Meetup opener: AI characters for game worlds

Let’s picture her together: a little shop in a game, and behind the counter, a cautious merchant guarding rare stock. She’s played by the computer, not by a person. Game makers call a character like her an NPC, short for non-player character.

In many games, a shopkeeper says the same few lines forever. Not this one. She remembers what you did. Like any good shopkeeper, she can’t sell you what she hasn’t got. But her words aren’t picked from a list someone wrote; they’re written fresh, right then.

And no, we didn’t make her up. Every piece of her comes from ForbocAI’s online guide, which builders call the docs. All we did was stand its examples behind one counter.

So where does she come from? ForbocAI, which calls itself the NPC language model company. A language model is a program that has read a great deal and learned to write back. Let’s walk through one turn on the drawing.

You ask her for a legendary sword. First, she checks her memory: oh yes, you bought the old key. Next, a small model writes what she might say and do. Say it gets carried away and offers you a sword. Last, the game’s rules check that offer. She hasn’t got one, and the docs’ sample error says just that: a plain no, with the reason.

For the engineers, here’s a picture the docs use. ForbocAI’s service is the mind: it directs each step and checks the result. The kit inside your game is the body: it runs the model and keeps her memories. If you run a business, you may wonder who holds the records. ForbocAI’s site says memory goes to storage the game’s makers own, and they can read it without ForbocAI.

And here’s the idea we promised: the model proposes, and the rules decide. It travels well beyond games: a helper drafts, and your own rules decide. Keep it in your pocket tonight.

So who’s it for? People who make games. Many games are built on a game engine, ready-made software that runs the game’s world. Unreal, Unity and Godot are three you may have heard of. If you build in Unreal Engine 5.7, there’s an add-on for it, called a plugin. For games on the web, or on a setup of your own, there’s a kit, too.

If you’d rather write characters than code, the docs describe a studio in your web browser. You design a character, try talking with it and save it out for the game, all without writing code.

Unity and Godot friends, we see you. The docs list both as in development, and game studios hoping for early access are invited to write in. A gentle note for anyone diving in: it’s young software. In the docs, the web kit’s version number is still under one, which in software usually means early days. That’s part of the fun.

So that’s ForbocAI in one breath: a shopkeeper who remembers you, keeps to the game’s rules and answers in her own words.

And here’s where we leave you, right at the door, on purpose. Picture coming back tomorrow and asking her again. What might change her answer? We won’t spoil it. One clue: she keeps notes on what you do, each marked by how much it matters. The rest is in the docs: a lovely puzzle for later tonight, with a snack close by. Start at docs.forboc.ai, pick your engine and go find the cautious merchant. Not a coder? The studio’s page is waiting, too.

One more little door, for the puzzle lovers: near the top of a few pages there’s a line of runes. We’ll let you work out what they might spell. Now, let’s settle in for the evening’s two longer talks.