(suggestion) npcs react differently based on how you look or act

[idk205]

Something like KCD where enemies will get frightened more easily or be less aggressive depending on the gear you have and the things you do. Like if you kill their friend or ally or if you have high quality gear. Or maybe friendly npc's could tolerate more before they become annoyed or aggressive.

 

[Jimmini]

The AI is already much more detailed than that. Every NPC has their own personality and reacts differently according to a myriad of parameters like character traits, environment, unexpected things, relationship to others, previous encounters, thaumaturgic influence, where others look at, where others go towards and how fast, whether they get pushed around, etc.

This dynamic and organic simulation of characters is what drives the world, is responsible for the emergent gameplay and gives players the freedom to do whatever they want, in Exanima but especially Sui Generis, and what the devs and a lot of us always dreamed about of seeing in games.

That being said, we still have more or less the initial implementation of this. It will be vastly expanded upon, and some important steps towards that are being made currently.

The announcement of the 0.7 update goes into more detail about all of this, which you can find here: http://baremettle.com/forums/index.php?threads/exanima-0-7-0.11627/

Here's an excerpt:

We want all our AI encounters to appear like living, thinking beings, not mindless drones that blindly perform a specific task. They are driven by emotions and other states of mind, they have varying personalities, they remember interactions with others and form relationships, they have social and non selfish behaviours.

You might startle someone unexpectedly and cause them to become scared or agitated, but they may calm and reassess the situation. They might defend themselves, but not wish to harm their attacker and behave accordingly. They can understand a stranger fighting in their defence, and may be grateful. They might act to defend someone they care about. They can even, potentially, form social groups among themselves. These are some simple examples of things that are not predefined game mechanics, but that occur organically as part of the simulation. Players and NPCs are treated in the same exact way, based on observable behaviour alone. There is no cheating, no making decisions based on things they shouldn't know.

 

[Sphincter Ghoul]

I've got an interesting tidbit on one zombie's pathing. The ghoul I'm talking about is the ponytailed zombie wearing a red shirt and carrying a two-handed axe. Many players probably noticed it first when near the compass room. It's a friendly zombie or at least very passive.

I was about to begin the level one puzzle maze, having stacked a pile of timbers near the pit to cross, when I noticed that zombie come walking down the hallway. I was surprised, because I had swept most of the level of zombies and it had been quite a bit of playtime since seeing anything else. I just waited there by the pit but standing very near the wall to not block the hallway. The zombie was marching along since being spotted and turned and bumped right into the iron gate that had been closed. It mulled there awhile and then turned right around and marched off toward the pits and stepped right on in.

 

[Oona]

Yes! I would love hair like this included

Walking passed an npc maybe they'd rustle it up a bit : p

 

[gutsigank]

if i have a womens leather vest and i go up to derrin is he gonna do somethin to me?? i hope this doesnt apply to that particular armor lol