Dear FD: How To Code Realistic Spawns, Sincerely: Another Game Developer.

[dubsdj]

Hi Friends!

You know what grinds my gears? Terrible enemy spawn mechanics! You know the kind I mean - the sort where poor programming leads to a very obvious maintenance of the same number(s) of enemies no matter what you, the player, try to do. For example, Ngalia. Oooh Ngalia. You would think that a Compromised Nav Beacon wouldn't spawn police, but you would be wrong! They are called bounty hunters, and for the last two hours they have spawned consistently and relentlessly - always one wing, always close to my ship, always scanning me first. This mechanic is not exclusive to compromised nav beacons, it's pretty much a staple throughout encounters in Elite. In asteroid fields for example, you will always have at least one ship coming to harass you. Near certain bases marked as "impossible to beat solo", you will *always* have at least one fighter hanging around. It seems to me, that someone at Frontier forgot to code some decent spawn mechanics. So without further ado ladies and gentlemen, I, a fellow game developer, present to you and Frontier - a nicer way to spawn enemies!

spawnCountDown = minSpawnTime + rand() % (maxSpawnTime - minSpawnTime);

There you go! Easy isn't it? Obviously, timing is in milliseconds.

You are welcome.

hehe brilliant! I always knew it was a one liner fix
+rep

 

[Rafe Zetter]

I humbly apologize for using the word 'number' when I should more correctly have used 'proportion'.

On the subject of "empty arguments", OFC there are games designers who don't know what makes a good game. The history of game development is littered with stupid and failed ideas, so your statement had no more merit than mine.

Empty pronouncements beget empty responses.

So why did you post what you posted, in the way that you did, and then quote my reply in a way that was clearly derisory.

It was a trolling post and we both knew it, and you had the gall to try to defend it.

Also why should an empty pronoucement beget an empty response?

It would be far far easier for me to do that and just give unrelated one liners as SO MANY of the forum does (you included) - instead I try to give the reasons WHY I disagree, WHAT my reasoning process is and WHERE that has lead my conclusions.

And for that you and Max factor and a great many others have decided to continually misquote me out of context, alter the wording of quotes and a number of other "tricks" in attempts to shut me down or deride what I'm saying.

If you think a pronoucement is empty, say WHY, rather than make a cheap shot.

Just like your post in my "guess what hit the headlines today" thread regarding how FDev lack of action to CL has now reached the awareness of the gaming media at large - so FDev's TWO attempts to shut down that particular topic hasn't worked.

No-one asked PC gamer to write that - and they would not write something they felt was either false or libellous.

and yet you still felt the need to attack me, personally, instead of comment on the topic at hand or just say nothing and move on.

 

[Shinji Ikari]

So why did you post what you posted, in the way that you did, and then quote my reply in a way that was clearly derisory.

It was a trolling post and we both knew it, and you had the gall to try to defend it.

Also why should an empty pronoucement beget an empty response?

It would be far far easier for me to do that and just give unrelated one liners as SO MANY of the forum does (you included) - instead I try to give the reasons WHY I disagree, WHAT my reasoning process is and WHERE that has lead my conclusions.

And for that you and Max factor and a great many others have decided to continually misquote me out of context, alter the wording of quotes and a number of other "tricks" in attempts to shut me down or deride what I'm saying.

If you think a pronoucement is empty, say WHY, rather than make a cheap shot.

Just like your post in my "guess what hit the headlines today" thread regarding how FDev lack of action to CL has now reached the awareness of the gaming media at large - so FDev's TWO attempts to shut down that particular topic hasn't worked.

No-one asked PC gamer to write that - and they would not write something they felt was either false or libellous.

and yet you still felt the need to attack me, personally, instead of comment on the topic at hand or just say nothing and move on.

I definetly don't enjoy pointless arguments/comments in the forums but I've experienced first hand (in here OFC) how people like to derail a thread on the virtue of not directly challenging the OPs argument, I guess this ain't the place for that.

 

[Valethar]

Just goes to show that pen pushers and accountants have no idea in what makes an awesomely successful game!

{cough} EA {/cough}