Original post by TechnoGoth I think you should think about the idea form the other direction rather then first designing a system of NPC decision making. Instead design a system for environment representation, which will determine the inputs available to the AI. Once you have that you can start working out some behavioral modeling to determine actions.
Inputs -> Decision Model -> Output
Actually, that is good advice. I'm not trying to achieve a realistic representation of human motive, but rather the illusion of that. I guess it would only make sense to focus on inputs and outputs to the system, for those are the only things the player truly experiences.
Environment is more of a game-specific thing though. I guess I need to think up a scenario before I can really get cracking.
I think it'd be a good starting point to design a small village. Take a dozen or a score of NPCs, assign them different professions, and program them to be self sufficient (or nearly so).
You'd have mostly farmers, a blacksmith, maybe an innkeeper, and of course the village leader, all with associated familial attachments (i.e., spouse, children, dog and cat, etc.)
Each one should have Home and Work places, and each should have a default daily routine.
Original post by Heaven I think it'd be a good starting point to design a small village. Take a dozen or a score of NPCs, assign them different professions, and program them to be self sufficient (or nearly so).
You'd have mostly farmers, a blacksmith, maybe an innkeeper, and of course the village leader, all with associated familial attachments (i.e., spouse, children, dog and cat, etc.)
Each one should have Home and Work places, and each should have a default daily routine.
Just some thoughts.
Take care.
That was my initial idea. Sort of a small scale economy sim. I was hoping that rather then locking them into professions I would just have may discrete choices available, and then the free market does the rest. But I didn't want just by-the-numbers economics (money that is) ... I wanted to throw emotions in. I don't really know what my plan was, just sort of a daydream.
But it does seem to me that there is alot of room for improvement in NPC design. I think the Sims / Sims 2 is taking it in the right direction, but its definitely not there yet.
