Need tips for maze making

[Fir3l0rD]

I'm working on a maze and i want it to be challenging. Ive incorporated several n ew ideas into it but i want to know if anyone has any tips on making the enemy patrol cycles challenging.

 

[Knight7770]

You could make a complex series of triggers that changes the patrol cycle. (Well, not that complex ) Like, instead of just having a footman going back and forth, you could make it so that he only goes back and forth every X seconds, and when he's not patrolling, he's gone and another area is patrolling.

 

[Fir3l0rD]

hmmmm, so like, instead of just like ordering him to patrol a region, I make it so he does it in a more random way?

 

[Knight7770]

Well, you could do that, but it's not really what I meant. Here's what I mean:

Step 1: When Footman 1 makes his patrol loop (going from the start of the patrol to the finish and back) twice, remove him.
Step 2: Start the trigger that makes Footman 2 (a footman in a different region) patrol.
Step 3: Repeat the first step.

You could make it more complicated and random, like making it have an X% chance for Unit X to patrol, etc.

 

[Fir3l0rD]

so sort of having them criss cross each other? sorry if i'm not getting what you mean

 

[Ashcat]

Well, you could have units move around in a rectangle, like so

You could also get a little bit more crazy, going beyond just a rectangle and adding sudden turns and such to your circle of creep patrol.

If you wanted to make it very difficult, you could have the units switch the direction of their circle of patrol every now and then.

 

[Knight7770]

That's also a good idea, but it's still not exactly what I mean. I'll try an illustration along with some captions:

|---------------------------------------------------|
| X~~~~A | Y |
| | ~ |
| | ~ |
| |__B_______
| |
|---------------------------------------------------|

The box is the map.
X is a footman and the beginning of footman X's patrol.
Y is a footman and the beginning of footman Y's patrol.
A is the end of footman X's patrol.
B is the end of footman Y's patrol.
~ is a patrol-path.
- is a wall.
| is a wall.
Make X patrol; Y is not on the map. When X gets to point A, remove him. When you remove X, create Y. Make Y patrol to point B. When Y gets to point B, remove him. Create X at point A. Make X patrol to point X. When X gets to point X, remove him. Create Y at point B. Make Y patrol to point Y. When Y gets to point Y, remove him. Create X at point A. Etc.

 

[Fir3l0rD]

Well, you could have units move around in a rectangle, like so

You could also get a little bit more crazy, going beyond just a rectangle and adding sudden turns and such to your circle of creep patrol.

If you wanted to make it very difficult, you could have the units switch the direction of their circle of patrol every now and then.

how could i do the sudden turn thing without making a unit-issue x-unit to patrol to... or is that the only way to do it. Could i use a variable to make it random?

 

[Fir3l0rD]

That's also a good idea, but it's still not exactly what I mean. I'll try an illustration along with some captions:

|---------------------------------------------------|
| X~~~~A | Y |
| | ~ |
| | ~ |
| |__B_______
| |
|---------------------------------------------------|

The box is the map.
X is a footman and the beginning of footman X's patrol.
Y is a footman and the beginning of footman Y's patrol.
A is the end of footman X's patrol.
B is the end of footman Y's patrol.
~ is a patrol-path.
- is a wall.
| is a wall.
Make X patrol; Y is not on the map. When X gets to point A, remove him. When you remove X, create Y. Make Y patrol to point B. When Y gets to point B, remove him. Create X at point A. Make X patrol to point X. When X gets to point X, remove him. Create Y at point B. Make Y patrol to point Y. When Y gets to point Y, remove him. Create X at point A. Etc.

is that different than just ordering say, unit x to just continuously move from region to region?

 

[Ashcat]

No, you would have to use move-to commands, because patrol is only back and fourth between 2 points, that rectangle is around 4 points.

And you could use a Region-type variable to order which region the entering unit to move to.

For example, say one of the ghouls enters the bottom right region there, and the trigger tells it to move to "Region_Variable_1". Region Variable one happens to be the bottom left region, so the ghoul moves left.

Now say you have a trigger that runs randomly every 30 - 90 seconds or so, that turns the "Region_Variable_1" variable to the top right region, so the next ghoul that enters the bottom right region will move upwards, instead of left, thus reversing direction. You would have to have a seperate variable for each region, or use an Array.

 

[Fir3l0rD]

i'll try it, looks good

 

[Onnings]

You could also have different waves taking different paths. Not completely different, as that'd force the player to spread his towers too much out, but still varied enough so they don't neccessarily pass the same pathways the same ammount of times, or at all, each round.