Philips Magnavox Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution Trigger Happy - Manual (Page 181)

Trigger Happy
183
curiosity is bigger, the creature will investigate; if its
agent of fear is bigger, he’ll run away.” Meanwhile, if
the player accidentally or deliberately kills a friendly
alien, the rest of them have their agents of helpfulness
instantly adjusted downward: they will be far less
inclined to help the player in his quest, or even to talk
to him. Sure you can have a little fun with the
rocketlauncher, but then Outcast quite surprisingly
makes you feel guilty for having done so. Joyous
deathdealing À la Quake this is not. In order to regain
your friends’ trust after such an aberration, Outcast
sentences you to the equivalent of community service:
giving money to beggars, for instance, or helping with
agricultural work.
In the future, Masclef would like to see computer
algorithms such as the agents expand and take on an
ever larger role. “We’ve developed very clever AI for
the behaviors and the life cycles of the characters, but
sometimes the player doesn’t see it,” Masclef says.
“Speech is one of the things that is not generated on the
fly [in this game]. They speak this funky English—
why not generate it on the fly? And then other
characters’ responses would be a continuum depending
on your reputation and actions in the game.”