/7/ randomated beings

• animated aliens that are programmed to behave like living beings
• all based on one movie clip playing back randomly and reactively (show dude clip)
• randomness within a limited set of actions creates crowd behaviour
• fundamentally, the alien code works much like the text animation code
  • each alien has a start point
  • each alien follows a (moving) destination--the mouse pointer
  • each alien has a speed (it just varies depending on distance from destination)
  • each alien is created by makeDude(), which assigns random size, speed, movement tolerance levels (like spawnTitle() created letters).
  • aliens aren't created all at once. timing is dynamic--the more beings there are on screen, the less likely a new one will spawn.

code overview: dudeFollow()

• dudeFollow() moves aliens towards the mouse pointer if necessary; otherwise, instigates idle actions
• zones dictate speed and animation loop: runDist, jogDist, walkDist, idleDist (creates dispersion)
• here we set the dude's animation loop and speed for each zone:
  if (dist <= dude.idleDist) {
  // ...assign random idle behaviour
} else {
  if (dist > dude.runDist) {
    dude.gotoAndStop("running");
    var distancePerSecond = dude.runSpeed;
  } else if (dist > dude.jogDist) {
    dude.gotoAndStop("jogging");
    distancePerSecond = dude.jogSpeed;
  } else {
    dude.gotoAndStop("walking");
    distancePerSecond = dude.walkSpeed;
}

var moveAmount = distancePerSecond * numSeconds;
• if a dude is in the idle zone, then do idle behaviours: sit, jump, kneel, idle (look around)
  var randomDudeAction = myRandom(0, 100);

if (randomDudeAction < 20 && !dude.busy) {
  // Only jump at the mouse if the dude's really close to it...
  var mouseYdist = dude._y - _root._ymouse;
  if (dist < 15 && (mouseYdist > 25 && mouseYdist < 50)) {
    dude.gotoAndStop("jumping");
    dude.busy = true;
  } else {
    dude.gotoAndStop("idle");
    dude.busy = true;
  }
} else if (randomDudeAction < 30 && !dude.busy) {
  dude.gotoAndStop("kneeling");
  dude.busy = true;
} else if (randomDudeAction < 50 && !dude.busy) {
  dude.gotoAndStop("idle");
  dude.busy = true;
} else {
  if (!dude.busy) {
    dude.gotoAndStop("sitting");
    dude.busy = true;
  }
}
• use dude.busy to prevent dude from starting something new while he's busy doing something else.
• stutter steps between jog and walk
• inspiration: conker's character animation (7.2mb)
  • context-sensitive idle actions: juggling, watching butterflies, shaking water off
  • smooth transitions between running/walking/jumping/etc
  • conker looks at you when camera points to his face.