London City joins Pathfinder Beta

We are pleased to have been invited by Linden Lab to join the Pathfinder Beta.

Pathfinding is where moving objects have the ability to intelligently find their way around. They can merely roam, or they can pursue or flee. 

In gaming terms, you might have a dragon chasing you.  You may run into a house and close the front door just in the nick of time, but the dragon, seeing its route closed off, will find an intelligent alternative route to you.  Let's hope that in this scenario, you remember to close the windows too!

We are unlikely to have dragons chasing people in London City, but imagine a wild dog walking the streets that could chase people off who get too close, then return to place it patrols.   Or a timid rabbit hopping around in Regent's Park that scurries away when people approach.

Pathfinder objects can also include existing scripting, so heaven forbid that you want to go rabbit hunting, but once you shoot the poor critter, it would fall over and the task of that particular object would either come to an end, or restart, thus resurrecting the poor bunny.

The possibilities are endless and we are very excited to have been invited to the initial beta.

We're a long way from having any of the above, but this 30 second clip shows a couple of simple prims finding their own way around.  It's worth mentioning that they have been told to stray no further than 20 meters of my position.  It will give you and idea anyway.....  And development of Pathfinder in London City, begins today.