with its fantastic, implausible flying machines suggests a world that does not adhere to
the laws of physics too closely.
Flying
Many of the adversaries Sam fights will be airborne, and it will be important to convey a
sense of believable flight for these creatures. The type of flight motion involved will
vary significantly depending on what type of flying equipment that enemy uses. An
enemy kept aloft by a blimp will only be able to make slow turns and will not be able to
move up or down very quickly. A creature with wings and propellers will be able to
make turns, but will need to be able to bank to do so. Sam is the only character in the
game who will have a rocket-pack, and this pack grants him a significant amount of
maneuverability, something which will prove to be a great advantage over many of the
adversaries he will face. Again, the flight model used by these creatures does not need
to be truly authentic, but must be believable enough that the player gets a sense that
the enemies Sam is fighting are truly flying.
Pathfinding
Detecting Sam is only the first part of the challenge for the robots. Once they have
found Sam, the simpler robots may be too stupid to actually reach him. Pathfinding abil-
ity will vary significantly from the dumbest robot to the smartest. The dumbest robots
will use a “beeline” technique and will be unable to maneuver around objects that get in
their way. Somewhat smarter robots will be able to navigate around objects that they
run into, but can still get hung up on corners. The smartest robots and the humans will
always be able to navigate to the player, including opening doors and pushing obstacles
out of the way as necessary. The player will need to exploit the deficiencies in the
robots’ pathfinding in order to succeed in the game.
Taking Damage
Many of the robots and other adversaries Sam faces will be incapacitated by a single hit
from one of Sam’s projectiles. Other, larger robots may take multiple hits before they
are actually incapacitated. For instance, an electrical robot with heavy shielding may be
able to survive three hits from water balloons before finally short-circuiting. Of course,
different projectiles will have different effectiveness on different enemies, and some
robots or enemies may be completely immune to certain attacks. See the Projectiles
section under Game Elements for more information about the projectiles.
Combat Attacks
The AI agents inAtomic Samwill have a variety of attacks they can use to try to inca-
pacitate young Sam. Many of the enemies will have multiple attacks to choose from in a
given situation; for instance, an NPC may have a melee, close-range attack, and several
projectile, long-range attacks. The NPCs will be able to pick which attack is most effec-
tive, or, when several attacks may be equally effective, will pick one at random or cycle
through them in series.
Appendix A: Sample Design Document:Atomic Sam 557