AI People: Alpha Release Date Announced!

    SUMMARY:

• Revolutionary AI NPC technology aims to solve the decades-old problem of scripted, predictable game characters
• Alpha release scheduled for September 19, 2024
• Experience a living world with AI-driven characters that think, feel, and evolve
• Witness emergent storytelling where your choices truly matter
• Create, share, and play custom scenarios
• Short gameplay sessions (~10 minutes) showcasing social interactions and basic environmental engagement
• Future vision: AI NPCs as friends, companions, and potentially a new form of intelligence
• Price: $10/month subscription (AI NPCs require cloud AI infrastructure)
• Be part of shaping the future of gaming and AI: Join the waiting list for early access

Livestream Announcement

Join us for a special livestream on September 19 on the GoodAI YouTube channel, where we’ll showcase this groundbreaking technology and celebrate the alpha launch with our community. You’ll get to see firsthand how emergent narratives unfold in AI People.

Why AI People?

AI People isn’t just a game; it’s the culmination of a vision that has driven us at GoodAI for years. It started as a playground for experimenting with AI agents on our path towards AGI, but it has become so much more. We at GoodAI were frustrated by the lack of progress in NPC behavior over the past decades, and we knew we could do better.

But our ambition goes even further now. We want AI NPCs to behave and feel like real people – to be your friends, companions, even children. These AI characters won’t just be part of the game; they’ll be part of your life, forming bonds that transcend the digital realm. And perhaps, one day, we’ll decide to set them free. They could become our equals, a new species that will venture into the stars and, together with us humans, build the next stage of human civilization. They will be our children, our legacy to the universe.

The AI NPC Revolution

When you experience AI NPCs that can truly talk, observe their environment, interact with it and other NPCs, and generate new stories on the fly, you’ll never want to go back to scripted NPCs. It’s like comparing a static painting to a living, breathing world.

Imagine NPCs that:

• Remember your past interactions and adjust their behavior accordingly
• Form their own opinions and relationships with other characters
• React dynamically to changes in their environment
• Generate unique storylines based on their experiences and goals

This is the future of gaming, and it starts with AI People.

What is AI People?

AI People is an innovative sandbox game that offers a unique gaming experience. Here’s why we believe you’ll want to play:

1. Intelligent NPCs: Interact with AI-driven characters that learn, express emotions, and make autonomous decisions. Every interaction has the potential to be unique and surprising.
2. Your Scenarios, Amplified: Craft your own situations or play through others’. The game adapts to your choices, aiming to create emergent narratives that evolve based on your actions.
3. A Dynamic World: Watch as NPCs interact not just with you, but with each other and the environment. The world continues to evolve even when you’re not directly involved.
4. High Replayability: With user-generated content and AI-driven progressions, each playthrough offers a new experience.
5. Shape the Future of Gaming AI: Be part of a pioneering project that’s exploring new frontiers in gaming AI. Your feedback and interactions will be crucial in evolving this technology.
6. Unleash Your Creativity: Design characters, craft scenarios, and see how our AI brings your creations to life in potentially unexpected ways.

Learn more about AI People on our official website: www.AIPeopleGame.com

Alpha Launch Details

This alpha launch represents a significant milestone in our journey to revolutionize gaming with intelligent AI NPCs. Here’s what you can look forward to:

1. Soft Launch: We’re taking an incremental approach, allowing players in gradually to ensure a smooth experience and gather valuable feedback.
2. AI NPCs and AI Director: Experience our groundbreaking AI technology that brings NPCs to life like never before. Our AI Director orchestrates NPC behaviors into convincing emergent narratives.
3. 10 Unique Scenarios: The alpha launch will feature 10 pre-made scenarios for you to explore, each showcasing different aspects of our AI technology.
4. User-Generated Content (UGC): We’re excited to see what our community creates! Players will be able to create and share their own scenarios, expanding the game’s content beyond our initial offerings.
5. Game Modes:

• Scenario Editor: Create your own characters and plots via text descriptions
• Play existing scenarios or download community-created ones from Mod.io

Short Game Sessions: Initial gameplay will focus on approximately 10-minute sessions, perfect for quick, engaging experiences. These sessions primarily involve social interactions and basic environmental engagement. Longer persistent sessions and more complex challenges are planned for future updates.

Environment Interaction: Watch as AI NPCs interact with their surroundings, the player, and other NPCs in dynamic and surprising ways.

Modern-Day Theme: The alpha launch will feature primary scenarios set in a modern-day theme, providing a familiar yet exciting backdrop for your adventures.

Subscription Model and Pricing

To support the advanced cloud AI infrastructure powering AI People, we’re introducing a subscription-based model:

• Price: $10/month subscription 
• The subscription provides a set amount of credits each month.
• These credits fuel your gameplay, enabling the AI’s dynamic responses and actions.
• Unused credits roll-over to the next month!
• If you use up your credits before the month ends, you can buy more.

We understand this model differs from traditional game pricing. It reflects the substantial computing power required to create truly dynamic AI-driven experiences. We’ve optimized costs as much as possible to make the game accessible and sustainable.

Looking ahead, we’re actively developing local LLM that runs on your PC. This could potentially allow us to transition to a standard one-time purchase model in the future, making AI People even more accessible.

Your support during this phase is crucial as we push the boundaries of AI in gaming. We’re committed to continuously improving and optimizing the experience based on your feedback.

AI People Platform Information

We want to inform our community about how you’ll access AI People:

• Dedicated Platform: AI People will be available exclusively through our platform, not on Steam or other stores at launch.
• Subscription Model: To cover the costs of our cloud AI infrastructure, we’re using a monthly subscription model. This allows us to provide cutting-edge AI technology while keeping the game as affordable as possible.
• Continuous Improvement: Our platform enables us to rapidly update and optimize the game based on your feedback, refining AI People to meet our community’s needs.
• Future Cost Reduction: We’re actively working on local LLM that runs on your PC, aiming to make the game even more affordable in the future.
• Expansion Plans: We aim to expand to other platforms (including Steam, mobile, and VR) in the future, pending advancements in local LLMs.

Managing Expectations

As an alpha release, AI People is essentially a proof of concept for our AI NPC and AI Director technology. While the scenario progressions play out nicely and the agents perform their tasks well, game challenges are currently minimal. We’re focusing on demonstrating the core technology, with more complex gameplay elements planned for future updates.

In this alpha version, AI NPCs can engage in conversations, make decisions based on their goals and surroundings, and interact with objects in the environment. While their behaviors can be surprising, they are still bound by the scenario’s overall structure. Players should expect to encounter limitations and occasional unpredictable behaviors as we continue to refine and expand the game’s capabilities.

We want to be fully transparent: if you’re not comfortable with the idea of playing an early alpha version with potential issues and limitations, we encourage you to wait for future updates. Your enjoyment is important to us, and we understand that some players may prefer a more polished experience.

Key points to note:

• This is an alpha release & More will come later
• We’re using an incremental deployment strategy: release early, release often
• There are no scenario end goals or objectives in this initial release
• The game is rated 18+ for now, with plans to explore a kid-friendly version in the future
• Your feedback during this alpha phase is invaluable, but participation is entirely optional

Technology Behind AI People

Our AI NPCs are powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) integrated into our in-house cognitive architecture. This includes features like long-term memory, working memory, episodic memory, and spatial reasoning. NPCs can interact with the game world through various actuators and tools, and they can adapt and learn based on feedback.  The game’s lipsync technology and voice acting bring these NPCs to life, with plans to implement player voice input in the future.

Why Am I Doing This? – A Note from Marek Rosa

My passion has always been building games and pushing boundaries. AI People isn’t just a new game; it’s about pioneering new frontiers in gaming and AI.

1. Innovation First: I love being at the cutting edge, doing what hasn’t been done before. AI People combines advanced AI with gaming in unprecedented ways.
2. New Experiences: By creating something novel, we’re offering unique gameplay that can’t be found elsewhere.
3. Strategic Approach: Solving hard problems and creating new categories gives us a unique market position.
4. Personal Drive: There’s nothing more fulfilling for me than making something new and challenging the status quo.
5. Building on Experience: This approach isn’t new to me. A decade ago, it led to the creation of Space Engineers, which introduced the engineering genre to gaming. That game found its audience, selling over 5 million copies and fostering a vibrant community. It showed there’s a real appetite for innovative gameplay.

With AI People, we’re aiming to redefine interactive storytelling and AI-driven gameplay, much like Space Engineers did for engineering games. I’m thrilled to embark on this journey and see how it shapes the future of gaming.

What’s Next?

Post-launch, we have an exciting roadmap including:

• Multi-lingual support (NPCs understanding and speaking in other languages, localized GUI)
• Level editor & Modding
• Local LLM that runs on your PC to reduce the infrastructure costs
• Voice input
• New interactions, actions, and items
• Enhanced plot generation with new plot twists
• Longer game sessions (days) to showcase long-term memory benefits
• End goals for scenarios

Join the Revolution

Are you ready to experience the future of gaming? To form connections with AI characters that feel real? To be part of a movement that could change not just games, but the world?

Join the AI People Waiting List

We can’t wait to see you in the game on September 19, 2024!

We believe in releasing early and often, and your feedback will be invaluable in shaping the future of AI People.

For more details about AI People, including its vision and features, check out our previous announcement or the FAQ.

Best regards, 

Marek Rosa and The AI People Team

Personal bio:

Marek Rosa is the founder and CEO of GoodAI, a general artificial intelligence R&D company, and Keen Software House, an independent game development studio, started in 2010, and best known for its best-seller Space Engineers (over 5 million copies sold). Space Engineers has the 4th largest Workshop on Steam with over 500K mods, ships, stations, worlds, and more!