Hierarchical NPC Data Access for Virtual Environment Interactions
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Solution Overview
Problem
The creation and management of numerous non-player characters (NPCs) in interactive content, such as video games, pose challenges due to the need for unique personalities, increased storage burden, and potential scripting errors, leading to inefficiencies in development and resource utilization.
Innovation Solution
A hierarchical data structure is employed to manage NPC information, allowing selective access to different levels of detail (LoDs) based on character characteristics, enabling efficient storage and realistic interactions by accessing only relevant data during interactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the number of NPCs is increased to enhance variety and interactivity, then user experience is improved, but storage burden and development complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments NPC data into multiple hierarchical levels (Level 0: basic information, Level 1: detailed information, Level 2: comprehensive information). This allows the system to store complete NPC data structures while only loading and accessing the necessary level of detail for each specific interaction, thereby supporting a large number of NPCs without proportionally increasing active storage burden.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested hierarchical data structure where Level 0 information is contained within Level 1, which is contained within Level 2. This nested organization allows efficient data management by enabling selective access to appropriate detail levels, reducing the amount of data that needs to be actively managed in memory while maintaining the capability to support numerous unique NPCs.
2Adaptability or versatility
If each NPC is made unique with detailed personalities and skills, then user experience is improved, but development burden and scripting complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal hierarchical data structure template that can be applied to all NPCs regardless of their specific role or complexity. This template includes standardized fields for personality traits, skills, knowledge, and behaviors at different detail levels. Content creators can efficiently develop unique NPCs by populating this universal structure rather than creating custom data structures for each character, significantly reducing development burden while maintaining NPC uniqueness.
3Reliability
If detailed scripting is implemented to ensure NPCs behave appropriately, then NPC realism is improved, but storage requirements and processing overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic scripting where the level of detail and complexity of NPC behavior is adjusted based on the interaction context. Instead of always loading and executing complete detailed scripts, the system dynamically selects appropriate script complexity levels, loading only the necessary behavioral details for each specific interaction scenario. This reduces overall scripting storage requirements and processing overhead while maintaining NPC realism when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for performing a selective data access for a character in a virtual environment, the system comprising a data structure identification unit configured to identify a data structure to be accessed, the data structure comprising data regarding the virtual environment in which the character is present and/or one or more skills which are able to be utilized by that character, a parameter identification unit configured to identify one or more parameters associated with the character, and a data access unit configured to access one or more portions of the data structure in dependence upon the identified parameters, wherein the one or more portions correspond to at least one of a plurality of available levels of detail within the data structure.