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Taking It a Step Further

There are many ways to make your creatures more than just target dummies. Unfortunately, there's no way to cover all of them in one article, but I hope I've given you a few ideas to try in your next game. Here are several ways to expand on this system:

  • Give each creature a perceived offensive and defensive value, rather than a single perceived combat value.
  • Develop a special routine for your smarter creatures so they can plan based on where they think their buddies (or their enemies) will go.
  • Add intelligent use of magic items or spells so a creature could attempt to create an obstacle between itself and a dangerous monster or hero, instead of running away.

Of course, we don't really want all the monsters to kill each other off; that wouldn't leave the heroes much to do except walk around and collect the treasure.

For more information on game development or artificial intelligence techniques, check out the following resources:

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