The Living World of Stars Reach – Trailer
When Stars Reach announcedthe new concept of a “living world” gamers thought Guild Wars 2 simulation. We could not have been more wrong about Playable Worlds. After the studio has invested time on Reddit trying to explain the difference, they are now showing it off.
In a recent interview with Massively OverPowered, developer Raph Koster explained his view of what a living world is. ““What you’re seeing is the output of a real-time simulation running in the cloud,” he says. “Technically, the right term for it is cellular automata simulation.”
Sit me down for a while. does this mean that each unit will auto react to its environment? This is exactly what Star Reach’s Koster had in mind.
“The living world isn’t just about having cooler digging or chopping down trees. It adds a fresh layer of interactivity to pretty much everything in the game.”
According to the post, “each cell in the game carries around a set of states and data that tell it how to function based on player behavior and in conjunction with the other AI.
“You can see the character in-game laser-beaming and climbing through different materials like sand, shale, lava, ice, and water to drive home the point that each of these resources behaves in accordance with its ruleset. Even the plants in the game haul around their own individual AI.”
Furthermore, Koster says that even the critters on each planet run their own AIs, which determine what they do in response to players. “If you leave these creatures alone, they might take back their planet.”