251 From Sparks to Steeds: AI Companions in Video Games

Join us for part three of our artificial intelligence in gaming series as we explore the fascinating world of companion characters in video games. In this episode, we delve into various types of AI companions, including both human and animal characters, and discuss their roles, functions, and impact on gameplay. We share our earliest memories of AI companions, talk about the evolution of their complexity, and highlight both positive and negative aspects of their design. Additionally, we look ahead to the future of AI companions, considering how they could become more sophisticated, adaptive, and engaging. Don't miss this deep dive as we celebrate our fifth anniversary with engaging discussions on the evolving role of AI in gaming!

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Transcript

0:01

So today we are going to be doing a part three on our recent artificial intelligence in gaming series. This time we're gonna be talking about companion characters. This can be, doesn't need to be people, it can be animals as well. Your speeds, your attack dogs, your eagles, all sorts of things. Basically, I'm defining it as an NPC. That is alongside you through your journey performing a function. We've talked a lot from the angle in terms of the narrative nature of these characters that are alongside you, but we haven't really delved into the technical side of them, so looking at what actions they perform, what support they offer. What their purpose is in terms of the gameplay and how well they, they do that. So to start off with, let's talk about what we, what we mean by types of AI companions. So I'm thinking things like, as I've just said, you can have your steeds, your fighting allies, escort missions, stealth allies. What were your guys. Impressions of AI Companions? Well, I think they're, they're definitely quite varied these days. I think, trying to think back to my very earliest memory of an AI companion, and I think it's probably something like Sparks from Spiral, whose function was to basically show you how many lives you had left. Because he would change color. So if he was a golden yellow color, you'd have all your lives left. Then he'd go, I think green and then blue. And then he, once he disappeared you, you died and had to start the level over. So basically, he was your life indicator, which was a really fun way of having it conveyed to you through a companion rather than a UI on the screen. I just really liked it. Um, he also, I think, I think he helps to pick up gems as well. Like he'll fly towards them and like flip them back towards Spiro. Yeah. And sometimes he, I dunno if he did anything with doors. I can't remember. I don't think so. And he would host like the racing levels and stuff. But yeah, I really liked the way they. Used it to indicate how many lives you had left.'cause it was a really easy way of being like, oh no, I better be careful now. Sparks is green or sparks is blue. I've gotta be, I've gotta think about this next bit carefully. But yeah, that was obviously in the late nineties, early noughties, I think. And of course since then, companions have evolved some better than others. I find it can still be a bit shonky when it comes to staff missions and escort quests. Those are some of my least favorite, uh, companion quests, I think because you can't control the ai, what it wants to do, what it doesn't want to do, and often ends up putting you in a sticky situation, particularly in stuff. Uh, I think one of the most famous examples is one of the resident evil games was Ashley. I've not played them, so you guys would have to fill me in. But I know that that was particularly troublesome until the the remake and they improved on it a great deal. But yeah, I'd say that's probably sort of my earliest memories of AI companions. And then of course I play a lot of games where you've got a steed, like a horse that you're riding round or a lot of assassins grade. You'll have an eagle who will help scout out the area for you. In fact, that's why they call it Eagle Vision, even though that's something you own character. But yeah, there's plenty of different ways that they can take shape, but they all perform particular sets of functions. What about you, gem? What was your sort of earliest memories? Yeah, I was just thinking actually about seeds, just as you said that. Yeah, that that, I think that's one of the things that I've always been most kind of. Connected to is my animal companions, whether it's the horse that you ride around in, well, or I mean Dragon Age and Horizon. Well, no, it's not a horse. It's a a Yeah, that's it. That's the one. And yeah, it's, it has, it's always been the, the, the. The sort of animal pets like Pikachu in Pokemon, you know, having that one thing, the Chucker bows in Final Fantasy were probably an all time favorite companion, and I think they're the ones that you, you connect to perhaps more than the sort of human or humanoid ones because they require, I mean. When we talk about ai, obviously it's a little bit difficult, isn't it? Because AI these days means something very different to what it did back then, and these days we're talking about intelligent, intelligent. Computer generated beings. And obviously that's not what a lot of these companions were back in the day. They were, they were just people that sort of followed you around and had, had set sort of routines or like you said, you know, like going over and gathering gems when, when they pop up or directing you in ways that you might need, you know, encouraging you to go a particular route or. Do something. And I think, so for me, I think that because of that, the human companions always felt like they had more autonomy and more, and were more able to look after themselves. Whereas, like the animal companions always feel like you, you, you feel a duty of care to them because they're, they're just animals and you're looking after them. I mean, it's not an AI companion, but I've been playing Heim recently. And you can raise, you can catch and then tame and then raise and breed boar to eat. And you, you do have to go round and slaughter them, which is a bit traumatic, but you can also name them and you can pet them. And when you pet them, it says boar loves you. And I named, I had we. Had four bore and I'd named all four of them. I'd named them Babe, um, Baron, oink and applesauce and, and. I was, so whenever I was killing any of the boar, I would not kill the named ones. I was keeping those four original ones. I wanted to keep them. And so I'd only kill their babies once they were grown up. And on three separate occasions, I accidentally killed one of the named Boars. Oh yes. This is just yesterday. And I was, I was traumatized. I was like, oh, no, I've, I've killed my babies. I've killed babe. I've killed babe. So I had to rename. We named one of the unnamed Babe Poor four. But then we got attacked. Yeah, babe Gen then we got attacked and, and they, they killed Apple Source and Ink and Barren. And Babe was the only one who was, who survived. But I was like, no, I'm renaming one of the other ones, apple Source.'cause I like their name too much. So, but yeah, you do get attached to them and you do feel, and it's, it's interesting'cause we put them in a building to keep them safe, but we hadn't put walls. So they've got a roof, so flying things couldn't get them. But then they've got sort of like windows, open bits all around. And I was, and we were discussing whether we needed to actually put them in a building like with proper walls to protect them because it's what Ev whenever we got attacked, it's what they go for and. I was like, yes, but I'm worried about their health because, you know, it's very dark in there. Already need, they need, they need like, and I know that these are your just little, but you make that connection, you do make that connection with these creatures. And so I think, you know, it's, it, there's a lot of mileage in the whole AI companion thing and as they get more intelligent and as they become more autonomous, I think it's going to become. More and more heartbreaking when something happens to them, especially if, as I think you were saying, Alex, the, in one of our previous episodes, that you'd accidentally attacked your horse in a game and hadn't realized you could do that, and that was very distressing. So definitely, I think it's interesting that you bring up how much easier it is to connect with animals than humans, because even in a game like a Jedi survivor. Or the other Jedi, I can't remember their names, but the two Jedi games. Um, you've got bd, your robot droid companion, droid, sorry. And he's like a little, he's got a little visor and he's got two little legs and he sits on your shoulder. Um, and he behaves a lot like a dog, I think personally. So I think they've definitely leaned on. This is your animal friend, bd, your, your droid robot. And he'll do things like scan for. Little collectible bits where you learn about the history of certain parts of temples that you're in or, or he can help unlock chess. So he'll hack them. He can, I think he can attack, but I can't quite remember off the top of my head. But he's very useful for opening doors and chess and letting you know there's something to come and look at. He'll like run off and go and, and bleep at it. Mm-hmm. Which is very cute. But within the Star Wars universe. The character of Carl who is a Jedi, uh, wouldn't be able to hack open chests and doors and stuff. So he needs BD to, to serve that function. So within universe, he's actually quite useful, although I would argue he could probably open anything with his lights saver. But, uh, I don't know. Maybe I need to go read up on the Droid law. Oh, quite, quite garden gin. Literally. Carbs open up like three foot. That's what I was thinking. Yeah. Door. Yeah, he did. I remember. So it's possible, but uh, BDS is very cute, so Yeah. But, but they're definitely leaning in on the animal companion there, even though he's a droid, which is really interesting. Um, there is a, it comes more and more obvious that there are, it seems like there are the, the, the caliber of the writers. In any form of art now is deteriorating massively. So the reason things like animals and robots so much easier to like is'cause they don't speak is, and anytime you create something that speaks, it is a massive risk because if it, if you write it poorly. Then people are gonna hate it no matter how useful it is. So yeah, stuff like,'cause things like the, the, the animals and the robots, they're always really useful and really like simple. You get a built-in camaraderie with an animal and a little cute, something that's cute and doesn't speak. I think that's the answer to. To NPC stuff. So we've mentioned a little bit about examples of these companions that we've had. Do you have any particular standout ones in terms of what function and service they perform for you and how well they do that? I'll pick one of you. I don't, I don't have any, any standout. Companions. It's tricky, isn't it? It is really tricky. Tricky.'cause also they're all so sy a lot of the time. It is tricky because, yeah, there's no, there's no one game I can think of that's done something ultra revolutionary. Shall I, shall I start off with a few of mine and see if that, see if that stirs anything. I'm just gonna say with the exception of Bold Escape three,'cause I think they, those companions, but I feel like that's a whole different level. So go Matt. I just wanted get in there before you and also that technically they are, they are play they player character as well. Mm, that's true. Yes. Yes. Um, so straight off God of War. Yeah. You've got Atress and Mir. Atress is a another, basically another weapon for Rezos. And he performs the, the actor, he, he distracts you, he distracts enemies from you, takes pressure off you. He can use different types of arrows that allow you to, to fight enemies that you can't fight in Rome like those. Stupid witch things. The remnants, is it? Yeah. Oh, they're horrible. They just flash around and you can't hit them. They're so bad. So you ping them. And then Meir most useful is pointing out when someone's about to attack you. Yeah. And the, the rhythm of combat of, he says it is Zach, at the right times goes behind your brother. And until the left after and those kinds of things. So, and then quite apart from them being incredibly compelling characters, they also make the actual game play much like more engaging and immersive.'cause it feels like it's not just you against an enemy. It's this, this guy hanging from your belt, looking, looking behind you, telling you what's coming on. And then. This other character can jump around, be all flitty. But yeah, I think it's interesting with the tricks'cause you can control how many times he shoot his bow uh, and arrow. But he also does it automatically sometimes as well. I was just pressing square at every opportunity. It was interesting to see how differently my partner Tom played it.'cause he would barely press square at all and then, uh, sometimes he would end up in difficulty and I'm like, why don't you just press. Just press square. It really helps. Anytime there was a gap and my button presses over to bring on a trace.'cause he just works to stagger, to stagger all the enemies around you. So very useful. Definitely. Yeah, I, that was one that did come into, into mind definitely that, um, there's also that he revives you. That's true. Yes. I forgot about the, the resurrection stone. Yes. And in. The second game with, uh, you have, he has other companions like Freyer for example. Yes. And Freyer is much more aggressive. Yeah. And powerful than, than Tre is. And so I spent most of my time exploring with Freyer'cause she's this incredibly powerful and one thing that, particularly in the first game, it does really well, is. It shows you how much, how much less power you have when you don't have this, this companion. Because when you, you spend most of the game with the trainers and you get into the, you use him when, in the times when you know that you need to use him, but then when Atress is ill and Kratos is on his own, oh yeah. All of a sudden you're going, oh my God, I, I, every time I. Every time I press the Atress button, yeah. He's not there. Nothing happens. And if I die then I'm just dead. And that's how, that's how I think AI Companion could do felt. Definitely. Yeah. It was a really good point that there's also in the, the animal side of things I just made think of that.'cause I thought I had a couple of them, but I've actually only got two and the other ones are. Animal names for people. So you got Roach from the, the Witcher and dog meat from Fallout. I like poor shimmer from last of us, part two. It's blown up and then shot in the head. And then of course the, the eagles and falcons from the assessments, creed games and the, the, the role.'cause if you didn't have a Ste you'd be walking everywhere. Yeah. And. These, these, like the, the scouting animals are so useful in making you be able to, I feel like a badass assassin when I'm, when I've got my eagle flying over and going, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping. And then I can go and fight my way through one thing. So with, with horses and steeds, you'd think they'd be extremely simple. You'd think that we've, we've got the best version of them already. And so the, the best version is one where you press the, the, you're running, you press the, the whistle button and it runs up behind you and you get on it automatically. That's the perfect thing. But not every game does that with their horses. And maybe we will speak a bit more about this, where we come onto what the future of these companions look like. And you say not every game lets you jump directly onto the horse. Which is very annoying. Yeah, I got any other ones. I was going to say Ellie, and then in last of us, one and Dina, and last of us two because. They, they provide, you do get very, very emotionally connected to both of those characters. And I, I would quite happily see a last of us three. That's Dina's story. You know, I would quite happily have gone into a, a game where I played her. And so, and I think that's. As you said, Matt, there's a lot about good writing and how connected we get, how engaged we are with with our companions in these worlds. Um. I think, obviously we've talked a lot about the last of us, how good the writing is on that, and so I don't think it's any surprise that those two companions would have become so significant in our, in our hearts. I do also think then the other reason why animal Companions are easier to connect with is because of the sort of uncanny, the uncanny valley thing about other human humanoids. Creatures in these games that that, that you can forgive the fact that horse looks a little bit like a weird alien horse or, you know, whatever than, than you can with a. A with the person. I mean, we, we've been playing with 3D versions, cartoon, 3D versions of ourselves this week. And, and I think, you know, Matt and I, both three DD ourselves and the results were just, I mean, they were obviously not real, but they were also slightly too real. It was, would almost have been, it would've been less freaky if they'd been less. Less realistic. And I think that's another thing that makes it hard for us to connect with characters. But I think Ellie and Dina were just really well fleshed out characters and helped. They got involved in, in all the fights and all the, you know, they did stuff and they went off and did stuff by themselves. So they kind of had that. Reality to them that they, they made decisions and did stuff, and you would have little conversations where they'd shout to each other from different rooms and things. So I think that we have seen the death of the escort mission because I, I can't remember anything recently with a, a truly rubbish escort mission like with. I haven't played either, but it's quite infamous. The resident Evil four of Ashley jumps in the way of your, your Garnet. Yes. Every opportunity and just runs around being pretty useless. And it's just so much better when you've got a companion who is not only narratively compelling, but also extremely useful. So rather than just escorting this meek child of Ellie. Ellie can kill things and help you through things, and I like, I really like stealth, a really good stealth companion and I think the, the most satisfying one of that, even though it's not for very long, is in Batman Arc and Knight because you can, you and Robin can go and coordinate. Not just stealth, but the the two person combat is awesome as well, and just incredibly sophisticated and also snipers. I love a good sniper, like quiet in Mel, solid five, and a guy called Boone in fallout, new Vegas. Really, really, really useful. So. It might not be. So it's a bit more tricky for to think specific examples sometimes of these things. But what factors do you think do you find most useful in an AI companion? Depending on which kind of game it's, it's in, I think they're useful if they. Can do something to help advance gameplay, whether that's in combat or if it's helping to solve a puzzle or story, story beat or whatever else. If they're just sort of falling around doing nothing, being a bit helpless, then that's not gonna, that's just gonna alienate them from you as a character, and you're gonna view them as a bit of a burden. Honestly, I think sometimes games have a tendency to make. Your companion a little bit. You've got to look after them and if, if anything touches them, it's game over kind of thing. Um, which can be quite irritating to have to manage, particularly when you have to replay a section like 10 times over or something like that. And it's, it doesn't feel like it's your fault even though you know you are doing your best to protect. Like I said, basically it's describing old escort missions. But yeah, I think where an AI companion can actually do something constructive within the piece of gameplay that you're in, then that would be one of the more useful types. Definitely. What about you, Jim? Yeah. Sorry, Matt. Did you? I said how about you, Jeb? Oh yeah. I think that's, I think that's it really. I think it's about that they have to have, they have to have valid reason to be present and not just be there to act as a, a dunno some kind of break on the, on the gameplay because I think that is what they used to be. That it used to be about to give you an excuse to go from A to B or as an in the sort of. Cliche escort style quest, but also that they, that, that they can sometimes be there to just make it a little bit more challenging, just to put a little, another layer of complexity into the gameplay. And I think that that is okay, but I think if you can see that, if you can see that that's what's going on, then it just breaks the immersion of it and it just, it makes'em feel. You just see the mechanics of the game and there's nothing worse than struggling with, with the game because of something technical about the game play. You know, like, and that includes, you know, getting stuck on a, a lump of grass or, you know, the, the not being the character, not switching to the right gun when you press the button. You know, all of those things. And so having a. An AI companion that's like literally running in front of you when you are shooting or just putting themselves in harm's way all the time is extremely frustrating because it's just bad game mechanics that makes the game annoying and it, and they're not bringing anything to it. Whereas, you know, again, going back to sort of Ellie in, in, in. The first, last verse, and Dina and the second one, they, they have reasons for being where they are. They have reasons for doing what they do. Everything is motivated. Now, obviously there is, they have a bit of. Leeway because it's a very narrative driven, linear style story, but you still have scenes where you are running around and fighting and stuff. And one of the things that I really loved about those two characters, especially in the second one, is that the, the, the, the companions were, when you're with the companions, they will be ducking down behind things. They will be hiding, they will be doing things in their own. Semi-autonomous way and that I really like that, and I think that's really important. I think it's really important that they can look after themselves, that they have. Valid reasons to be with you and that their behavior isn't random and clunky, that they're, that they're properly coded so they can cope with you doing something random. You know? And that, and I, and I, I think one of the things that comes up so often, and it still does, and it is that when you jump onto something or you move in. Slightly odd way in the game, and suddenly your car companions appear in front of you or behind you. And I understand it's a technically difficult, difficult situation, but I want them to sort that out because it's just, it just removes the feeling that you are, you know, on this trip together as a group of people. And suddenly it's like, oh no, they're little computer sprites. Mm-hmm. And this is a glitch. So, so for me, a good companion is something that feels real, as real as, as it can do in that, in that environment, in the, in, within the context of the game and the story. I think that companions are probably the, the hardest thing to code for. Game designers because with normal NPCs, they just have to stay where they are pretty much. And if you move them outta the way, then they just go back to where they are and they have fixed very fixed routines and path that they do. Whereas with it's a companion, they've got to, they've got to be able to react. Organically to what you do as the player and players will do all sorts of weird things. Yeah. And part of the game designer process is to try and come up with absolutely every, every scenario that they can, they can do, and then having something that your AI can do'cause of that. And Yeah, like in the, the fight scenes in. In the last verse, you really feel like your companion is, is actually doing things for you. They're actually, it makes the world feel more dangerous as well.'cause your AI is, isn't just go, I'm invincible, so I'm just gonna run around things. It's going, I'm, I need to hide behind this thing too. Okay. So we'll go on to things that we'll talk a little bit more about things that we don't like that makes a AI companion. Undesirable and that is getting in the way pretty much. Yeah. And making, making it feel like you're wrestling with the way the game's designed rather than with the, the actual game itself. Definitely. I think some good examples of that, or one I could think of was from the early uncharted games. Uncharted. The first uncharted, I think when you've got to do, there's a couple of bits. There's Elena, who is the journalist that follows Nate and she's got her camera. And then there's a whole load of scenes where like you're trying to get somewhere and Elaine's like bulb, but what am I, my camera, we have to go back and get my camera. And it just feels like more of an annoyance than actually anything positive. But I think that might be. Getting the player to feel Nate's general feelings towards Elena in that particular point in the story. Further on, I think it might be actually in uncharted two. There was a whole escort mission with the cameraman that Elena was with. I forget his name, but he was essentially sacrificed during a chase scene through the streets, and you had to protect Chloe and the cameraman and Elena who were both, they were both kind of. Had the cameraman on their shoulders and were like lifting him. I can't exactly remember if I've got that right, but anyway, he was being lifted and uh, you had to stop enemies from attacking them as you made your way through the streets. Again, classic escort mission, but particularly annoying because you know, you had to get to know how those characters were going to move through the streets sometimes during multiple attempts, and then predict. Like what the enemy was going to do, where they were going to pop out, where you needed to be aiming. And it's just one of those really annoying parts of the game where you had to just keep playing it over and over until you got it right. Um, unless you were very lucky and did it in your first go. But, and especially in the uncharted games where you've got like those extra hard difficulties, that must have been a nightmare to do because essentially what they're doing is. Saying, oh, your, your companion characters is disabled.'cause they can't move. They're gonna move really slowly and now you've gotta help them'cause they're helpless. Uh, so there's the extra layer to it as well, I guess. But yeah, it's essentially saying this character is useless, but you must, they need to, you have to protect them in order to move on through the game. Yeah. Those are some examples of more irritating aspects of components. Definitely. Yeah. It's that thing of. Feeling like they're, they're like you're tied to them. Yeah. So like a, a three-legged race. Yeah. And it's just, it's really rubbish when they, like, you can't progress a crest without them and they can die.'cause then you're completely at the mercy of how good the game designers are too.'cause there are so many, so many like. Times where like, particularly on higher difficulties you'll get and they almost like the bad bits come together. So it normally is, there'll be no checkpoints in it. Yes. And so you'll get sent all the way back down to the beginning and, and it's, it'll never be for any interesting reasons either. I just remembered one of my positive things about AI companions and when they feel like they're. Action. They perform as an extension of the players, what the player can do. So if you've got your eagle in Assassin's Creed, that can come and tag, find, find enemies, find important bits scouting ahead. But you're basically, you are the, you the player are still doing that. And with Atreus, you basically, it's another, it's another weapon that you've got in your arsenal. And even though it's not. Your character actually doing it, you are still, it's still a tool that the player has to use. So something being useful and also being satisfying to do so. It just makes the game more, it enhances the game experience, but without overdoing it, so, so it's, yeah, it's complex. Gem. Do you have any. Things about companion characters that you don't like? Yeah, I was thinking about GLO Box actually from, it was like, it took me ages to remember. I was like looking him up because I could remember the character in Rayman and he's a little sort of toed like companion and he can do stuff like pull things over or help you to, to get on, get places So he, so you can send him off to. To go and do stuff and you could also play him. He was in some of the, some of the episodes. So we played quite a lot of Ray Man, when my daughter was younger. And yeah, one of the things, it was just really, really frustrating when you wanted him to go forward and do something and. Suddenly he see he was going back and doing the opposite thing that you wanted. And so there's, there can be quite a lot of complexity in just the commands that you, you are the, the, the actual practical commands that you're giving them. So, you know, how do you control this? This other character can be really, really frustrating. And sometimes, I mean, we, we, you know, I think we're gonna come on to what we want. Our sort of AI future. Um, and, but one of the things that I really gets my go is when, when the AI is. Just wrong or bad, and they make stupid decisions and I, I definitely had that in, in Boulder's Gate three, where your companion characters would sort of run around and just run into the fire or just use a, a skill that could, and, and the problem is, is that when that happens, you, it, it forces you to take. Total control of everything because you can't trust them not to, not to be idiots in the middle of the fight. And that's frustrating because obviously they have been designed to be able to manage themselves, and then suddenly you are having to micromanage which, which changes the game to, into a different, a different thing. And then, and then finally, I was, I just wanted to shout out to online, massively multiply online games because you know, that is they. They are champions of the escort quest and you know, pretty much every other quest is an escort quest of some sort and because everything is. Knocked up so quickly there and there's not a lot of depth in it because it's literally just to pick this up, go there, drop this off to sort of Quest. They can have some really shoddy code and they will just wander into danger. And yeah, there's nothing more frustrating than, as you said, like where you haven't got checkpoints and stuff and you've just spent like half an hour. Dragging this MPC and he suddenly dies five seconds from the final, you know, point that you're trying to get them to just because they decided to get stuck behind a tree or to pull off and you know, trigger the months that, you know, it's just things like that just are really frustrating because again, as I was saying earlier, that comes down to. To gain mechanics. And I think that's where I get really annoyed. I don't mind if, if it's difficult because it's difficult. I mind if it's difficult because of the technicalities and the, the, the mechanics behind the game. So, yeah. You mentioned it a second ago, so we'll move on to our, the final segment of the episode. What do we want to see in the future of AI companions that some innovations do we want it to be. Necessarily more complex or creative? What kind of things do you guys want to see? It's difficult with complexity because it's like we talked about in previous episodes, we don't want the AI necessarily to be making decisions that will change the cause of gameplay because you know, in a linear game particularly, that's just not gonna work. But you want the AI to film more. Realistic, then perhaps it might already do, if that makes sense. So maybe, I don't know, thinking about the character that that is being portrayed, like how would that character react in a combat situation? How would they react in a style situation? How would the events of the last shape, how they might change their response? Say if there's something big that has happened in the story. Maybe they're a bit traumatized by it. They might act slightly differently. And I think maybe you could do something more around things that are happening in the story that are having an impact not only on your character, but also on the characters around you. And seeing those changes play out in real time would be quite interesting. I'd like to see them learning. I'd like to see them learning. And so that then if you go back and you replay the game. Yeah. I would like them to be replaying the game as well so that, so yeah. So that you could create Yeah, they would be, they would get better and then, and, and maybe more able to anticipate what you are going to do, um, and therefore better support you in, in whatever it is that you're doing. I would really like to see that. I'd like to see, you know, we talked. In one of the previous AI episodes about this concept of co-pilots that can help help you with the, with when you get stuck in your game. But it would be so much better if it could be your companion that helps you with that so that you know, you, if you were in the last of us two, you could actually sit down and have a conversation with Dean about, you know, I'm really not sure how to get. Across to this building and, you know, and within, you know, in some way they could provide you with the answers or hints in a sort of very, in genre, in game way rather than it just being a sort of, yeah, like a big flashy hint that comes up. You know, I think there's, I think there's quite a lot of. Opportunity for ai, genuinely AI companions, to really add depth to the stories that you are playing and, and I suppose that they're going to be more influential in games that maybe aren't as linear. Maybe ones that aren't as story led, because when you have a very story heavy game, obviously you have certain checkpoints that you have to work through in order for that story to progress in the in, in the right way. And, and the, the narrative nature of that story means that it is boxed in in a lot of ways that, so that you wouldn't want Dina telling you what's gonna happen at the. You know, in the next town, just because she happens to have access to that information because she's ai. So, but in a, in, in, say, like online, um, role playing game or in some of these things like Fortnite or Overwatch, the AI could, could provide quite an interesting level of, of complexity to, to the existing game. I really like the, the increase, the sophistication in the, the companion's ability to learn and adapt to things. I think it's a fascinating idea of the, the, the AI develops differently depending on how you play the game and that if you, so like with mass effect or something like that, or the witcher that the character you've got with you along the way. Changes depending on what you do. If you, if you kill a village full of people, then will it fight harder for you? Does it like that? Does it not like that? And that marrying of the, the AI element and the narrative element, I think that's really, that's really interesting. And yeah, the, the creative use of it in like, I don't understand why any, any, everything that uses a screen reader in games. Why end users? The robot voice. Just get one of the actors to read everything. Yeah. So that then it feels like, it feels like it's in universe. Mm-hmm. It makes more sense in context and the ability to customize the way that your companions. Behave in certain situations. Do you want them to cover you and in a meaningful way so that there are many games that have said, oh, you can, you can adapt the way that your companions behave, but then it doesn't feel like they're doing anything differently. So, but yeah, who knows what we'll get in the future. Hopefully it'll be good. I think we'll bring it to a close there. Thank you very much for, uh, joining me for this conversation and you know where to find us every Thursday. New staff. We are coming up on our fifth anniversary. Oh my gosh. Yeah, so we've got a ton of, we've got a ton of of content already in the bank for you, and we will have much more going forward. So thank you all very much and see you next time. Bye bye.