While I'm sure there will be a lot of false starts with this tech and it will take a while to iron out the kinks, I've been waiting for something like this for a long time. This will probably be similar to the switch from small, limited world maps in games to expansive open-worlds. It's going to be a massive boost to immersion and will probably lead to some hilarious bugs/unexpected behaviours. Can't wait!
this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2024
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This will probably be similar to the switch from small, limited world maps in games to expansive open-worlds.
Interesting comparison, because I'd argue that that switch has, lately, been worse more often than it's been better, and that a lot of games would have been far better off if they stuck to the more limited equivalent.
I agree, huge open worlds are often exhausting for me, and the developer need to fill it often ends up with cheap copy and past Ubisoft methods (collectibles, etc)
If Skyrim was the size of say, Assassins Creed Odyssey, it would've honestly suffered horribly, largely because one of Skyrims best features was the fact that their map was handcrafted and full of detail and secrets.
Sure you can add secrets to a procgen map, but that developer process that lead to the best ones are largely gone.
It will be interesting for sure, but let's not fool ourselves into believing that NPCs with AI behaviours will be better in all cases like modern game players seem to with open world game design.
Not every game needs an open world, and in some cases open world game design can end up doing more harm than good. This will be something that developers should look at on a game by game basis, and not a default plugin that everyone uses for every NPC in their game.
On the contrary, I'd expect individual NPCs to be refined first. Like if the cast of Baldur's Gate 3 was mostly improvising. Or if you had a halfway genuine friendship with your buddy Superfly.
That is actually an excellent point! I'm imagining a Lydia from Skyrim who would actually comment on your actual quest progression without just resorting to canned responses.
Or lean into that passive-aggressive vibe the actress took. She got assigned to some half-naked cat who stumbled into town smelling like an execution, five minutes after he killed a creature of legend. There's a bit of Commander Kiff in that "I am sworn to carry your burdens."
On the other hand - I don't do tagalongs. I sat her ass in Breezehome as it got larger, fancier, and piled high with obscenely rare weaponry. It was kinda sad every time she stands up like we're gonna go somewhere. Lydia, honey - this is your house. I use the chests, the bookshelves, and the gratuitous enchanting table that might actually be a mod. Go hook up with Farkas in one sense or other. I should come in and find you drunk on mead, out in some dungeon, or improvising whatever a sock on the doorknob is for a culture that has neither.
I'm just waiting for my consciousness to be copied, uploaded, and enslaved for a hellish eternity. Like that one video game/tv show/movie/novel/short story that totally isn't a warning of things to come /s.
I haven't read the article but this headline gave me an idea. In future tech/cyberpunk settings, humans and cyborgs should be animated convincingly like real life humans, perhaps with slight differences to accentuate the cybernetics. Robots should be as they are in real life too. Androids should be varying degrees of Bethesda npc. The variations would be based on the in game lore or the manufacturer. So high end stuff would be more like real humans, but the Bethesda like companies can only put out Bethesda like products with spooky uncanny valley bug eyed stare through your skull faces and body doing whatever in a different direction.
After watching it, basically this. Save this specific version for later and when it improves use the new and the old together and there are your androids. Combine with traditional voice and animation for the humans. Realism out of fake looking shit.