardi talks about to try shooting at an obstruction before ducking under it?

Maybe they watched it for 20 minutes. It had allready killed some of the fighters, and made others go beyond the bridge. Now it needed to go beyond the bridge, so it did. But in a demo this would be illogical. It would take far too long to have him kill, or make run away, all the freedom fighters to beyond the bridge before getting beyond it. So they add a simple script to make the bridge what it does first.

 

[liminal]

True, but anyone who has seen the "beta" can safely say that it is not the same map as the one in the E3 demo. The beta map has far less detail and objects within it. There is no train, electrical wires overhead, birds, the citidel is on the complete opposite end of the map, ect.

The map in the E3 demo looks far more advanced.

-end of comments on the beta-