ai and fundamental game technologiesin final fantasy xv

© 2017 SQUARE ENIX CO.,LTD. All Rights Reserved.

YOUICHIRO MIYAKE, SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.

ISAMU HASEGAWA, SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.

AI AND FUNDAMENTAL GAME TECHNOLOGIES

IN FINAL FANTASY XV


AGENDA

• Our studio and products.

• Visual Script

– What is visual script?

– Advantages

– Best practices

• AI in FINAL FANTASY XV


• The majority of the members are Japanese.

• But some of them are from:

China, India, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, etc. (in alphabetical order)

• Globalized product development

MULTINATIONAL


CG TECHNOLOGY

• Develop both of pre-rendering movies, and real-time games.

– SIGGRAPH 2016 Electronic Theater

“The Universe of FINAL FANTASY XV”

– SIGGRAPH 2016 Real-Time Live!

“Real-time technologies of FINAL FANTASY XV battles”

– Bidirectional technical cooperation and asset sharing.

Pre-rendering ⇔ Real-time


ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION

• SIGGRAPH 2017

– CG in Asia

– Production Art Gallery

– 1 Poster

– 2 Talk sessions (Character Art, and Snapshot system)

• SIGGRAPH 2016

– Electronic Theater

– Real-Time Live!

– 5 Talk sessions (AI/Animation, Env, CharModel, Rendering, VFX)

• GDC 2017

– “FINAL FANTASY XV: A Challenger Once Again”

– “How a Buddy-AI Auto-Snapshots Your Adventure in FFXV”

• CEDEC2017

– 3 Sessions (Working Mother, AI, Animation)

• CEDEC2016

– 5 Sessions (AI, UI, Backend, Optimization, CharEnv)

• Collaborations with Tokyo University of the Arts.

■ Art

■ Technology


WHAT IS VISUAL SCRIPT?

• Write logic by assembling visual elements.

– scratch (MIT Media Lab.): assembling blocks

– node graph based visual script: nodes and edges

• Advantages

– Readable

– Easy to develop

• Target / Purpose

– For education

– For non programmer


WHAT IS VISUAL SCRIPT? (CONTD.)

• Visual script

for education

– scratch

– Blockly

– Programin

(プログラミン)

Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. See http://scratch.mit.edu


NODE GRAPH BASED VISUAL SCRIPT

Node properties

Node

Pin: node in/output

Edge: control/data flow


ROUGH WORKFLOW

Concept Art

Artist

Modeler

Animator

Etc.

Programmer

Planner

Game Engine

Level Script Level Script

Level Script

Game

Assets(Model,…)


REQUIREMENTS FOR GAME DEV.

• Many non-programmers write many scripts.

• Many types of scripts cooperate.

• High affinity for native codes.


WHY VISUAL SCRIPTS IN GAME DEV.

Requirements

• Many non-programmers

write many scripts.

• Many types of scripts

cooperate.

• High affinity for native codes.

Characteristics of visual scripts

• Graphical

• Simple semantics

Advantages

• Low learning cost

• High productivity

?


COMPONENTIZATION IN VISUAL SCRIPT

Characteristics of visual scripts

• Graphical

• Simple semantics Easy to componentize


COMPONENTIZATION (CONTD.)

Can be a node graph of other type

Many types of scripts cooperate


COMPONENTIZATION (CONTD.)

Can be replaced with native code node implementation

High affinity for native codes


UNMAINTENANCABLE HUGE GRAPH


STANDARDIZATION (FOR UI DEV.)

• Ununiform skill

• Mass production

⇒ Standardization

Typical User Interface

– External Input Events

– State Machine

– UI Parts(Widget)

⇒ Standardize layout

Input Events

State

machine

Widgets


STRUCTURED PROGRAMMING

• Nodes: fundamental, generic

• Components: high-functioning (but not generic)

Write logic

with components

(not nodes)


OBJECT ORIENTED

• Encapsulate UI part implementation

• Expose UI part interface

Buddy、Nature、Monsters

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FFXV -EPISODE DUSCAE- AI Overview

Making and Characters ©2017 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.

Navigation AI

Meta-AI

Character AI

Dynamic allocation of enemies Observing level in real-time Direction for agents Making progress of game

Autonomous thinking Cooperation Team AI

Preparing data to make meta-AI and character AI recognize the level Managing object representation Managing Navigation data Path-finding / Tactical point analysis

Support

Enemy character

Player

Brain

Information Acquisition

Control

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Meta-ＡＩ

A buddy character receives a Meta AI’s order ,

and co-operate each other


Hybrid node format


State machine

Behavior tree

A Processing Node can change into Graph Structure.

IDLE

MOVE

FIGHT

MOVE

ATTACK

State machine Different types of graph system can be combined.

Hybrid node format


State machine

Behavior tree State machine

Visual node debugger and In-game debug window


Visual node debugger displays

current status of nodes.

In-game debug window display detailed logs.

Parallel thinking

Parallel thinking on a behavior tree.


Level

Navigation AI

Meta-AI

Character AI

Dynamic allocation of enemies Observing level in real-time Direction for agents Making progress of game

Autonomous thinking Cooperation Team AI

Preparing data to make meta-AI and character AI recognize the level Managing object representation Managing Navigation data Path-finding / Tactical point analysis

Support

Enemy character

Player

Brain

Information Acquisition

Control

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Pathfinding


Smart waypoint


PQS and Movement

• PQS


movie/34_PQS.mp4

Attack Motion Analysis


• Attack Motion Analysis

By simulating and analyzing a motion, attack range and attack angle are automatically detected . These information is used in AI Graph. This work has ever been done by game designers. The automation can shorten development works.

movie/37_MotionAnalyze_Behemoth.mp4

Attack Motion Analysis


Movement Motion Analysis

• Movement Motion Analysis


By simulating movement motion, rotation radius and speed control ability are detected Automatically. By using the data chart., motion feature for each character are abstracted.

Decision-making by behavior-tree

• Decision-making by behavior-tree


movie/31_NifilAI.mp4

1. Vison sensor and target search

• Vision sensor


3. Rule-based AI System • Rule-based AI


Behemoth’s

rule

4. AI Graph override


Me07 behemoth

4. AI Graph override


Me04 Catoblepas

AI Graph Override


5. Motion Analysis


• Attack Motion Analysis The system detect a region where each monster attack will hit by putting opaque sphere around monster. The spheres which is hit by the attack become red. The system detect the region size, position, and angle. The monster remebers the region feature. It saves much development cost by removing game designer’s task.

5. Motion Analysis


• Attack Motion Analysis

5. Motion Analysis


• Travelling Motion Analysis Using an automatic analysis system, we can view the performance of a character’s turning and stopping ability in chart form. From the chart, if there is a problem in the animation data, we can adjust the data.

Movement Motion Analysis



Thank you for your time

and attention.

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