WisePounder: Zombie Pounder

This tutorial was originally created by wisemx. It was originally posted on SDKnuts.net.

Events in this project:

1. Zombie tries to break glass to get to Alyx.
2. Glass breaks, Zombie attacks, Alyx shoots Zombie.

The Zombie isn’t really trying to get to Alyx, it just looks that way. When the map spawns I’m using ai_relationship entities and an npc_bullseye. It’s actually the invisible npc_bullseye the Zombie hates.

There are three ai_relationship entities in this project.

1. Alyx likes the Zombie, until the glass breaks, then hates the Zombie.
2. Zombie hates the npc_bullseye.
3. Zombie likes the Player.

They all start Active.

To get the Zombie to pound on the glass I used a scripted_sequence.

• Name: seq_pounder
• Target NPC: zombie_pounder
• Action Animation: WallPound
• Move to Position: Run
• Flags: Repeatable, Override AI

Because the WallPound animation is short I’ve used a logic_timer to replay the animation.

• Name: zombie_timer
• Start Disabled: Yes
• Use random time: No
• Refire interval: 1

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTimer	glass_counter	Add	1	0.00	No
	OnTimer	seq_pounder	BeginSequence		0.50	No

Notice the logic_timer adds a value to a math_counter. These are really simple to use if you give them a chance.

• Name: glass_counter
• Initial value: 0
• Min value: 0
• Max value: 3

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnHitMax	bigwindow	Break		0.50	Yes

Experiment with the timing of the sequence and the Max value for the math_counter to alter the effect.

When the map loads the Zombie is spawned and the logic_timer is then activated 3 seconds later. This is done with a trigger_once.

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnTrigger	glass_pounder_spawn	Spawn		0.00	Yes
	OnTrigger	zombie_timer	Enable		3.00	Yes

The Zombie is spawned by way of an npc_template_maker.

• Name: glass_pounder_spawn
• Start disabled: Yes
• Number of NPCs: 1
• Freq: 1
• Max live: 1
• Name of template NPC: zombie_pounder
• Radius: 256

	My Output	Target Entity	Target Input	Parameter	Delay	Only Once
	OnSpawnNPC	seq_pounder	BeginSequence		1.50	Yes

As you can see, from this npc_template_maker the scripted_sequence is first activated.

These are the properties for Alyx:

• Name: alyx01
• Weapon: Alyx Gun
• Flags: Gag, Fall to ground, Think outside PVS, Don’t drop weapons

Zombie:

• Name: zombie_pounder
• Flags: Gag, Fall to ground, Template NPC

As you can see from the image below there are a lot of entities used in this project.

It helps if you keep them tidy like the image above, as you add more and more NPC’s and sequences you don’t want to go crazy trying to figure out what you’ve done. The glass in this project is func_breakable_surf. Please refer to the project file below for properties and settings I didn't list on this page.

See also

• Example VMF
• Example VMF backup