Series like Dragon Age can use characters and behavior to enhance story

Mar 6, 2012 21:31 GMT  ·  By

With the graphics quality of modern video games close to peaking, one developer has suggested that the next major advances to make a big impact will be those linked to the Artificial Intelligence of both enemies and in-game friends.

Speaking at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, David Graham, the leading Artificial Intelligence programmer working with the Sims development team, stated, “We're getting better at enemy AI. We're also getting better at companion AI as well ... A lot of those 90s era escort missions from hell are coming to an end.”

The developer added, “Ambient AI adds to the immersion of your game, and it can be done simply and cheaply”.

David Graham talked about Dragon Age, another video game published by Electronic Arts, saying that the background characters were always engaged in boring actions and failed to tell the player any sort of story.

He then showed a slide for some sort of Artificial Intelligence code, with comments included to tell a story about the affected character, with preferred actions and things they disliked.

The developer believes that more video games need to take into account how better AI for the background characters can create a sense of place and can allow gamers to engage with the told story in more ways.

The Sims team has made a lot of progress when it comes to Artificial Intelligence development, and some of the interactions I witnessed in the third full game in the series are very complex and come close to the real world, especially when larger groups of characters are involved.

The Maxis team at publisher Electronic Arts is still working on new content for The Sims 3, with the focus of allowing gamers to experience more careers and to get more social spaces to hang out in.

The BioWare team is also thought to be quietly working on a new installment in the Dragon Age series.