PCGamesN spoke to the developers of Project Witchstone and asked how they intend to use AI to create a living world.
More information.What sets Project Witchstone apart from other games in its genre is that aforementioned "living world" - an "alive" and "dynamic" world that you can interact with authentically and in which player decisions affect things down the line in a realistic way. "Like a Game Master running campaigns for their friends, our stories have a general direction, but what the player decides to do ultimately determines what happens next and which characters are involved."
This dynamic world is captured in its setting. "When coming up with the lore," Philip says, "we felt that the game's core concepts of freedom of choice and influence on the world would need a setting that would support conflict, intrigue, and lasting changes. Therefore, the idea of a frontier-like world made the most sense to us. In the mythologies of the American West and the Australian Outback, the stories are about personal freedom, danger, one's influence on society, resource control, the old vs the new, et cetera. This, combined with the visual iconography of the era, inspired and influenced us greatly."
It's not just about player agency, however. To make this experience as realistic as possible, non-player characters need to react authentically to the world - and act upon it, too. "Characters in the world of Project Witchstone go about their daily lives, react to characters and actions around them, but can also act on their wants and needs. For example, should the player attack someone in their vicinity, an NPC has to immediately decide, based on their personality and past history, whether they help someone in the fight, run away, or report the assault to the nearest law enforcement officer. As you can imagine, building such an AI and optimising it isn't trivial."
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