Frank Showcase, Personalities, and More AI (Patreon)

I finally got the Frank model, and I wanted to make a video to show it to you guys, and I figured while I was at it, I can show you a lot of the cool AI stuff I've been working on as well. I've got the AI to a pretty cool place right now, and I'm going to start shifting my focus to writing some story now that I have Frank and Stephanie is on the way, so I should have a public release for you guys very soon!

For my supporters, you will receive a playable version of the game at the beginning of the month and you will be able to see all of this first hand, and check out the interaction.

One component that's been added are personalities. The players now have varying personality profiles, and their relationship toward one another is affected by it. For instance, Madison is kind of a bitch, so she generally doesn't get along with too many people. But Brittney is very nice, so even though Madison is a bitch to her, she tends to overlook it most of the time. As the characters interact with one another, it changes their relationship and their mood. If two characters have a nice conversation, both of their moods will go up, and they will like each other more, and be more likely to hang out with each other later on. Vice verse, if they have a negative conversation, their mood will decrease, and they will avoid each other. Their mood also affects the outcome of the interactions, so if a character is nice, but in a bad mood, they may have a negative conversation with another character, and make a bad first impression. So with multiple play-throughs, it's possible to have a scenario where everybody is getting along, and in other play-throughs, everybody may hate each other. And of course, you as the player, can alter the moods by interacting with them. I plan to open up certain lines of story based on the outcome of certain character's moods.

Here's the video link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WysnF21i9QE

Some things to note in this video:

Everything is procedurally generated. The characters figure out what to do on their own, so where they go and who they talk to is based on a some variables. Notice in the beginning when I'm talking to Frank, Madison storms by. She bumps Frank as she moves by, and Frank moves closer to me to get out of her way. The characters are responsive to one another in this sense as we will see more of later on.

Next off, Brittney and Madison start a conversation. Frank is over by the side, and he notices them talking, and he joins the conversation. This is based on his feelings toward who is in the group. A little later, Ashley joins in the conversation as well. Now watch the characters shuffle around to find comfortable spots to stand and talk to each other. This is not an accident, it's all computed with AI!

Next I throw the pizza box on the table, and you can see how it distracts Frank and Madison. They check it out but then go back to hanging out. I bump it one more time and Brittney stops in her tracks and looks to see what's going on, but then goes back to what she was doing. Brittney now decides to go dance.

At this point the group breaks up, and now the characters will seek each other out based on their feelings toward one another. Another thing to note as I focus in on some more conversations, is that you can see now the characters are reacting with their facial expressions based on whether they're having a good or bad conversation, and when a person is talking, they will react differently to one another.

Now that Brittney's done dancing, she seeks out social activity again, and two smaller groups form. One with Ashley and Frank, and one with Madison and Brittney. You can see how, when the house starts getting full of characters, this will be a really cool dynamic.

As I'm ease-dropping on Frank and Brittney's conversation, Frank notices me and turns toward me.

If you haven't checked out the game yet, you can find the latest build here:

http://games.eekllc.com/index.php/category/downloads/