With Chapter 6 Season 3, Star Wars has been declared the main theme for Fortnite. In addition to lightsabers and blasters, much of the season revolves around Jedi and Sith, but one of the highlights was Darth Vader. He acted independently, as he was powered by AI. Epic Games now wants to expand this system.
What new system has Fortnite implemented? With Season 3 came a new feature in Fortnite: NPCs that act independently. Darth Vader was supposed to lead the way. The Sith Lord could communicate with you, act wisely in battle, take tactical actions, and randomly join your team – like an independent person, only powered by artificial intelligence.
Darth Vader was a test balloon. Epic Games wanted to see how the project would be received. However, the system was not error-free, as players could elicit forbidden statements and insults from Darth Vader, which Epic Games had not intended.
By now, the problem has reportedly been fixed, but Epic Games remains committed to the idea. They even go a step further and give every player and creator the chance to create their own NPCs that act independently.
Soon fans will be able to create their own NPCs
What does Fortnite have planned? In the livestream of the State of Unreal (via youtube.com), Epic Games reported on new tools that allow fans to create their own AI NPCs. These NPCs will then be individually designed through certain parameters and traits to make them unique. Just like Darth Vader, these NPCs will act independently and be able to talk with you.
Saxs Persson, the Executive Vice President of Epic Games, explained the benefits of this new feature with the following words: ‘As game developers, it is our job to entertain players, and AI is ultimately a tool to make games more entertaining and engaging.’
Additionally, he adds: ‘It [the AI] enables endless possibilities for a two-way dialogue, just like we saw with Darth Vader, and as the next step, we want to share what we’ve learned with you.’
Why could the NPCs be problematic? Darth Vader showed that there are players who will abuse such a feature if given the chance.
The Sith Lord then used racist expressions and insults during his conversations. Epic Games had to step in and silence him. To ensure that this feature does not cause controversies, Epic Games must do everything possible to prevent this from happening again.
Are you looking forward to seeing what NPCs fans will come up with to add variety to matches? We would love to hear your thoughts on this. Did you know that there was a shooter that challenged Fortnite and failed? Here is the story: ‘What did we do?’ – Developer challenged Fortnite, had to watch his game fail
