function GroupAIStateBesiege:_assign_group_to_retire(group)
It's been about three years since the (rocky) release of my own personal mod, Mayhem: Aegis (AKA Snap's Spawngroups, AKA Snap's Mod).
The modification has, in a sense, lived a very odd life despite the several identity crises it has suffered.
It started out as merely just throwing rocks together. I wanted to see what would happen if I put a line of code here, and another line there. Maybe take a few lines of code from another mod and try to force it in my mod somewhere... even though 90% of the time, it would either not work or just downright crash the game.
I didn't know what I was doing. I knew nothing about the game's inner workings or what anything did. Hell, I still wouldn't be able to create original LUA code even if my life depended on it. But for some reason, my desire was insatiable. I still yearned to find order in the chaos I was creating.
Project: Aegis went from scrambled snippets of code to scrambled ideas of a madman.
As I figured out how things were working, more ideas flooded into my head as to what could be done. I set out to turn Project: Aegis into something grand. Something no other Payday 2 modder had done before.
I wanted Aegis to be versatile. I wanted it to be the one stop shop for customizing the enemies to your liking. I wanted it to breathe a little bit more life and soul into the Payday experience.
I wanted it to be an antidote for the genuine problems the community never complained about. For the most part, I accomplished that.
The only issue is... it was an antidote for the genuine problems the community never complained about.
Look, I've written enough of a novel on the life of some short-lived independent project that very few heard of, even fewer experienced, and nobody now follows. This experiment has, however, even in retrospect, been both an eye-opener and an eye-closer.
The SNAP is no stranger to complaining about Payday 2’s issues. The cherry picking of the smallest problems comes with all the time playing it. It is the reason I admire new players, because they are experiencing the magic of the unknown. Sort of like listening to a great song for the first time. Once you've listened to it a thousand times... what else is there?
Thing is, I dug deep into the game's code and found too much. So many things have been left unused, broken, or not up to full potential. It’s actually ludicrous, especially considering the meme-infested clownshow we have now. There could be so much more... so no wonder people mod their games to hell and back. Overkill has left the game in a strange state that I would dare to describe as “liminal”.
You could probably make the case that it isn’t that surprising, given Payday 3 is just around the corner. But I’d argue the opposite - they obviously still have the resources to create full-fledged maps, campaigns, and new enemies (at the time of writing this)... so why can't they fix the small, blatant issues that still exist? Take it from me: many things in Payday 2's programming can be fixed with only a few lines of code.
So why leave it in disarray? Why squander the opportunity to treat newcomers to the series with overwhelming magic? Something that inundates people so much, they have to come back for more - like a trip to Disneyland. So much so that even the rabbit holes of intricacies, secrets, and nuances breeds its own cult-like following.
Payday 2 has no such following. I’m genuinely surprised it even reaches the top 100 most played Steam games (though it wouldn’t surprise me if it's inflated with bots that do nothing but jump from server to server). The game isn’t discussed anywhere in the mainstream. Discussions that DO pop up are usually nostalgic reflections of better times. The game has, as the zoomers put it, “fell off”. It has degraded into nothing more than memes and powertripping.
So where did it go wrong?
The Decline of Payday 2
It was a slow layering of excrement that molded Payday into what it is today.
When the developers decided to replace a grounded criminal story with Sci-Fi gobbledygook.
When they decided a gang of criminals with RPGs and miniguns stealing nuclear warheads could be forgotten quicker than a victim of a neuralyzer.
When they decided to completely butcher the once badass crew with a bunch of dolts who are the complete opposite of masterminds.
Jimmy, a literal crack addict. Jiro... the lad doesn't even speak English. Ethan and Hila from H3H3... need I say more⸮
And then there's jacket. A "mysterious" mute that communicates through a tape recorder. You've got to be kidding me. Imagine entrusting your hundreds of millions of dollars and your top-secret heisting plans with some creep that doesn't even talk.
In my opinion, the floodgates of shit really started to open when this dork came along. This nincompoop's schtick is one thing, but it also taught Overkill that they could get away with shoehorning any shitty character they could find into the gang. And got away with it they did.
Now we have a whole bunch of nobodies who exhibit ZERO chemistry with each other in-game. With no aspect of communication, there's no sense of trust. Quite ironic given much of the game's early story was breaking Hoxton out of prison because someone snitched.
Payday 2, as far as I'm concerned, ended with the Hoxton Revenge heist. In my headcanon, the whole "Dentist" sci-fi illuminati bullshittery never happened.
Where are you going with all this?
Let's go back a bit.
Modding is typically the answer to the age-old "what if" question in gaming. What if we replaced the dragons with Thomas the Tank? What if we replaced all the zombies with teletubbies?
For Project Aegis, that wasn't the case. Fundamentally, this mod was an answer, not a question.
It was an answer not only to the degradation of the game, but to the untapped potential from the very beginning.
I was an avid enjoyer of Payday 2 since 2014. I watched the game degenerate with time... and memes, but my gripes go even further than that.
Payday provided a sandbox for Agents of Simulation and Strategy (ASSes) but it wasn't executed quite as well as the game's code insinuated.
While taking a break from Payday 2, I discovered this game called "F.E.A.R.". I quickly found out why F.E.A.R.'s AI sets the game apart from many.
F.E.A.R, a horror shooter game that had no right going all out on advanced AI, given you can just cheese all of it with slow motion... but I digress. The enemies communicate their strategy with each other, take cover, and flank. Rarely do you find ASSes that take the road less traveled just to flank you.
It's always a welcome surprise. Having NPCs surprise you with an occasional "gotcha" moment is charming. So why don't more games do it?
SWAT 4 also deserves an honorable mention. A seriously tactical experience where enemies are entirely unpredictable in both behavior and location. You think you've cleared an area out? You might come back to it a few minutes later, only to be shot in the head, because one enemy decided to retreat across the map and hide.
Another worthy mention is Left 4 Dead, a zombie survival game like none other. You and your... uh... "teammates" must fight your way through hordes of the undead. The game uses an AI system called the Director, which dynamically changes the pace of the game depending on how the players are doing...
Well, most of the time.
Sometimes the game sends a lot of enemies your way, while other times it gives you a chance to catch your breath. Occasionally, it even plays unsettling music to heighten the tension. The best part is almost every section in every campaign plays differently each time.
Given interest in AI has exploded recently, I do feel there is a deep-seated need for AI that responds to the player and takes them by surprise. There aren't enough games where enemies (or a system) cooperates and strategizes.
Agents of Simulation and Strategy (ASSes) are the best catalysts for that. With Payday 3 just around the corner, I am hoping Overkill has learned that no one wants another horde shooter where the cops line up in front of a sentry gun and get mowed down like bowling pins.
SWAT AI that changes tactics and approach according to the player's arsenal/playstyle could really make the game stand out.
But I'm not holding my breath.
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