Procedural Quests: A Focus for Agent Interaction in Role-Playing-Games

In current videogames non-player characters’ (NPCs’) abilities to be active, dynamic agents are typically constrained to a bare minimum. Agents have very local behaviours to deal with actions, which can combine in limited ways with global game mechanics to deal with repeated behaviours. Here we present a systems-AI approach to designing NPCs. The proposed NPC design is capable of dynamic dialog, with context generated from both episodic memory and emotional valence towards previous social interactions. The NPCs can be allowed to run independently of users to develop a believable social network of friendships and grudges, with memories supporting such opinions. Additionally, NPCs can spread information in a more realistic manner than the current standard, global mechanisms. This information fomrs a culture, which then serves as the motivation for quests offered to other characters and the user that encounters these societies.