PODBOT 2.5 WAYPOINTING TUTORIAL

Waypoints are locations in the maps that the bots will use when navigating. They allow the bot to roam about the map without having to blindly bump into walls. Waypoints can be thought of like the bread crumbs in the Hansel and Gretel story. They are something marking a path to make it easier to follow. The waypoints are not displayed while the game is being played. The bots "know" which way to go by following the path laid out by these waypoints.

In order to get the bots to cover the entire map when playing the game, waypoints should be laid out all over the map. Without the waypoints the bots will just randomly run around and will tend to stay in the same area. Waypoints also allow the bot to know where specific goals are in the game. You couldn't play capture the flag unless you knew where the flag was and where the flag needed to be taken after being captured. Waypoints are what makes all of these things possible. Bots with sufficiently advanced waypoint information and algorithms would be able to find the shortest distance between points in the map and navigate from their current position to some goal on the other side of the map.

This document describes the commands needed to create or edit a waypoint file (to be used with POD-Bot). When creating or editing a waypoint file it is best NOT to have any bots wandering around at the same time. Create a LAN game, and join the game then start laying out waypoints for a map. Save the waypoint file, disconnect from the server, then start the game again, this time with the bots to see how well (or poorly) they follow the waypoints you have created.