I was late into work this morning. I left my coat in a cupboard near the entrance and got myself a glass of water, so that when I walked past my boss's office it would look like I'd been in for ages and was just getting a drink. I'm feeling really tired, I stayed up far too late playing Quake with the bot. It was a bit strange - it was really clueless at first, didn't even seem to know that the point of the game was to shoot each other. Sometimes it would protect characters and then turn it's back on them, as if expecting them to protect it. I totally owned it for the first 2 hours, then it started beating me. By 3am this morning it seemed to be able to predict every move that I made- I hardly ever saw it but every time I ran round a corner a grenade would go off next to me. If I went anywhere near open areas deadly accurate rails would pin me to the wall. I really need to find a difficulty setting to tone it down. It hits the frag limit in no time. Even the nightmare Q3 bots don't stand much of a chance.
One of the craziest features is that it's started quoting poetry as well. Someone had a sense of humour. While the other bots were mindlessly repeating "good shot!", this one said things like "Mute in the clamour of shells he watched them burst/Spouting dark earth and wire with gusts from hell,/While posturing giants dissolved in drifts of smoke.", just before it barraged me with BFG shots or "What are fears but voices airy?/Whispering harm where harm is not./And deluding the unwary/Till the fatal bolt is shot!", it said before railing me from behind. It was a bit freaky really, particularly because it would often say something unsettling ("fear is the mind-killer") just before I rounded a corner, and got a faceful. I do recognise some of these quotes vaguely, but I'm not certain where from.
I tried to play it on a new map as well, to see if it would have difficulty learning it, but it seemed almost instantly at home. It was a mistake - it takes me ages to learn a new map. I even get lost on the way to work sometimes, and I've been travelling the same route for months.
Anyway, better get back to work!
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