This Changes Everything for inZOI! | Official Developer Update

[00:00:01][music] [music] >> Hello friends. Welcome back and happy Friday, everyone.

[00:00:15]>> [music] >> K-Juno is back with another official developer update and this week he shares what he believes is the true heart of every life simulation game.

[00:00:26]autonomy In today's announcement, he explains why the team is redesigning how Zooeys think and make decisions, what that means for the future of Ensoi, and why improving this system has become their highest priority throughout July.

[00:00:46]As always, I'll be reading through K-Juno's announcement piece by piece while we relax with some cozy Ensoi gameplay and take a closer look at everything he has to share.

[00:00:58]If you'd like to share your own ideas and feedback directly [music] with the developers, you'll find the link to the official Ensoi Discord in the description below.

[00:01:07]>> [music] >> Now, let's jump into this week's developer update.

[00:01:11]At the end of this, I'll also [music] play the developer video for this week.

[00:01:22]K-Juno starts off with letting us know today is a public holiday here in Korea.

[00:01:27]He says, "Even so, I wanted to keep my promise and share another development update with [music] you.

[00:01:34]Just kidding. This post was actually written yesterday." he jokes.

[00:01:40]One of my favorite parts of these updates is seeing K-Juno's personality shine through a little more each week.

[00:01:49]He says, "I joke because I sometimes feel that if I let you see how hard we're working, it might be a little easier to understand why the game is still a work in progress and keep waiting for us.

[00:02:03]This week as well, I'd like to share some of the things we're currently developing.

[00:02:09]This month, we've been spending a great deal of time fixing bugs and improving existing features.

[00:02:17]This is now my fourth year developing games in this genre.

[00:02:20]>> [music] >> If someone asked me what the single most important element of a life simulation game is, I would answer I would answer without hesitation the autonomy system that makes Zoe feel like real people living their own lives.

[00:02:38]And I think the community would agree on that part. [music] It's probably one of the most mentioned things in the Discord.

[00:02:47]He says, "When development first began, we studied The Sims extensively along with many development materials and presentations about how that genre had developed. We even consulted experts in robotics. In the end, however, most of what we needed simply didn't exist, so we had to create it ourselves.

[00:03:09]Building a system that allows Zoe to think and act independently was easily the most difficult challenge I've faced.

[00:03:18]I remember reading years ago that even The Sims 1 implemented an artificial intelligence system where it would keep track of your actions. [music] So, if the player would often have the Sim wake up, brush their teeth, take a shower, >> [music] >> eat breakfast, the system would remember that and it would be implemented in the game.

[00:03:44][music] Now, this is what I remember reading years ago.

[00:03:49]You can fact check that if you want, but >> [music] >> The Sims has been utilizing artificial intelligence for a long time. I think a lot of people don't [music] realize that. Anyway, let's move on.

[00:04:03]Right now, each Zoe scans nearby interaction targets, evaluates them based on needs, traits, [music] personality, preferences, and other factors, calculates a score of every possible action, and then chooses the highest scoring one. Within roughly a 40-m radius, the system evaluates a large number of possible interactions, selects the most appropriate target, moves there, and performs the chosen action.

[00:04:34]And honestly, [music] that's been working because my Zoe will eat in the kitchen and wash their dish in the kitchen. They're not walking upstairs to wash their dish in the bathroom like you'll see in some other games I won't mention.

[00:04:49]This approach has served us well so far, but recently, I've become increasingly aware of its limitations. Because of that, we've decided to go back to the drawing board and redesign the autonomy system itself.

[00:05:03]In the future, I want Zoe to satisfy their immediate needs first, but after that, instead of repeatedly choosing whatever action has the highest numerical score, they should naturally make decisions that reflect who they are rather than relying on score-based priorities. We're moving toward designing behavior through rules that resemble the way people actually make decisions.

[00:05:30]For example, an outgoing Zoe should naturally spend more time socializing with others, while a family-oriented Zoe should prefer spending time with their spouse and children. If a couple visits a park together, I don't want them to immediately wander off in different directions. [music] I want them to walk together, chat with each other, and naturally enjoy spending time as a couple.

[00:05:55]>> I love that, and that'll make it a lot easier to keep track of your Zoe's, too, when they are out in public or even just regular gameplay. It won't feel like they're just wandering off.

[00:06:08]>> Looking back, I think I temporarily lost sight of the fact [music] that this system is the true engine of a life simulation game.

[00:06:16]Adding new features is certainly important, but I've come to realize once again that autonomy should be the foundation that naturally connects [music] every other system together.

[00:06:30]As our plans become more concrete, I'll continue sharing them with you and listening carefully to your thoughts.

[00:06:36][music] Your feedback has been an enormous help in shaping the direction of development. Writing this also reminds me that I'm still showing you a game with many unfinished parts, [music] and I genuinely feel sorry for that. My biggest goal right now is to turn that feeling into meaningful updates as [music] quickly as possible. Personally, and I think many would agree, we all knew going into this that the game would not be finished, and I prefer being part of the process and watching see the game develop into something the community created together rather than the alternative, which would have been we might have still been waiting for Enzo at this point. Instead, we've had over a year to develop [music] this game together as a community with the team, and I think that's really special.

[00:07:30]He finishes up with, [music] "Throughout July, improving the autonomy system will be our highest priority. Then, next month we'll focus on strengthening the connections between the game's various content and systems so that they work together more naturally. Step by step, we'll continue making steady and meaningful progress.

[00:07:52]K-June.

[00:07:53]Let's go ahead and run this week's development video.

[00:07:56]>> Hello everyone. Today I want to look at many of the fundamental improvements we're working on. Let's get right into it.

[00:08:04]Many of you gave us wonderful comments about our recent driving physics [music] implementation. So, to improve on this, we're currently working on sound effects for engine noise and different collision instances to further elevate the driving immersion.

[00:08:23]A feature that you might not have known you wanted, but may appreciate, is that households are automatically assigned beds whenever they move into a new home.

[00:08:32]Of course, you can always manually change which members sleep in certain beds, but it's nice to know you don't have to assign them yourself every single time. During autonomy, Zoes sometimes seem to ignore some of life's [crying] most important matters, [laughter] like going to the toilet or eating food, even when their life depends on it, to do other mundane tasks instead.

[00:08:53]We made a change so that these higher priority interactions would override the lesser important ones when the situation calls for them.

[00:09:01]Another thing you don't want to see is someone interrupting you when you're in the middle of an emotionally driven conversation. So, we fixed that to make it easier to focus on your important [music] moments.

[00:09:12]No one really goes outside of their current indoor location to meet their needs when you can do it within that building.

[00:09:19]This was occurring in in Zoe because these automations were set as distance based. So, if the required interaction is closer, but in another building, for example, it would go to that instead of using one that's in your current building because it was further away. We adjusted the the so that the detection [music] would be based on location rather than pure distance.

[00:09:40]Fishing is an [music] entertaining activity with lots of potential to be expanded in the future, but you hardly see Zoys doing it. So, we added this as an option for NPC autonomy, making it easier to spot more fishing enthusiasts around the city.

[00:09:55]We thought it would be nice to know who exactly are engaging in a conversation with you. So, we added a real-time indicator interface [music] that shows exactly that.

[00:10:04]A minor change we made is when you're scrolling through which elevator floor to go to, your current floor is no longer selectable.

[00:10:12]We know there's always going to be improvements needed for build mode, but our course of action for today is that we added subcategories [music] for objects so that navigating through different options no longer have to become endless doom scrolling.

[00:10:26]While today was mostly about improvements, here's a feature I wanted to show that's brand new.

[00:10:35]Yep, we're working on controlled jumps.

[00:10:38]While it's very early in the development phase, we plan on implementing our ragdoll mechanics so that when your jump isn't appropriate, you would fall down.

[00:10:49]We're working on useful applications, too. Like when you jump down to a swimming [music] pool, your Zoe will automatically switch to swim mode. What other applications would you like to see implemented with this feature? Let me know down in the comments.

[00:11:04]I hope you all liked what we shared in today's video. We're always working on improving the fundamentals of the game so that your various experiences feel as complete as we can possibly make them.

[00:11:15]Please continue to share what other components we can work on to make them better for the future.

[00:11:21]I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you in my reply next week.

[00:11:25]Bye.

[00:11:28]>> There's so much to think about. I'm I'm excited about having more active features in the game. Climbing [music] and falling I think is so funny. That ragdoll feature is hysterical and I can't wait to see how people will use it in their content. With all that being said, let me know what you think about what's to come with Inzoi. Don't forget to check out the official Inzoi Discord so you can let us know what you think about this week's development and don't forget to hit that subscribe button. [music] See you guys next time.