Ubisoft debuts NEO NPC AI prototypes | GDC 2024

gamesindustry.biz:

Ubisoft has shown three behind-the-scenes demos at GDC this week on the potential of AI when it comes to building NPCs.

Dubbed NEO NPCs, Ubisoft's efforts involves combining AI responses with narrative back stories and prompts designed to avoid making the NPCs appear 'soulless'.

The project is an R&D initiative led by Ubisoft’s Paris alongside its Production Technology department. There were three experiments in total, and all of them using voice commands.

The first challenged players to build a relationship with an NPC called Bloom. The gamer has been hired to join a resistance group, Bloom is your buddy and you're encouraged to build a rapport with him. He'll respond to your questions and also react depending on whether you're angry, sad, boastful, anxious and so on. You're encouraged to try and explore his back story, learn about other characters and find out information about the resistance. Ask the right question, and it'll trigger scripted information relevant to the game.

The objective of the demo is to "enhance narrative immersion", Ubisoft says. And building the relationship would allow the player to 'level up' their relationship meter, which would unlock more behaviours.

The second experiment also featured Bloom watching a stealth mission with a drone. Here, Bloom will react to what is going on, while also responding to questions and input from the players. Bloom will respond to events, and if there is a critical moment in the gameplay, he will prioritise reacting to that over any in-game conversation. He's aware of the status of the mission and his surroundings.

The final experiment was around planning a stealth mission with an NPC called Iron. In this experiment, Iron has a suggested approach to the mission in terms of how to break into a building, how to subdue a guard and how to take out the cameras. Players are then encouraged to challenge the approach and Iron will respond on whether that is something that could work.

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