I think we should get an AI programmer's opinion on that. I'm not a programmer nor have I ever been good at programming. Because really I'm not sure where video game AI and scripted actions really blur.
I think that the strider's actions were part of its AI, rather than part of a scripted event, as Valve has been touting the strider as an example of their AI programming. Wether the AI is a true type of AI or an if=>then formula, I'm not sure. - Xombie
It's very tough to gauge from the short video whether the strider scene demonstrates AI or scripting. One way Valve could have employed AI was to give each agent, in this case the Strider:
1) A set of primary goals. Say, killing all humans and staying alive.
2) A set of possible actions. Moving, shooting, couching, jumping, etc.
3) A way to assess its current state. "I'm at 80% health. There are three humans attacking me. I am in range to gore human #1 with my right leg, and can shoot human #2 with my gun, I can't attack human #3 without moving forward 30 feet." Etc.
4) A way to evaluate, given its possible actions and current state, what the best action to take is.
"Since my health is okay and with little effort I can kill human #1, that's what I'll do." Or, "My health is really low, even though I could kill human #1, that would expose me to more attacks that could kill me. Therefore, I'd best run away."
Given sufficient primary, secondary, tertiary (etc.) goals and actions, Valve _may_ have made the Strider "smart" enough to say, "I can kill human #3 if only I could get past this damn overhang. So, [new goal] I should try to get past the overhang. I could do this by blasting it with my hyper-cannon (or whatever it's called). Oh darn, my hyper-cannon didn't completely destroy the overhang. But I still want to get to human #3 and I see that I could, given my knowledge of my of body, crouch under the overhang. That's what I'll do..." And so on.
I'd say that until you can play with the game yourself and see whether the Strider does the same thing every time regardless of its surrounding environment, it's tough to determine if that sequence is scripted or not.
Someone in an earlier posting wrote about the soldier who gets gored by the tentacle thing. He noticed that the soldier acted differently (by pointing the weapon at you and speaking instead of just attacking). He reckoned that that might be a giveaway of a scripted event. I'd have to agree. However, in the case of the strider, I don't see such an obvious tip off.
This comment was edited on May 16, 04:11.