So I had a problem. I was moving merrily along with a task system based on state machines. And it was becoming an unreadable nightmare. It started out fine. An object is lying loose on the floor of the station. The task dispatcher is aware of the object and wants to store it in a stockpile. So it pulls the object out of its object list and creates a PickupAndStoreObject task. Works fine. Until the what-ifs start. What if the stockpile is de-zoned mid task. What if the entity assigned the task suddenly goes into a starving state and wants to find food instead. What if the item is iron ore and a smelter on the station is looking for iron ore as a raw material.

These are all fine cases. They can all be handled. But now start thinking about inter-dependency between tasks. Between tasks and entities and objects. Initially, I just broke down the task into the smallest possible sub-tasks. PickupObject. MoveToLocation. StoreObject. But each subtask would put the entity into a different state. And the tick loops for my entities were getting insanely long.

Luckily I stumbled on this site https://best.kevin.games

Unwittingly I had been preparing for this. In Goal Oriented Action Planning, a goal (store item in stockpile) is comprised of independent actions. Each subtask would become a self-contained action with all the knowledge of how to execute contained in the action itself. Prerequisites and results would let the actions know how to relate to each other and a Goal planner would be able to find a path tree through multiple actions to achieve its goal. The entity would need to know nothing about execution and would only need a state for working action. The task would tell the entity model what cosmetic states to select. By adding a cost value to every action we can also dictate which actions will be preferred. Prefer taking the iron to a smelter over storing it in a stockpile for instance.

It took me a few days to rework my whole task system but its going to pay dividends. Adding a new action type will be trivial now top gaming chairs. I can even add and remove usable actions to an entity on the fly based on game circumstance. I recommend anyone doing complicated state machine for AI entities take a look at this approach instead.

I’ve got two artists creating assets for the game now so I’m planning for next update to contain concept art and new models to make up for no new pics this post.

Today I want to talk about the needs system, as this is what I am in the middle of implementing and balancing. I’ve modeled Dwarf Star’s needs off of The Sims, as I like the way that system works. The six needs in my system are Energy, Hunger, Thirst, Bio, Social, and Entertainment.

Energy, or fatigue, is pretty easy. The harder your crewman works, the faster his energy will deplete. Energy is restored by relaxing and sleeping. The quality of the rest is modified by furniture available. A high quality bed will be more refreshing than sleeping on a pile of rags, but starting out your crewmen will just have to make do.

 

For hunger, I’ve come up with a system of hydroponics. Your station will start out with the seeds for a couple of plants, potatoes and lettuce perhaps, and be able to grow those in a basic hydroponics bay. Your food types can be expanded later through traders and raider loot. This food will need to be prepped in one of several kitchen work stations. I’m going to have fresh food cold storage and some type of preserved ration food type.

Thirst is self explanatory except for a water source. Comet mining provides ice to the station which can then be stored in the water tanks. I’ll also be adding a machine soon to split the water and provide hydrogen for ship fuel and oxygen for station needs.

Bio is just the bathroom needs. There are a handful of bathroom structure types for use in relieving this. I’m also thinking of adding cleanliness as a need and putting in showers but this might be a bit further down the road.

I’m implementing a social interaction model. Crew interact with each other and form opinions about one another. I’m also putting in some social entertainment options to give to social and entertainment needs. I definitely think the mess hall needs a dom-jot table.

Entertainment, or maybe joy or happiness, is affected by all other needs. Specific entertainment structures are available to refill this need. Happiness will also be increased by the quality of the environment and of the crewman’s quarters.

Adding needs has been the most enjoyable part of game development for me so far. I’m basically adding personalities to my little people and its making the game infinitely more playable. Once needs are finished and I complete the majority of the combat systems, the greater part of the game systems will be in place. At that point it will be more about integrating all the planned content and balancing the tech tree. I’ve also just recruited a character artist. As soon as I have real character models and not just Unreal Engine’s mannequin, I want to start uploading some video of gameplay.

-Hobbes