How does a Quake bot (QBot) work in general?
QC bots are mostly special case monsters. They *think* each frame and assess each of their goals in order of priority, if there's someone to shoot then blat them, if they're in reach of a collectable then collect it, if there's none of the above the begin the move code.
There are a few additional bits that a bot has over a standard monster, these are the fakey client elements that add in scores and the like.
Is it possible to change arbitrary Quake monster AI into a QBot?
Yes, it's actually not that hard. Change the monster navigation or think code to that of a bots and then you've got your hybrid.
Are there any QBot standards?
Most quake bots are written into the progs.dat, this tends to mean that compiling multiple bots together is pretty tricky. If you have engine based bots then you can potentially fake clients and have them compete over a network like normal players. The closest thing you get to standards are the fact that many bots are based off a common source - IE Reaper clones, tutor bot clones, globot clones etc.
Does some QBots use state space search?
Not that I know of, to do it in QC you'd have to record a bots eye view of the level as it explored it. It would potentially be easier from within an engine as you could cheat and give the bot advanced knowledge of the level.
Do these QBots communicate together
I had heard of one or two bots that were looking into this kind of thing, but I've not seen it done yet.
Are there some QBots who do chat?
Yeah, IIRC there was a lesson for the tutor bot that gave it some ELIZA type skills.
Disclaimer...
It's been years since I did any actual QC coding, so if anyone wants to contradict anything I've put here, do feel free
