The Game Developer’s Conference is taking place March 17th to the 21st, and The Sims 4 will be part of it! Below is a description of what developers will take away from The Sims 4 “class”, and according to SimGuruGraham, you too can attend the class for a cool $995.
Concurrent Interactions in The Sims 4
Peter Ingebretson | Senior Software Engineer, Electronic Arts (Maxis)
Max Rebuschatis | Software Engineer III, Electronic Arts (Maxis)
Location: TBD
Date: TBD
Time: TBD
Format: Session
Track: Programming
Vault Recording: TBD
In real life, people often do several things at the same time, but games typically limit agents to performing actions sequentially. For The Sims 4, we developed a system for authoring interactions that allows simulated people (called Sims) to express multiple concurrent behaviors. Interactions are largely data-driven and are defined in terms of constraints, which specify the state a Sim must be in to perform the interaction. Constraints are used to test whether interactions are compatible, and to drive decisions that Sims make about whether, how and where to perform an interaction. This system allows Sims in The Sims 4 to convincingly eat, watch TV, chat with other Sims, express emotion, and perform many more behaviors simultaneously. We believe that this powerful and simple technique could be applied to a similar effect in your game too.Takeaway
Attendees will learn a powerful and practical technique for defining composable behaviors using constraints. Constraints can drive decision-making and allow multiple behaviors to be expressed simultaneously. This technique allows characters in The Sims 4 to eat, watch TV, and socialize with other Sims, all while sitting, expressing anger, and much more.
Intended Audience
The main audience for this presentation will consist of software engineers who are curious to learn a new technique to add to their toolboxes. The presentation will also be of interest to designers and producers, who should be inspired by the possibilities that are unlocked by constraint-driven behaviors. This presentation has no prerequisites.
