EPTOn August 15 2007 21:34 aka_star wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
Is that really how it worked? I don't think it did, because you couldn't design a map where 2 ground units could possibly coexist on the same z axis. I'm fairly certain the 3d aspects of war3's gameplay are purely aesthetic+ Show Spoiler +
Path finding is problematic especially in a 3D environment, this is why games like counter strike uses nodes on the map to help bots navigate around because its an extremely difficult task to do. it requires more computations to process where a unit can and can not go in 3D space and how it gets there, in SC it was a relational 2D block algorithm. Where the square the unit occupies is non walk able by other units, simple and works great... for 2D
WC3 being 3D used invisible 3D bounding boxes to help a unit know its place in 3D space, so it could move accordingly over the different height terrain the issue there is that the bounding box could rotate with the unit and if it would touch another unit's bounding box then it would want to separate itself because as pointed out with the tank example spinning around - if they were too clumped together then any rotation of this invisible box would cause a 'hit' to trigger and the unit would have to recalculate how it should move to get to its destination and possibly spin around in frustration when the box just touches slightly. The way around this (how players get surrounds on heros) is to constantly tell units you want it to go HERE and constantly issue the order, slowly the path becomes clear for the unit and it will move as intended.
SC2 is going to focus on height which raises more issues like how does a unit like the colossus find its way around a group of units to move up a cliff? Could it step over them? all or some? Step on them? Then what if another colossus was blocking its path from the top of the cliff, does it wait, move around? What about when the group moves together how does it move in relation to the group? There are many issues for blizzard to consider when programming how a unit interacts with its surroundings.
I'm not convinced we'll see an exact SC1 type pathing due to the nature of the environment but like everyone else I do hope a similar approach could be worked out as WC3 was somewhat annoying having to constantly issue orders to get the units where you wanted them.
I hope this post has pointed out some of the issues blizzard will be considering behind the scenes.
WC3 being 3D used invisible 3D bounding boxes to help a unit know its place in 3D space, so it could move accordingly over the different height terrain the issue there is that the bounding box could rotate with the unit and if it would touch another unit's bounding box then it would want to separate itself because as pointed out with the tank example spinning around - if they were too clumped together then any rotation of this invisible box would cause a 'hit' to trigger and the unit would have to recalculate how it should move to get to its destination and possibly spin around in frustration when the box just touches slightly. The way around this (how players get surrounds on heros) is to constantly tell units you want it to go HERE and constantly issue the order, slowly the path becomes clear for the unit and it will move as intended.
SC2 is going to focus on height which raises more issues like how does a unit like the colossus find its way around a group of units to move up a cliff? Could it step over them? all or some? Step on them? Then what if another colossus was blocking its path from the top of the cliff, does it wait, move around? What about when the group moves together how does it move in relation to the group? There are many issues for blizzard to consider when programming how a unit interacts with its surroundings.
I'm not convinced we'll see an exact SC1 type pathing due to the nature of the environment but like everyone else I do hope a similar approach could be worked out as WC3 was somewhat annoying having to constantly issue orders to get the units where you wanted them.
I hope this post has pointed out some of the issues blizzard will be considering behind the scenes.
