ABSTRACT
Searching is so second nature to us that apart from the inconvenience of having misplaced something, we’re naturally able to effectively track down missing items. What thought processes do we go through while we’re searching? How can we take these and apply them to our nonplayer characters (NPCs) in order to make them appear more realistic when they’re searching? If you’re searching for answers to these questions, then look no further!
The main focus of this chapter is to outline the way in which NPCs search for hostile targets in a title that I am unable to name. Since the target in this game is a player character, the target will be referred to as “the player”; however, in terms of implementation, this could be any target that is hostile to the NPC. The assumption is also made that the player is actively hiding from hostile NPCs. Despite these assumptions, a lot of the principles described here are suitable for almost any type of search. With that in mind, there are two main types of search that can occur in the game.
