Mobile toyz aren't completely random

[Zu]

There's something interesting that I discovered today. Namely, it seems that there's a certain pattern to how a grunt on a mobile toy moves around.

If a grunt does not encounter an obstacle while heading in one direction, then they will continue heading in that direction for a fixed amount of tilez, and only then check if they should randomly go in a different direction.

Gokartz check this every 4 tilez,

Bicyclez (aka Big Wheelz) check this every 3 tilez,

Pogostickz check this every 2 tilez,

and Babywalkerz check this every tile.

To put this in perspective, in these setups, the gruntz will check whether they should change direction every time they drive onto a Hill tile.



Gokartz





Big Wheelz





Pogostickz

[Tomalla]

It's one of those things you get used to rather quickly and don't think of at all. Indeed, after all those years of playing the game, I can't imagine Big Wheelz changing direction every tile like Baby Walkers do, it just feels so unnatural! And yet it didn't even cross my mind that there would be such a surprising pattern behind it - deep inside it just felt "random" and that's all I had to say on that matter.

It's a really great find! Especially the one that makes you wonder: what other mundane game elements (which we pass by every play without putting much thought into them) incorporate some interesting things and surprising patters in them? What if we just pay attention to the most pedestrian elements and see them in a different light, think of them in a different context?

Man, it just ... made me think.

[GooRoo]

So your various grids are only examples showing the maximum number of tiles a Grunt on a certain mobile toy will move before randomly picking a new direction in which to move. Some might get the impression that if said Grunt starts moving in the clear path between HILL tiles, that the Grunt will continue moving in a straight line until reaching an obstacle. That is NOT true; two tiles (for a Pogo Stick) and a new random direction will be chosen. So a solver can force a new direction by standing in the toy user's path ... something I instinctively used when playing Gruntz. Now I KNOW how close I can get, to cause a direction change!

Good job!

[Tomalla]

Here's funny thing - this value turns out to be fully customizable. The values are defined in ATTRIBUTEZ.TXT (further information here: gooroosgruntz.proboards.com/post/22450/thread). Below's the listing where all mobile toys are defined. So you can modify how long a toy lasts or how fast they can travel.


[BABYWALKERGRUNT]
ToyTime = (DWORD)5000
TimePerTile = (DWORD)1200
ToyTiles = (DWORD)1

[BIGWHEELGRUNT]
ToyTime = (DWORD)15000
TimePerTile = (DWORD)600
ToyTiles = (DWORD)3

[GOKARTGRUNT]
ToyTime = (DWORD)20000
TimePerTile = (DWORD)600
ToyTiles = (DWORD)4

[POGOSTICKGRUNT]
ToyTime = (DWORD)10000
TimePerTile = (DWORD)600
ToyTiles = (DWORD)2


The ToyTiles parameter defines how many tiles a toy is supposed to cover before a new direction would be picked.