Brainstorming a Simple Spawn System

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wolfenswan
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Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 4:59 pm

Brainstorming a Simple Spawn System

Post by wolfenswan »

I'd be interested to hear your opinion on a spawn system I've finally gotten around to work on.

My goal is to create a system for spawning AI, aimed at two types of mission makers:

* Beginner mission makers who are not yet comfortable with SQF and prefer to mostly use the in-game editor.
* Intermediate to advanced mission makers who want to churn out small to medium sized missions on a regular basis and need a simple spawn system as foundation for their missions, allowing them to focus on building a mission around the set-pieces.

The existing spawn systems (I'm aware of) are all either a bit too involved or too extensive for my taste. Also, no one likes stacked arrays inside a stacked array forming a long line of integers.

Implementation:


1. The main controller uses setVariable to determine how many of which type should be spawned.
2. The synced groups serve as blueprints. The script will copy them as needed. They use setVariable to determine for which type they should be used.
3. Triggers mark the area(s) in which groups should be spawned. They are synced to further logics, indicating special points of interest inside the area. Some group types will focus on these PoIs, rather than being placed fully randomly. A further logic controls some configuration for the trigger, such as maximum amount of groups.

The working prototype can be found on Github.

And that's about it. Mission makers don't need to do anything code-wise besides adding the files into their mission and executing the main script, everything else happens in the editor using logics, triggers and sync-to.

Group AI types currently available:
* Hold & Hold-Poi
* Patrol & Patrol-Poi
* Garrison
* Ambush, Ambush-Poi & Ambush-road

I am contemplating to add road-variants for other commands. Also, the system currently only works really well with vehicles.

Anyway, I'd be interested to hear your opinion:
  • What would you be looking for in a spawn system?
  • Does the current setup seem user-friendly/straightforward enough?
  • Which groups do you imagine being useful besides the ones already mentioned?

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wolfenswan
Posts: 1209
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 4:59 pm

Re: Brainstorming a Simple Spawn System

Post by wolfenswan »

I've added a pdf with the (currently) possible group types & a flowchart for the in-editor setup.

Also the included mission now comes with a number of usage example, documented in-editor.

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