I tried two demos of machine learning AI NPCs, and they didn't convince me AI will lead to anything that immersive sims like Deus Ex haven't already done better
I tried two demos of machine learning AI NPCs, and they didn't convince me AI will lead to anything that immersive sims like Deus Ex haven't already done better
Does an NPC that reacts to anything I say into a microphone actually lead to more player agency?
Ok. So call me when it's ready.
I am unimpressed by the nonsense articles like these coming out about early tech.
You won't convince me that AI can't exceed "taking an arrow to a knee" quality dialogue repeated over and over, and that shit is still the best immersion we've got!
I think we're going to see major NPCs get their dialog hand-written and background characters get AI dialog.
You could have random shopkeepers ramble on for hours about how their kids are doing in school or trouble they're having with a delivery company or whatever topic. Nobody's going to write that, but we could AI generate it.
Exactly!
People are expecting this to take people'a jobs so they're picking apart the tech instead of paying attention.
Making an NPC be run by AI most likely will require more writing than it does now, but the end result will be worth it for games that strive for immersion.
All your base are belong to AIs
It isn't if they can do better, it's if they can do cheaper.
They'll get better when better drives ad revenue.
Thanks for reminding me again that Deus Ex is a dormant IP
Goddamnit
A bunch of generative filler text won't games more immersive. Maybe there is some scope in giving the model hidden details you need to coax out of it LA Noire style but currently everything seems a bit gimmicky.
Maybe it could be a benefit for asking questions to NPCs devs didn't think you'd want to ask that. Like asking a city resident where the market is. Probably not today but perhaps one day.
If you give LLMs that much latitude you are going to have your NPCs spread conspiracy theories and fascist crap left and right in your game and a PR crisis on your hands.
I would feel inclined to use it for some weird shit like if you use an undocumented and never explained method to ask characters questions outside of the choices, they'd pick up their phone and look at you with an uncanny valley/bethesda-like facial expression gain awkward animations and text you the responses even though they weren't characters you could exchange phone contacts with.
Not even "weird" shit, just variations of similar sentiments on various characters.
Like, you have a city with hundreds of people on the street, yesterday something noteworthy happened and everyone has an opinion on that. Each NPC gets a bunch of parameters, some pre-defined, some random, and answers based on that.
Most games, especially so called Triple A games, have too much text and NPC dialog. The last thing we need is more of this crap that the developers don't even care about enough to write. How about we focus on making the gameplay good and not how we can fire more developers?