TECH NEWS – NEO NPCs will reportedly allow you to engage in conversation with non-playable characters, ask them questions, and they will respond based on the tone of voice you use.

It is clear that the future of video game development lies in the introduction of artificial intelligence in the gaming industry. At least in the production of triple-A titles. This would reduce the workload and mean that games would not take as many years to come out. However, AI would also likely make these titles more dynamic. Especially regarding their implementation in NPCs. Ubisoft recently introduced a new tool called the NEO NPC that could change all that.

According to the VGC report, Ubisoft presented what could revolutionize the gaming world at the GDC held in San Francisco. NEO NPC’s are described as the “first player-facing generative AI prototype that could transform the way players interact with non-playable characters (NPCs) in video games.” And this makes it possible to “open new frontiers for gameplay that natively integrates generative AI features.” – can be read on the Ubisoft website.

During a private demo at GDC, the company showed several clips in which players can interact with these characters using voice commands.

In the first demo, we had to talk to an NPC named Bloom. The person answered our questions and responded according to the tone of voice. The key to this is asking the right questions. This encourages us gamers to learn more about Bloom’s story or plot details, as reported by Games Industry.biz.

More details about the NEO NPCs have been revealed

Supposedly, there was a meter in the demo that you could use to level up and see new behaviours. However, it goes further because a second demo has similarly exciting stuff. Because if we adapt this to the action, we can see the character reacting to a stealth mission where we use a drone.

And in a third test, a third character called Iron was seen making suggestions for infiltrating the mission but also rejecting some of the ideas the player suggested.

Recently, NVIDIA introduced a device that uses artificial intelligence to take video games to a new level. This is something very similar from Ubisoft. It is true that their goal is to “enhance narrative immersion” and that non-playable characters provide excellent value to the player. Social interactions and abilities become part of the gameplay. Smarter NPCs like these NEO NPCs could vastly improve over the traditional NPCs we see in games today. They offer the opportunity to create even more immersive worlds and more interactive stories.

Source: Ubisoft, VGC, GamesIndustry.biz