The Perfect Organism: The AI of Alien: Isolation

Created: 2022-03-07T19:32:16-06:00

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• Alien has its own AI system that controls just the alien.
• AI systems are pre-designed behavior trees.
• Subtrees can be conditionally locked so the AI cannot do those things until a trigger has unlocked them. This simulates the AI “learning” to do new things through the game.
• Alien is made to appear more chaotic by having it path based not on optimal global pathfinding but using more localized means like taking a random path or preferring paths that it can readily see.
• Alien uses a job system where tasks are put in a list and it completes them on priority; may cancel other jobs or do a couple of jobs in order.
• Director tries to manage stress level of player; sends alien closer to player if they have been away for too long or further if they have been nearby for too long.
• Pathing is deliberately suboptimal (based on “vision” of alien) since the backtracking can be sold as patrolling or double-checking an area.