Creating Better Npc's
by Stuart Norman · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 03/17/2002 (4:27 pm) · 8 replies
A while back i remember seeing a piece on an English TV show called Tommorows World about Digital Clones. It was where people filled in a long questionaire about their personnal details/political beliefs etc. And at the end were left with a digital avatar that would respond exactly how they would to a line of questioning.
They where desgined to be used by people on the internet, so that when they went offline their digital self could conitnue talking to people.
I think these digital clones could revolutionise Npc's because we could fill in whatever details we wanted and be left with an intelligant autonomous being with his own views etc. So instead of having Npcs spout out a load of pre scripted rubbish, you can ask them whatever you want (within reason) and get a resonably accurate answer.
Did anyone else see this on tommorows world? Does anyone have any more information on these digital clones?
They where desgined to be used by people on the internet, so that when they went offline their digital self could conitnue talking to people.
I think these digital clones could revolutionise Npc's because we could fill in whatever details we wanted and be left with an intelligant autonomous being with his own views etc. So instead of having Npcs spout out a load of pre scripted rubbish, you can ask them whatever you want (within reason) and get a resonably accurate answer.
Did anyone else see this on tommorows world? Does anyone have any more information on these digital clones?
#2
www.bbc.co.uk/science/tw/items/001011_buildinganya.shtml
03/17/2002 (4:47 pm)
I've found a webpage about the show, take a look!www.bbc.co.uk/science/tw/items/001011_buildinganya.shtml
#3
I've been thinking about something like that, especially for continuous online games like MMOG. It would be really cool if your character didn't just disappear when you logged off, but kind of carried about things as you would normally.
Questionnaires would be a big hassle though. It would be great if the avatars could learn from your actions when you are online. Again, this is still a difficult problem.
Sorry, I don't have any links or other resources to add to this discussion.
03/17/2002 (7:45 pm)
I think that's an awesome idea.I've been thinking about something like that, especially for continuous online games like MMOG. It would be really cool if your character didn't just disappear when you logged off, but kind of carried about things as you would normally.
Questionnaires would be a big hassle though. It would be great if the avatars could learn from your actions when you are online. Again, this is still a difficult problem.
Sorry, I don't have any links or other resources to add to this discussion.
#4
NLP is very processor heavy and resource hog to get anything sounding good and feeling like unscripted responses.
But I agree, it would be great for NPC's.
12/30/2003 (5:28 pm)
Now with this train of thought you are getting into natural language processing (Computational linguistics) You don't want to try this on an MMO, it will suck all your resources.NLP is very processor heavy and resource hog to get anything sounding good and feeling like unscripted responses.
But I agree, it would be great for NPC's.
#5
Until then we'll just have to deal with scripted conversations... :(
12/30/2003 (6:48 pm)
It wouldn't be so much of a problem if the cpu load could be offloaded to the client, but it really can't be, unless someone finds a way to throw seed numbers back and forth from the server that had the same effect as NLP responses and such.Until then we'll just have to deal with scripted conversations... :(
#6
Also, I like the things you can reply with in games like Fallout. They're much more clever than anything I'd be likely to think up.
I'd still like to see a game using this technology, but I don't think I'd still want to play mostly games with scripted conversations.
12/31/2003 (9:27 am)
I prefer scripted conversations anyways. I like having a limited number of things that I could say so that I know what sort of things I'm supposed to talk to the npc about.Also, I like the things you can reply with in games like Fallout. They're much more clever than anything I'd be likely to think up.
I'd still like to see a game using this technology, but I don't think I'd still want to play mostly games with scripted conversations.
#7
Since there would most likely be only a very small subset of responses that are custom made for each entity, and the rest would be shared, the resource hogging would not grow very much for each new entity that NLP was used for.
There are currently NLP systems that handle thousands of concurrent sessions on a modest system. While you wouldn't want to have this code integrated into any of the main world servers, it could be used in a seperate server and then the only burden on the world servers would be trivial communication with the NLP server.
There is no reason that you can't mix scripted conversations with NLP technology. In fact, I think that would probably be the best bet. You can have basic facts, hints and triggers embedded in the scripted conversations, and additional information related to non-essential but helpful goals retrievable and triggerable from dynamic conversations. In every list of scripted responses the player is given, you could have a final option of 'chat' or 'speak directly' So you wouldn't necessarily need to chat up the NPCs to 'win' or progress in the game, but doing so could enhance the experience, or help lead you to secrets that you would only otherwise be able to find by extensive searching. Or simply entertain you with brash comments and witty retorts. It would add another dimension to the game without detracting from the tried and true methods.
Peace
02/27/2004 (7:43 am)
I know this thread is old, but I figured I would throw in my 2 cents, since I'm new to these forums. I think that MMOGs are where NLP is most likely to be valuable. As somebody mentioned earlier, NLP is a resource hog. For this reason it would not be wise to offload it to the client.Since there would most likely be only a very small subset of responses that are custom made for each entity, and the rest would be shared, the resource hogging would not grow very much for each new entity that NLP was used for.
There are currently NLP systems that handle thousands of concurrent sessions on a modest system. While you wouldn't want to have this code integrated into any of the main world servers, it could be used in a seperate server and then the only burden on the world servers would be trivial communication with the NLP server.
There is no reason that you can't mix scripted conversations with NLP technology. In fact, I think that would probably be the best bet. You can have basic facts, hints and triggers embedded in the scripted conversations, and additional information related to non-essential but helpful goals retrievable and triggerable from dynamic conversations. In every list of scripted responses the player is given, you could have a final option of 'chat' or 'speak directly' So you wouldn't necessarily need to chat up the NPCs to 'win' or progress in the game, but doing so could enhance the experience, or help lead you to secrets that you would only otherwise be able to find by extensive searching. Or simply entertain you with brash comments and witty retorts. It would add another dimension to the game without detracting from the tried and true methods.
Peace
#8
02/27/2004 (9:35 am)
Gerald, you raise a few good points, though I still think that the load for a persistent world game would be quite high. There might be some creative ways to get around that bottleneck though, and if you have ideas or experience in this area, email me and we can discuss some of those ideas. I'm always looking for creative and talented team members for my project. 
Torque Owner Jay