opponents will need to appear as intelligent in their combat decisions as a real-world
human might be.
Player Detection
Different AI agents will have differing abilities to detect and track the player, which will
in turn affect how much of a challenge they present to the player. Some robots will only
be able to see in a very narrow cone in front of them, while others will have full
360-degree vision. Also, the distance of detection can vary from adversary to adver-
sary; some can only see Sam when he is close to them, others can see him before Sam
can see them. Some of the robots may have “super-vision,” which allows them to see
through walls and to always find Sam, regardless of how he may be hiding.
Some robots will also have very short memories. If Sam manages to run behind
these robots, fully out of their field of vision, they may forget entirely about Sam and
will return to an idle state. Other robots, once locked on to Sam’s position, will never
lose him. The player will need to figure out how well an adversary can detect Sam and
use that to his advantage.
Motion
All adversaries will move in believable ways, employing a simple physics system to
give the appearance that Sam’s world is a realistic one. However, the feel of Sam’s
gameplay is one of a console action game, and hence does not need to rely too heavily
on truly “authentic” motion systems. Indeed, the retro-future setting of Atomic Sam
556 Appendix A: Sample Design Document:Atomic Sam