Inspiration can come from many unexpected places.
Recently, a specialist from CD Projekt RED spoke at the Game Industry Conference. Senior AI programmer Maciej Czelmer explained how they redesigned the police behavior in Cyberpunk 2077.
It turned out Pac-Man played a part. At CDPR they studied the ghosts in that game and adapted a similar approach for law enforcement:
Remember Pac-Man, where each ghost pursued the player using its own tactics? We implemented something similar in our chases. For example, one vehicle might take the most direct route to the player, while another attempts a flank or tries to cut them off at an intersection. Altogether, we employed seven distinct pursuit strategies for the cars involved in chases.
The developer emphasized that Pac-Man was just one of many sources of inspiration. They aimed to leave players with an opportunity to escape:
We wanted to encircle the player with pursuing vehicles, while still making an effort to leave at least one “road to freedom”—in other words, an escape route. That said, situations in Night City, particularly during chases, can change rapidly, so the word “make an effort” is used intentionally.
The developers’ ideas for Cyberpunk 2077 ultimately resonated with many players; the revamped police system received praise.
Source: iXBT.games