A Framework for Creating Non-Player Characters That Make Psychologically-Driven Decisions

The behavior of non-player characters (NPCs) affects player immersion and, by extension, engagement. A realistic NPC can provide great satisfaction to the completion of the story a game is attempting to tell; but an unrealistic NPC can spoil the entire experience. Numerous systems have been developed to build NPCs with psychological underpinnings. These tools can be based on one, or some combination of emotion, mood, personality, or memory. This article describes a framework that incorporates these psychological components. This framework can be used to create NPCs that exhibit psychologically-driven behaviors and make decisions based on a combination of their emotions, moods, and personalities.