OK... here is the list of threads that it
could be in:
NPC AI in RPG''s - not likely, but this is where it all started
NPC AI in RPGs (2) - Most likely
Yet another NPC AI thread - this one.. so no way!
Artificial Intuition - doesn''t have it, but is most likely to be of interest to you
A new outlook on RPGs - well... this is a shameless plug
Anyways... About the learning system: Simple definition... As the NPC goes around, she sees another NPC eating a berry... This gets logged in a DB or Dynamic Script file and woohay! Just check if any NPC''s are in range and there you go... using this kind of learning, you tend to leave your NPC''s alone learning the game environment amongst themselves and come back to a smarter lot of NPC''s. This is how you don''t have to specifically tell each NPC what they should be eating. They should have a default food, and learn new ones from there...
The other type of learning is NPC interaction. If somebody does something bad to that NPC, then they need to remember it. This goes hand in hand with Artificial Intuition
.
To find the nearest source of food, the script/database loads up all food references (this comes back to NPCese - languages for NPC''s... From our Emailing list;
NPCAI) and then decides what is the closest source of food. (A* maybe...). If you define all food sources in groups on your map, then it should be easy for an NPC to find its way around. Also, at the beginning of the game, there could be an initialisation that sets up rally points for food... It then becomes A* (or Dijkstra''s) to find how far away each is. This would also have something to do with the priority... the furthur away they are, the more likely they are to want to go start looking for food.
She knows that she needs to eat because that need has a priority, that priority increases over time. When that priority gets a high enough rating, then it takes over and it *becomes* the task.
Is that all you needed to understand?
-Chris Bennett ("Insanity" of Dwarfsoft)
Check our site:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~dwarfsoft/Check out our NPC AI Mailing List :
http://www.egroups.com/group/NPCAI/made due to popular demand here at GDNet :)
But enough of my whining. I wanted to add a little something to what you have said to give each of the npc's a little more individuality. 
