[Adonthell-devel] Path finding braindump

[Kai Sterker]

In going over the task list, I noticed that path finding was only
mentioned as one-liner, despite its complexity. It clearly deserves a
task of its own, but I didn't want to add it without gathering some
more ideas and opinions.

First, the basics:
* Path finding is used from character schedule scripts, which need to
set a location to reach and a callback to be notified when the
character has arrived (or when the location is unreachable).
Everything else should be automatic.
* Location will be defined in map coordinates (x, y, z), but there
should be ways to retrieve the coordinates of certain points of
interest: doors/entrances, named map areas, etc ...
* Determining the path happens incrementally over multiple game
cycles, but character should start walking (almost) immediately

On top of that:
* Ability to follow a moving target. Useful for party members or during combat.
* Path finding takes advantage of characters ability for
jumping/climbing/falling (which may differ from character to
character)
* Optionally, cost based path finding, where different terrain has
different cost. This should keep NPCs on the roads instead of cutting
across the lawn. For animals, or in times of danger, physically
shortest path needs precedence though.
* Possibly caching of (lengthy) paths and/or a predefined list of
paths between way points for frequently travelled routes

That's what I can think of right now.

Kai