Home Artists Posts Import Register

Content

Hey! New episode of GMTK here. It's a biggie - a chunky dissection of the AI techniques used in The Sims 1 through 4. Hope you dig it!

You can watch it on YouTube and on Nebula.

Apologies for the email spam today - all the Patreon stuff came at the same time. I'll try and spread it out more going forward.

Mark

Files

The Genius AI Behind The Sims

The Sims uses a super smart AI system to make virtual people who think, feel, and interact in a believable way. Here's how. GMTK is powered by Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/GameMakersToolkit Watch ad-free on Nebula - https://nebula.tv/gmtk === Sources and Resources === - Footnotes (1) Most numbers in this video are for illustrative purposes only, and do not necessarily represent the values in any The Sims game. (2) In The Sims 3, the "Comfort" and "Room" motives are removed, leaving six basic needs. These are instead represented by "Moodlets", which are little boosts and nerfs to the Sim's happiness for doing things like sitting in a comfy chair or walking into a smelly room. (3) The Sims are strictly male and female in the first three games, but The Sims 4 expands this with the ability to individually set a character's appearance, pronouns, and more. - Sources [1] Those Darned Sims: What Makes Them Tick? | GDC Vault https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1013969/Those-Darned-Sims-What-Makes [2] Will Wright explains what The Sims and an ant colony have in common | Joystiq https://web.archive.org/web/20111218163735/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/08/will-wright-explains-what-the-sims-and-an-ant-colony-have-in-com/ [3] Simulation and Modeling: Under the hood of The Sims | Northwestern University https://users.cs.northwestern.edu/~forbus/c95-gd/lectures/The_Sims_Under_the_Hood_files/v3_document.htm [4] Some notes on programming objects in The Sims | Northwestern University [PDF] https://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/papers/files/programming_objects_in_the_sims.pdf [5] JustJakeSimpson | Twitter https://twitter.com/JustJakeSimpson/status/1375545638343991296?s=20 [6] Needs-Based AI | Robert Zubek [PDF] http://robert.zubek.net/publications/Needs-based-AI-draft.pdf [7] Traits | The Sims Wiki https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Traits_from_The_Sims_3_(base_game) [8] Modeling Individual Personalities in The Sims 3 | GDC Vault https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVMs5_B611E [9] AI Development Postmortems: Inside DARKSPORE and THE SIMS: MEDIEVAL | GDC Vault AI Development Postmortems: Inside DARKSPORE and THE SIMS: MEDIEVAL [10] Emergent Storytelling Techniques in The Sims | GDC Vault https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjuOSgPdtS0 [11] Will Wright Teaches Game Design and Theory | MasterClass https://www.masterclass.com/classes/will-wright-teaches-game-design-and-theory [12] The Sims Design Documents | Various https://linkedbyair.net/bin/The%20Sims%20Design%20Documents/ https://www.gamedev.net/tutorials/game-design/game-design-and-theory/the-sims-design-docs-r4727/ https://web.archive.org/web/20170813133039/http:/donhopkins.com/home/TheSimsDesignDocuments/ [13] AI Postmortems: Assassin's Creed III, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and Warframe | GDC Vault https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1018058/AI-Postmortems-Assassin-s-Creed - Additional resources AI Made Easy with Utility AI | Medium https://medium.com/@morganwalkupdev/ai-made-easy-with-utility-ai-fef94cd36161 Improving AI Decision Modeling Through Utility Theory | GDC Vault https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1012410/Improving-AI-Decision-Modeling-Through An Introduction to Utility Theory | Game AI Pro [PDF] http://www.gameaipro.com/GameAIPro/GameAIPro_Chapter09_An_Introduction_to_Utility_Theory.pdf Knowledge is Power: An Overview of Knowledge Representation in Game AI | GDC https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025172/Knowledge-is-Power-An-Overview === Chapters === 00:00 - Intro 01:26 - Decision Making 101 03:43 - Advanced Decision Making 06:52 - Utility AI 07:51 - Unique Sims 09:50 - Social Situations 11:09 - Hard-coded Rules 13:00 - Background Sims 15:35 - Storytelling 19:51 - Conclusion === Games Shown === The Sims 2 (2005) The Sims 4 (2014) The Sims 3 (2009) The Sims (2000) SimAnt (1991) The Sims: Unleashed (2002) The Sims Medieval (2011) SimCity 2000 (1993) Middle-earth: Shadow of War (2017) XCOM: Enemy Within (2013) Minecraft (2011) === Credits === Music provided by Epidemic Sound - https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/vtdu5y (Referral Link) Music from The Sims OST, by Jerry Martin Music from The Sims 3 OST, by Steve Jablonsky and Pieter A. Schlossern === Subtitles === Contribute translated subtitles - TBA

Comments

Josh Foreman

The Sims, eh? I've heard of it...