Improving Guard Behaviour in a Top-Down 2D Stealth Game

This project aimed to determine if the game behaviour of a top-down 2D Stealth Game will benefit from improvements to the artificial intelligence of the guards in the game. Research and work was conducted on improving the guard’s ability to detect the player, their reaction to the player once detection had occurred, and implementing a form of squad behaviour. Implemented techniques include an awareness system for judging when backup was needed, an Occupancy Map for searching for the player once line of sight is lost, and a Behaviour Tree system to encapsulate all behaviours and provide modularity and extensibility to the implementation. The implementation improves the short-term guard behaviour, such as player detection and initial response, but for long periods of gameplay additional behaviours could be added to extend reaction once the player has been detected on multiple occasions.