Ubisoft and NVIDIA Unveil Advanced NPCs at GDC 2024
Ubisoft has taken a significant leap in game development, showcasing their latest innovation, NEO NPCs, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2024. These advanced Non-Player Characters (NPCs) are designed to enhance interactive gameplay and emergent storytelling through real-time interactions with players, their environment, and other characters.
The Technology Behind NEO NPCs
A collaborative effort between Ubisoft Paris, NVIDIA, and Inworld AI has birthed the NEO NPCs. This venture combines Ubisoft’s narrative prowess with Inworld’s Character Engine and LLM technology, enabling the creation of NPCs with detailed backgrounds, knowledge bases, and conversational styles. NVIDIA’s Audio2Face technology, a part of the NVIDIA ACE suite, facilitates real-time facial animation, adding depth to the NPCs’ interactions.
Showcasing the Future of Gameplay
Ubisoft demonstrated the capabilities of NEO NPCs in three demo scenarios at GDC 2024. These scenarios highlighted the NPCs’ ability to display a range of behaviors, environmental awareness, and strategic decision-making skills. Through these demos, Ubisoft illustrated the potential of NEO NPCs to push the boundaries of game design and player immersion.
NEO NPCs: Bloom and Iron
In the demonstration, two NEO NPCs named Bloom and Iron were introduced. Each character, equipped with their own unique background story and conversational style, showcased the depth of character development possible with Inworld AI’s technology. Additionally, the NPCs’ awareness of their environment and interactive responses were powered by Inworld’s LLM, while NVIDIA’s Audio2Face provided real-time facial animations.
Industry Perspectives on AI in Gaming
Ubisoft and NVIDIA executives emphasized the transformative role of generative AI in gaming. They highlighted how AI technologies like NEO NPCs can create more dynamic, immersive, and unique gaming experiences through enhanced world-building, character nuance, and narrative adaptability.
NVIDIA’s Game Ready Driver for Horizon Forbidden West
NVIDIA has also released a Game Ready driver optimized for Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition. This driver supports DLSS 3, DLAA, and Reflex technologies, ensuring an optimal gaming experience. It includes the latest DLSS 3.5 update for Portal with RTX, adding new features like DLSS Ray Reconstruction and NVIDIA RTX IO. The driver update extends support to 11 new G-SYNC Compatible gaming displays and introduces two new Optimal Settings, streamlining the performance and image quality for gamers. Players can download the updated driver through the NVIDIA app, GeForce Experience, or GeForce.com.
