Hi Guys,
New to the forums and I gotta say, I’m liking the format!
After watching the new video on AI I thought I would add a couple of suggestions to try and help create this idea of a living world. That is in no way to say the AI and animation look bad! In fact it looks like it has the potential to be one of the best. Which is why I’m so keen to get in as much as possible.
Many of these are what could be described as ‘Idle’ or ‘subtle’ animations but may have a big effect on the overall feel of the world.
Social life - Too many games treat walking to and from a place as a static movement. Having couples hold hands or drunken friends embraced arms over each others shoulders makes for something a bit more personal.
If someone’s late for work or on an important errand, they should be running. If they’re running in the rain. They could slip to which someone may help them up.
Kids can run pulling each other along and parents can carry them on their shoulders (might make the whole, aggression thing to hard though). Talking about aggression…
Threats - It’s been mentioned that if you pull out your sword in a town/village. Someone will run and get the guards. However, I would like to see a little more interaction from the common NPC…
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Couples should protect each other. Pull out a sword at someones wife and they will normally try to defend them. While a single person my just run.
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Children should hide behind adults or run indoors
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Others may run to the blacksmith to grab a sword and be a hero.
Conversations - We’ve not really seen much of how a character interacts with NPC’s in terms of conversations. However, these look more at the general chatter of the town.
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Whispering. Something I’m surprised not more games do is animate two people whispering to each other. It saves any need for voice actors but adds to the feel of a town’s gossip.
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Drunken singing. If Assassins creed IV showed us anything, it was that a good dose of NPC singing can make even the most mundane actions have a bit of passion. The tavern scene would of been that little bit better with a few of the men banging their tankards on the table and singing. Plus, a bard or two in town wouldn’t go a miss.
These are just a few of the things banging around in my head but I thought it would open up the chance for everyone to throw in their ideas and hopefully a few of them get into the game!
Further additions!
Animal NPC’s It may be overkill as animals really do play a small part in the game and the cost of animation/AI design isn’t cheap. However;
- Animals should also interact with each other. For example, dogs could chase sheep who flock together. Chickens can chase dogs if they get to close to nests (I’ve seen it happen! Even I’ve run from an irate chicken!). Dogs should play together or be territorial.
- Rats! I’ve not seen rats in any of the gameplay videos but these would of been common at the time and would scare children and kill chickens
- Game which is hunted by NPC’s. Again, another main source of food during those times.