Radiant AI reviews

Started collecting some commentary on the Radiant AI engine.

http://bitmob.com/articles/dimming-the-radiant-ai-in-oblivion

There are some interesting comments following the article.
This article talks specifically about the choice that the developers of Oblivion made about the AI.  It makes some good points about the problems with emergent systems vs the needs and conventions of a narrative game.  Its interesting to see that when the AI system generated unexpected results, the designers chose the conservative solution of going back to simple scripts rather than trying to fix the emergent system ( which would have been much more fun) 

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/asshole-physics-meet.php

This article, although fairly low on results illustrates an interesting point about the AI in games, namely how it can be tested or re-purposed for entertainment.  I think, while this is clearly not in the spirit of the game, it does suggest a functional way of testing emergent AI systems. Act like an Asshole and see if the NPC's treat you like one.  In the case of the version of the AI that shipped with Oblivion... clearly they did not.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8900168580155619696&q=oblivion+chapter&pl=true

This is the pre-release demo video for Oblivion showing some of the possibilities of the AI system which did not all make it to release in Oblivion but seem to have been polished for Skyrim.

http://videosift.com/video/Oblivions-Radiant-AI-not-as-great-as-they-said-it-would-be

Another video illustrating how unresponsive the AI can be to events in the immediate environment.


http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105339&page=1

This is a four page forum thread about various aspects of the Oblivion AI wins and losses. Some interesting points. 

http://elderscrolls.filefront.com/file/NPC_with_jobs;73212
One of the AI Mod's for Oblivion.   Seems to be a rebuild of some of the generic NPC stereotypes along with a couple of other odds and ends.  Includes source. Very interesting.


http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/mqw0h/the_radiant_ai_really_wowwed_me_tonight/

Here are some fun stories from Skyrim about AI interactions.