Spelunky (Boss Fight Books Book 11)

by Derek Yu

But as difficult as he can be, the shopkeeper has a fairly simple set of behaviors. While he’s alive, there are four main “states” that he can be in: IDLE is a resting state when he’s standing still and watching over his shop. FOLLOW is a state he enters when the player picks up an item in his shop, causing him to walk up to the player and stay close by. Whether he’s following to offer assistance or out of suspicion is left to the player’s imagination. I added this state because in initial tests it was too easy to steal items when he stayed at his counter. ATTACK is the shopkeeper’s angry state, when he’s actively hunting down the player. And in the world of Spelunky he is the judge, jury, and executioner. If he’s not already carrying a shotgun when he enters this state, he will pull one out. He can only pull out one shotgun, though, so if you manage to wrest it from his grasp, he’ll become unarmed (but still dangerous). PATROL is a state that replaces IDLE when the player is wanted as a criminal. In this state, the shopkeeper will walk back and forth holding the shotgun until the player draws near, in which case he will enter his ATTACK state.