Welcome to the School of Stealth, a GMTK miniseries on how stealth games work. In episode one, I’m going to tackle guard perception and awareness. How do guards see and hear, and how do different solutions lead to different game experiences? Subscribe to ensure you catch future episodes.

Support Game Maker's Toolkit on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/GameMakersToolkit

Sources

Modeling AI Perception and Awareness in Splinter Cell: Blacklist | GDC Vault (Free Access)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020436/Modeling-AI-Perception-and-Awareness

Spaces in the Sandbox: Tactical Awareness in Open World Games | GDC Vault (Free Access)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1018038/Spaces-in-the-Sandbox-Tactical

Building an AI Sensory System: Examining The Design of Thief: The Dark Project | Gamasutra
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131297/building_an_ai_sensory_system_.php

(Audio) Building AI Sensory Systems | GDC Vault (Free Access)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1022627/Building-AI-Sensory

The Last of Us: Human Enemy AI | GDC Vault (Free Access)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020338/The-Last-of-Us-Human

Mark Of The Ninja And The Business Of Stealth | Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/09/07/mark-of-the-ninja-and-the-business-of-stealth-how-klei-entertainment-set-out-to-make-the-perfect-stealth-game/

Dishonored Badass Stealth High Chaos | StealthGamerBR ™ on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKyT19o-Nl8

Find out more

Can You See Me Now? Building Robust AI Sensory Systems | GDC Vault (Free Access)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1026497/Can-You-See-Me-Now

How Thief's Stealth System Almost Didn't Work | Ars Technica on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzD9ldLoc3c

Game Design Deep Dive: Dynamic detection in Shadow Tactics | Gamasutra
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/290733/Game_Design_Deep_Dive_Dynamic_detection_in_Shadow_Tactics.php

Of Choice and Breaking New Ground: Designing Mark of the Ninja | GDC Vault (Free Access)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1017791/Of-Choice-and-Breaking-New

Creating the AI for the Living, Breathing World of Hitman: Absolution | GDC Vault (Free Access)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1019353/Creating-the-AI-for-the

Video chapters

00:00 - Introduction
01:11 - Simulated Eyes and Ears
04:32 - Reducing Ambiguity
07:33 - Showing the Sensory Systems
10:03 - Conclusion

Games shown in this episode (in order of appearance)

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Konami, 2004)
Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Ubisoft Toronto, 2013)
Dishonored (Arkane Studios, 2012)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (Kojima Productions, 2014)
Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal, 2009)
Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios, 2015)
Mark of the Ninja (Klei Entertainment, 2012)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games, 2018)
Invisible, Inc. (Klei Entertainment, 2015)
The Last of Us (Naughty Dog, 2013)
ECHO (Ultra Ultra, 2017)
Metal Gear Solid (Konami, 1998)
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Ubisoft Montreal, 2005)
Thief: The Dark Project (Looking Glass Studios, 1998)
Hitman 2 (IO Interactive, 2018)
Far Cry New Dawn (Ubisoft Montreal, 2019)
Aragami (Lince Works, 2016)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoftware, 2019)
Dishonored 2 (Arkane Studios, 2016)
Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games, 2017)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios, 2009)
Assassin's Creed: Origins (Ubisoft Montreal, 2017)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions, 2015)
Volume (Mike Bithell, 2015)
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (Mimimi, 2016)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (Eidos Montreal, 2016)
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (Sucker Punch Productions, 2002)
The Marvellous Miss Take (Wonderstruck, 2014)
DOOM Eternal (id Software, 2020)
Outlast (Red Barrels, 2013)
Alien: Isolation (The Creative Assembly, 2014)
The Swindle (Size Five Games, 2015)
Styx: Shards of Darkness (Cyanide, 2017)

Music used in this episode

Splinter Cell: Double Agent soundtrack - Michael McCann
Systematic - Lee Rosevere (https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com)
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory soundtrack - Amon Tobin & Jesper Kyd
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes soundtrack - Harry Gregson-Williams and co