Artificial intelligence
Ashes of Creation utilizes an adaptive artificial intelligence (AI), meaning different encounters with similar mobs and bosses will yield different player experiences.[2][3]
- Some NPC AI behaviors may be randomly selected at the time of initial engagement causing them to make decisions dynamically during an encounter.[2][4][5][6]
- NPCs performing "idle actions" to make the world seem more alive has been discussed by the developers but is not confirmed.[9]
- Part of the NPC encounter design is not always going to be the same behavior tree. There will be purposefully behaviors that exist for the boss that are rolled at the time of the initial engagement; and so that is in an effort to keep things emergent, to keep things different, to try to not keep a static monotonous engagement idea.[2] – Steven Sharif
There are AI systems that don't relate to controlling NPCs.[10]
- There are some additional AI parameters that are set that don't relate necessarily to controlling NPCs. There are AIs with regards to the development of the borders for nodes in the direction and also the decisions that are made of which lower nodes to enslave as vassal states. There's AI that relates to a little bit of the stock market that's going to be present in the economy. There's some AI systems that are going to be announced also that are pretty innovative I think with regards to the MMORPG genre and that's going to make the triggered event system very interesting I think; and that's with regards to how nodes develop and the environment reacts to that development by spawning these triggered events of a horde of zombies attacking a city or a legendary raid boss coming out of the mountain. I think there's a lot of opportunity for some of the innovations that's been in the AI sector of game development too to come out in Ashes.[10] – Steven Sharif
NPC perception
NPC perception is intended to have different sensory types, ranges, and angles.[12][13][14]
- We are talking about things like unique abilities played by characters that extend the perception radius, or sounds and different types of walking that are angular from the mob's perception perspective to be unique, different types of creatures that might be of three-dimensional in space, whether it is in water or birds in the sky that have a downward cone angle type perception as well. Those are things we want to do, but we haven't yet spent the time on the AI behaviors there.[13] – Steven Sharif
- Social aggro will vary based on NPC types and NPC factions.[12]
- Q: How far away from hostile targets will be before they act aggressively towards us? More specifically, will creatures watch us murder their friends in the open world with no reaction, will they try to kill us in retaliation, or will they run away in sheer terror?
- A: Obviously as MMO Gamers we're accustomed to the concept of social aggro. When I hit a target out in the field, they're going to aggro other creatures nearby. We have similar functionality. Obviously however we also have this concept of a more puzzle-oriented level design, where you have different patrollers that might be moving around the world. So that dynamic is always changing the creatures that are near each other might be something that you need to be cognizant of as you begin to navigate those areas. And there might even be certain faction types, where you may have dedicated aggro social tags between certain creature types; and that might be like goblins with their goblin dogs. They could be far away but they send off an alert to those nearby enemies when you aggro another target. And then you also have these perception radiuses; and there's a number of different perception radius types that we incorporate as part of our AI. Those things might be a forward-looking perception cone that represents sight-based perception; and then you might also have a rear perception radius that might represent kind of sound; and those perception types might even interact with unique stats. So, as a Rogue you might have a stealth ability, or as a Ranger you might have camouflage ability: Those are going to dampen those stats which are checked by those perception radiuses; and then you might even have different creature types that fly above the battlefield, or beneath the battlefield, and they may have downward cone type angles. The whole idea is that that navigating the world should be like a puzzle as you move throughout.[12] – Steven Sharif
- Készségek such as Stealth and Camouflage can dampen NPC perception.[12]
- NPCs in certain encounters may be aware of their local environment and can seek cover behind obstacles, for example; but this will not be prevalent in general AI designs.[8]
PvE nehézség
A PvE tartalom nehézsége, mint a Raid-ek és a Dungeon-ök, önmagától változni fog az adott helyszínen, az alapján hogy a csoport a korábbi Boss-ok ellen mennyire volt sikeres.[15]
- Jobb teljesítmény egy Raid Boss első fázisaiban, nehezebbé teszi a későbbi fázisait.[15]
- Minél nehezebb, annál jobb a loot (zsákmány).[15]
- A Boss-ok és a mob-ok nehézségét közvetlenül nem befolyásolja a csoport mérete.[16]
World manager
The World manager is an algorithm in Ashes of Creation that controls dynamic world elements. It acts as both a throttle and an incentive system for various activities to ensure certain parameters are within acceptable thresholds.[17]
- A world manager is a technical term to define a server process that lives alongside the game server; and when the game server needs to do things- communicating with other game servers within that grid- it tells that manager and that manager sends it down to the appropriate server.[18] – Steven Sharif
- Prices of glint.[19]
- A heatmap of experience being gained to apply to node advancement.[19]
- The territory expansion algorithm takes into account the nearest coast, neighboring nodes, and the heatmap of players in surrounding areas over the last weeks or month.[20]
- Due to the way the progression algorithm calculates territorial (ZOI) expansion during node advancement, there is a small possibility that two nodes of the same stage end up being close to each other.[21]
- Transit of resources and goods between regions to drive quest rewards for nodes.[19]
- For example if you know iron is being used as a raw resource for a specific crafting path that might drive up the price of mithril or silver; and that will incentivize the market to course correct a little bit. The idea is to provide soft incentives that help to alleviate the demand and also to prop up the supply that might not be present from the economic systems.[19] – Steven Sharif
Adaptive content
New points of interest (such as dungeons, world bosses, and corrupted areas) spawn as nodes develop.[23][24] This content adapts to the node progression of the zone it is in.[22][25]
- Additional buildings will spawn.[22]
- Additional mobs will spawn.[22]
- Different antagonists/leaders with different story lines.[22][25]
- Populations will change.[25]
- Content difficulty will change.[25]
- The content may be different altogether.[25]
- Additional quest hooks.[22]
- Dungeons will be unlocked when certain nodes advance to certain stages.[26]
- Drop tables in areas and dungeons will be tied into the progression of certain areas.[26]
- POI events are events that relate to specific points-of-interest (POI).[30]
- The location of points of interest will be the same on each server, but some servers may have limited or no access to them.[31]
- Certain dungeons and other points of interest across the map will all be affected by the server’s node development. Some dungeons will only be unlocked if nodes are developed to certain stages. The storyline objectives for players inside dungeons will also be dependent on the story arc paths chosen through the node system. The drop tables in area and dungeons will also be tied into the progression of certain areas. For example, let’s say that the humans have developed a node in Region A, and a storyline has opened up that leads players to inspect the ruins (dungeon) of a nearby area. And let’s say that this node was developed in a scientific (crafting) zone… Well before the node developed, this dungeon was accessible… But now the dungeon has propagated new monster assets that include a drop table catering to a crafting emphasis because of the development of that scientific node. And perhaps, a new boss appears in different rooms of the dungeon that includes different adventure quest starts, like a mysterious item with a storyline that can only be progressed if a node develops to the metropolis stage in a certain region, across the world. Our system is so vast, when it comes to interconnectivity and how the world reacts to the players.[26]
Raid strategies
Razziák will have elements that can be pre-planned.[32]
Raids will also have dynamic elements that can change from session to session.[32]
- The types and numbers of bosses and mobs present in the raid and their skill repertoire.[32]
- Variables are manifested based on node progression.[32]
- The number of metropolis nodes developed.[32]
- The types of metropolis nodes developed.[32]
- One of the design elements that we're implementing into our raids is that the raid will not be exactly the same every single time. You're going to have variables that can't necessarily be pre-planned out for. You can pre-plan out for a lot of the raid like how many DPS do you need and healers and support; where the key position and all that stuff; but I think the compelling aspect of Ashes raiding will be the difficulty in achieving this content and having that content change from session to session as well. We want there to be variables that get manifested by what type of node got developed elsewhere. Is he going to have acolytes or cultists? What will the acolytes have skills [available] to them? What kit is the boss gonna have? What available skill repertoire will the boss be able to [wield]? ... A lot of those systems are influenced obviously by world development. So the raid takes into account at what stage has the world developed: Are there two metropolises now available in the world? Okay well let's activate this skill in this skill. Now you have five metropolises, well now all these skills have been activated. Are there are they all economic nodes? Are they all military nodes? That we can change things based on that stuff. And it really is a threat assessment from the environment against the players.[32]{{ndash|Steven Sharif}
Player driven narrative
The world of Verra will be the same on each server, but Node-ok will develop differently. Different servers will have different narratives. Things that happen on one server may not happen on another.[34]
- The overarching narrative of Ashes of Creation is that players are the returning children of Verra but they will not be characterized individually as "saviors".[35]
We want as many people as possible to experience the main server Narrative. These will branch at different scales, but largely at the personal level. Where things change is at the Node level – different parts of the story will be unlocked based on where and when Nodes grow. Unlocking a part of the story in a certain way locks out progression of the story in a different way. You’ll see different antagonists, different NPCs, and different calls to action depending on what’s happening with the server at that time.[36]
It redefines what the players will experience in an MMORPG to come into a wilderness that is devoid of really any structure outside of what the community creates themselves; and then what can be created can be changed, if they want to experience a storyline that's been seen on another server, but you're fighting a dragon because you're near a mountain and the other server's fighting a Kraken because they're near the coast and you want to fight that Kraken because of its drop table. If you want to meta it or because you just want that under your belt: to be the server first to take out that Kraken and you have yet to develop the node there, it's incumbent upon you to manifest that in the game.[37] – Steven Sharif
Továbbiak
Hivatkozások
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Élő adás, 2021-06-25 (21:24).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Interjú, 2023-09-10 (34:51).
- ↑ About Ashes of Creation.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Interjú, 2021-06-13 (22:20).
- ↑ Élő adás, 2017-07-28 (43:57).
- ↑ Élő adás, 2017-05-05 (11:55).
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Élő adás, 2022-07-29 (1:23:56).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Élő adás, 2022-02-25 (1:03:32).
- ↑ Élő adás, 2018-04-8 (PM) (3:56).
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Podcast, 2018-05-11 (24:23).
- ↑ Élő adás, 2021-03-26 (54:26).
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Élő adás, 2024-02-29 (3:12).
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Élő adás, 2023-11-30 (1:36:32).
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Élő adás, 2018-06-04 (29:28).
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Interjú, 2020-07-19 (14:51).
- ↑ Interjú, 2020-07-19 (17:12).
- ↑ Interjú, 2020-07-19 (1:10:55).
- ↑ Élő adás, 2022-10-14 (57:22).
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Interjú, 2020-07-19 (1:08:22).
- ↑ Interjú, 2020-07-18 (10:04).
- ↑ Interjú, 2020-07-08 (1:00:15).
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 Élő adás, 2021-03-26 (50:33).
- ↑ Élő adás, 2021-03-26 (22:53).
- ↑ Élő adás, 2017-11-17 (36:22).
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 Élő adás, 2017-11-17 (18:29).
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 MMOGames interview, January 2017
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Élő adás, 2020-07-25 (46:08).
- ↑ Élő adás, 2022-04-29 (40:21).
- ↑
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 32.5 32.6 32.7 32.8 Podcast, 2018-07-09 (22:24).
- ↑ Video, 2023-03-31 (28:11).
- ↑ Élő adás, 2017-05-19 (37:03).
- ↑ Élő adás, 2019-12-17 (1:10:30).
- ↑ Interview: Ashes of Creation on Building Their Virtual World, 2017-04-13.
- ↑ Élő adás, 2017-05-22 (28:02).