While there is no official announcement regarding GTA 6, there are still ongoing rumors. Possible clues have surfaced in the form of two patents acquired by publisher Take Two. These could mean a better and more realistic Open World.
Where does the information come from? The patents were filed by Take Two, the publisher behind GTA developer Rockstar Games, and are publicly accessible.
One patent dates back to 2017 and was shared by Big Jon Cosimo on Twitter on January 16 via Twitter.
The other was recently discovered by fans and discussed on reddit. It was filed in April 2019 and made public in October 2020.
These are the patents in question: One patent mainly revolves around the calculation and generation of objects in the game world. This could make AI behavior more realistic and result in significantly smarter NPCs. It is titled ‘System and Method for Virtual Navigation in a Game World’.
The other patent describes how players can actively change and influence the Open World. Many worlds of previous games hardly change due to player actions, which could change in the future.
Overall, these methods could lead to a significantly more realistic and extensive Open World in GTA 6.
Improved Navigation System for NPCs
What exactly is meant by this? The existing navigation of NPCs in a vast Open World has always been one of the biggest challenges for developers. The most recent example is the massive RPG Cyberpunk 2077, which has massive problems with NPCs. This often manifests in odd behaviors, such as in traffic.
In GTA 5, cars are usually assigned a certain ‘wandering behavior’ without taking external factors like traffic or weather into account. Numerous cars also drive around without a ‘destination’ in the world or simply park on the street (via upsto.report).
You can watch some examples of this from GTA 5 in this video by whatever57010:
The patent emphasizes the need to overcome conventional methods and improve such systems.
Here’s how the AI behavior is to be revised: By offloading the calculations for NPCs onto cloud servers, AI behavior could be significantly improved.
This allows the game world to be computed on the respective hardware while all other processes take place on the servers. The limitation posed by hardware has previously been a factor as to why NPCs occasionally behave rather stupidly in many Open World games.
The patent states:
“The system includes a server for managing the virtual navigation of one or more non-player characters and one or more game consoles in communication with the server over a network, wherein each game console comprises a gaming platform for executing the game environment […]”
Patent at uspto.report
Many associated improvements may lie in the details, but collectively, these changes could lead to more realism, particularly in large, complex Open Worlds.
- For example, major roads might be busier than side streets.
- If a car turns onto the main road, it affects the surrounding traffic.
- In general, NPCs could respond much more quickly to external influences, obstacles, and dangerous situations.
Similar improvements are likely to affect the overall simulation of the game world. But not only AI behavior is expected to improve in the future (this should also have a positive impact on the server connection). The Open World itself is also expected to become more changeable and respond to player actions as described in another patent.
Open World Responds to Player Actions
Here’s how it is supposed to work: In the future, the Open World could react to what players do within it. For example, one could ‘upgrade’ a rundown neighborhood through good actions and make it shine with new glory.
Assets like ‘old’, ‘worn’, ‘rusty’ would be replaced by new assets like ‘new’, ‘renovated’, or ‘Hipster’, which would ultimately depend on the actions of the players, as Big Jon Colosimo discovered on Twitter:
A similar feature already existed in Red Dead Redemption 2. There, cities grow, forests are logged, and generally, especially inhabited parts of the game world are in constant flux. However, this happens independently of players’ actions or decisions.
So far, every change in the game world has been added by Rockstar itself, as seen in the casino release. Days before the announcement, construction works were carried out at the casino, which had been inaccessible until then. Now it is one of the most important places in GTA Online.
Keep in mind: None of the patents mention specific games. It thus remains open whether these will find application in a potential GTA 5 successor or at all.
Nevertheless, they provide an interesting insight and possibly also a first glimpse of what may be possible in upcoming Open World games. Perhaps already in the next Grand Theft Auto that fans are eagerly awaiting.
