STEP 6 OF 67 · YOU ARE THE NPC AND AI DESIGNER
Write the living-world rules
Which species exist, which languages are spoken, how people vary, and how big the world must be at release. These numbers become the targets the AI expansion loop builds toward.
How to do it
- List each species and how it looks, moves and sounds.
- List the languages and where each is spoken.
- Describe how people vary: age, build, skin, clothing, jobs and daily schedules.
- Write how big the world must be at release: districts, interiors, NPC count, activities.
How AI speeds this up
These rules become the numeric targets you set in step 60, the bar every expansion pass is measured against.
Example from a sample game
Ashfall: humans and the horned Veyl; Common and Veyl-tongue; 3 regions, 40 interiors, 1,500 distinct NPC looks.
Before you move on
In Duke Forger, this step's gate checks:
- You write itSpecies (name: look, movement, voice)
- You write itLanguages (name: where spoken)
- You write itHow people vary
- You write itWorld size at release
Words to know
- Species
- A kind of being in your world, human or not, with its own look, movement and voice.
- NPC
- Non-player character: anyone in the game the player does not control.
- Procedural
- Made by rules and randomness instead of by hand, so it can produce a lot of variety.
Do step 6 on your own game
Start freeFree: Phase 1 is included on every plan. Duke drafts it with you and checks it before step 7 opens.