Devlog: Don't They Like My Cooking?

There've been some interruptions in my processes and my direction this month, and I was about to write a post about one thing and realized I had another one outlined but not written. So, here's the earlier one, only slightly fleshed out.

I've been working on setting up the AI for my citizens in Pompeii. No, not like ‘generative AI' as in ChatGPT or Midjourney or whatever. I'm referring to the game development version, which is basically creating some programming that is just complex enough that it creates the illusion of independent action for computer-controlled … oh, I suppose it is kind of like generative AI. I'm just not pretending that it's actually intelligent. It's just more like some random numbers, some consciously chosen numbers, a little math, and a few if-then statements, rather than a black box through which stolen content is passed through before claiming that meaningful earth-shattering magic has happened.

Anyway, as I was saying, I was working on the citizen <ahem> behavior controls. I'm using a plugin, so there's also a fair bit of figuring out which numbers do what and how the parts of the plugin work together. But I was able to get my capsule-shaped NPCs to get up in the morning and go to work, and when the work day is done, go back home. And work hours can draw from a global default, or differ based on the workplace. I'm not this far into it yet, but I could have fishermen get up and head to the docks hours before the fishmongers set up in the forum if I wanted. Cool.

Unfortunately, one thing that I've failed to achieve is getting them to eat my food.

I set up a stall in the forum (okay, it was just a white sphere floating a couple of centimeters above the ground) and made it produce food. I made sure hunger was a thing for the NPCs and even displayed it so I could watch their stomachs empty as they worked. Which, to be fair, sounds weirder than I thought it would when I put it that way. But even when their hunger can be no greater, they still don't stop by my floating-orb food vendor. The food's free, man. There's no excuse.

Oh well. More to work on.

I also added materials to all of the real NPC models–except for hair–so now they don't look quite as ghostly. That'll help make the still-ghostly streets seem a little more Living Pompeii and a little less City of the Damned.

Finally, I modeled some containers, which will be the subject of my next post.