Chapter 75 NPC Generation
Chen Ba doesn’t trust the system.
Mainly because of the painful lesson of "Star Emperor", he dared not to hand over some core game programs or codes to the system for generation and optimization.
It is undeniable that…
The underlying core of the system is indeed very powerful. For example, the super-optimization of "Star Emperor" may not be able to optimize the game to this level even if he is given ten years.
But precisely because it was so powerful and advanced, if there were any bugs or errors in it, Chen Ba had no ability to modify them.
Moreover, sometimes he doesn’t even know where the problem lies, and it depends on the players to discover it actively.
“Make one yourself first…”
Chen Ba felt that he should not develop the bad habit of relying on the system. It would be fine if the system was reliable, but if the system was unreliable and he still relied on it, wouldn't that be courting death?
There is a core algorithm for automatic NPC generation. He had seen a tutorial post from a big shot in the Dream Building Forum.
Based on this algorithm, he wanted to make a generation program himself to see how it worked.
If the performance is half of what the system provides, then the system solution will not be considered.
If the situation is really far from perfect, and the generated NPCs are generally highly mechanized and stupid, then let the Iron Fool System take action.
Do it when you think of it.
It took about half a month, until the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the decoration DLC of "Living under Someone Else's House Simulator" was released, Chen Ba finally completed the NPC generation version 1.0.
I have to say, the effect is very poor.
The simplest way to summarize this NPC generation logic is "large quantity and sufficient supply".
The generated NPCs...
It's probably like those NPCs that players see wandering around on the main city streets in many online games. If you block their way, they will take a detour.
Chen Ba optimized it.
From version 1.0 to version 1.2, the newly generated NPCs have made certain improvements in clothing, appearance, height, movement trajectory, etc.
But "daily behavior" remains a difficult hurdle to overcome.
Chen Ba hopes that in the game "Shennong Continent", every NPC has his or her own daily life and is consistent with the story background.
For example, a fruit vendor on the street has his own home. He pushes the fruit to the city in the morning to sell it. When a customer appears, he will "introduce the fruit". When it gets dark, he returns to his home...
He didn't expect the NPCs to be very intelligent.
With current technology, it is impossible to make NPCs speak fluently like real people. He only hopes that these NPCs can have a reasonable daily life trajectory.
Instead of an NPC that hangs around the city gate in the morning, hangs around the city gate in the afternoon, and still hangs around the city gate in the early hours of the morning! Don't laugh, go and see for yourself in the game, in most games, whether stand-alone or online, NPCs are mostly these wooden stake machines...
Only a few games that focus on experience and immersion will arrange their own movement trajectories and daily lives for NPCs.
For example, My Time at Portia.
As a simulation business game, in this game, NPCs perfectly follow the routine of working from sunrise to sunset and resting from sunset to sunrise.
Not only that, they also usually go to restaurants to eat, stroll by the river, take care of chickens on the farm, and get together to join in the fun when the town holds events.
This is the effect Chen Ba wants.
But for NPCs like My Time at Portia, each NPC basically has a preset plan. Because there are not many NPCs, you just need to spend some time.
But "Divine Grace Continent" is not possible.
There are so many NPCs in the new game that even in the smallest map, there are dozens or even hundreds of active NPCs.
If every NPC requires Chen Ba to design action plans and lines for them, how daunting would that be?
So batch generation is necessary.
Without mass production and relying purely on manpower to do this, the development cycle of "Shennonglu" is estimated to be longer than that of a 3A masterpiece.
“This algorithm doesn’t work.”
Chen Ba abandoned the boss's plan and chose to start from scratch, introducing the most popular AI technology to generate a large number of NPC groups.
The effect is slightly better.
At least with the help of AI, NPCs won't have the same face.
But the movement trajectory was very chaotic, and there were even dozens of NPCs who overlapped their routes and crowded together, blocking the road...
Version 2.0 failed.
Chen Ba was also helpless. The NPCs generated in batches by algorithms were too poor and could not meet the requirements at all. If he wanted to make a good game like "Shennong Continent", he really needed the core code for NPC generation provided by the system.
[Game Name: Shen'en Continent]
[Planning: 85 (can be improved)]
[Program: 80 (can be upgraded)]
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
[Art: 82 (improvable)]
The system panel is as simple as ever, like an early 3G home text adventure game. Apart from basic information, nothing else can be seen.
But Chen Ba has gotten used to it.
"Shennong Continent" is pretty good in all aspects, at least there are no particularly serious shortcomings. Open the secondary menu, you can see targeted improvement options, including NPC generation and optimization.
[Generating 1%...5%...]
After waiting for the progress bar to finish, the NPC generation and action dialogue program provided by the system will be loaded into the game project file.
The program score rose to 90!
Chen Ba tried running it and the results were satisfactory. Not only were there a large number of NPCs generated, but each one was vivid, with his own personality and action trajectory.
For example, a gangster NPC.
His trajectory was simple: he would rob other NPCs in the alleys, get their money, then go to the weapon shop to spend money, get better weapons, and then rob more people...
This fits the character's background very well!
NPCs not only have different personalities and life behavior trajectories, but even their dialogues are different.
“Are there traces of AI?”
Chen Ba studied it for a while and finally came to the conclusion that the dialogue interaction texts of these NPCs should come from conversations randomly generated by intelligent AI based on the identities of different characters.
You know what, it’s quite interesting.
For example, the tailor's apprentice will tell the player the interesting things he saw in the tailor shop, and will also secretly tell the player how charming the figures of some noble ladies who come to make clothes are.
"It's worthy of being a system product!"
Chen Ba was amazed. It was nothing to have just a few NPCs of this level. Anyone could make one by spending some time.
But don't forget, this is one of the NPCs generated by the program! There are hundreds or thousands of NPCs like this...
It's a bit of black technology! You can imagine how difficult it is to create thousands of NPCs with different personalities, their own lines of dialogue and background identities, and reasonable action and life trajectories.
Anyway, Chen Ba feels that the level of realism of this group of NPCs is already very high.
If "Shennonglu" is full of such NPCs, the sense of immersion it brings to players will definitely be great, and the core gameplay can be maximized.
After all, who doesn't like smart teammates? (End of this chapter)