Chapter 88: Anxious Ubisoft

Liu Fan ’s expectations for AI games firstly stem from the hugeness of this market. According to the latest data, the number of global players has reached 2.2 billion, and it is likely to exceed 2.4 billion by the end of 18.
Nowadays, with the increasing homogeneity of games, AI games and virtual reality have become the two hottest topics, but the realization of virtual reality may have to wait a long time, but AI has actually entered the players' side. , And development is not bad.
Big manufacturers like Ubisoft, EA, and Blizzard have invested heavily in developing AI games over the years.
For example, EA strongly promoted the cooperation between the EAFrostbite laboratory team and OPENAI, and began training AI in games such as Battlefield 1, Red Alert 2, Command and Conquer. Blizzard announced cooperation with DeepMind at the end of 2016, "StarCraft II" is built as an artificial intelligence test platform. In fact, Ubisoft began to try algorithm improvements in 2011, and established an artificial intelligence research department "" to successfully apply AI to games. This time, Liu Fan threw out an olive branch of cooperation for these big factories. Ubisoft was the first to respond, and perhaps once again proved their desire for the development of AI games from the side.
The application of AI in games is mainly rendering, modeling, and intelligent NPCs, and Liu Fan's strength lies in the creation of intelligent NPCs and intelligent environments.
Because the biggest advantage of Liu Fan's system is analysis. Although the dominant algorithm writing is needed at the decision-making level, the advantages at the analysis level cannot be underestimated.
Now what are the reasons why many games ca n’t keep players, it ’s just tired of playing, it ’s just a routine. But once the game environment and NPC become smart, it can break the traditional rigid linear task flow, so that the game can have countless possibilities. Take the most common monsters in the game, for example, we used to fight monsters outside the city. Monsters are unintelligent. The levels of monsters are set when the game is developed. You just need to find a monster with a corresponding level according to your strength.
But in AI games, the level of such monsters may no longer exist. It will become unpredictable to brush monsters outside the city. Maybe you will chop a lamb and rush out of a flock to choke you. Maybe you Go and chop a tiger. The tiger senses your ability and runs away. How to upgrade in the end, you need to take care to explore.
At the same time, the intelligence and uncertainty of the NPC will inevitably make hormones explode for players who are looking for challenges. Games like "Resident Evil" will become more exciting. You never know what will happen in the next second. Players need to be higher. Control and adaptability.
In competitive games like LOL, there is likely to be an intelligent branch of AI sparring. Through countless matches with the team, AI continues to grow and discover the weaknesses of the team players, thus forcing the team players to continuously strengthen their own ability.
As for the intelligent environment, for example, if it ’s raining when you fight outside the city, you might be hacked by thunder, but at the same time, the monster may also be hacked by thunder. The lord was killed. At that time, there may be a new group of players, called professional cadavers.
At the same time, because other players also face various uncertainties in the game, the interaction between players is doomed to have more possibilities, especially in terms of emotional collision. That said, every time you log in to the game, the game will have unlimited possibilities and playability.
The ultimate goal of AI games is to make the game world more like a real world full of infinite possibilities, rather than a set world.
After Xu went upstairs, Liu Fan told Liu Wei about the situation and let Liu Wei stay in Yanjing for a few days. He returned to Hangzhou the next morning.
Wu Yubi was so anxious that she wanted to see herself this afternoon. I can also understand that Ubisoft has always been a big BUG manufacturer, and was joked by players to buy BUGs to send games. Fortunately, in the past few years, Ubisoft's rapid development in AI has saved a little face for itself, so Ubisoft may Relatively more sensitive.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, Liu Fan received Yang Long, general manager of Ubisoft Huaxia District, in the living room.
"Hello President Liu, long-known name." Yang Long greeted Liu Fan very politely, and the kind smile made people look very comfortable.
"Hello, Hello, Mr. Yang, please sit down." After everyone was seated, Liu Fan directly asked, "Is Mr. Yang here for our AI game plan?"
"Yes." Seeing Liu Fan speak so directly, Yang Long was also unambiguous. "We watched your company's plan and test video. We are very interested. If there is something wrong with the company's review process, I would have been a few days earlier You should come to visit President Liu. "
"Yang always has a heart." Liu Fan smiled in a business style, "I don't know how you think about it now?"
"Yes, because your company didn't have any cases in the game before, so it may take a little more time in the early running-in and trial stage, so if there is a chance to cooperate, we actually hope to enter the process as soon as possible. Know if your company needs anything.
To tell you the truth, we will release the trailer for "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey" next month, which is planned to be officially released in the second half of this year. This time, "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey" is a very important strategic step for us. If possible, We very much hope that the AI ​​game mode described by President Liu can be realized in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey "
"This is too hasty." Liu Fan instinctively said that although Liu Fan did not understand the game industry, he still had some common sense. It will be released in the second half of the year. It can be said that the game is finished at this time. A few months should be more debugging, finding bugs and optimizations, and suddenly doing major surgery, isn't this a mess.
"I believe the headquarters will arrange this matter well, and if it can't keep up, we may consider delaying the release time, as long as things are done well ~ EbookFREE.me ~ I believe players will choose to understand."
Liu Fan nodded. He did n’t ask much about Ubisoft. It was a bit shocked in his mind. Assassin ’s Creed is the best bowl of cold rice fried by Ubisoft. The other party actually took
Assassin ’s Creed
to do it. What is the internal reason for the first mouse? I heard that Ubisoft had been under malicious acquisition before, and it was liberated not long ago. I don't know if it was related to this matter.
Just as Liu Fan was thinking, Yang Long continued, "Yes, President Liu, do you have any ideas on the cooperation model?"
"Cooperation mode?" Liu Fan did not understand the other party's meaning very well. "We provide technical support and charge technical fees. This is our model."
Yang Long leaned forward slightly and said with a smile, "So, has Liu always thought about it, an exclusive license?"
Liu Fan's brain is turning quickly. If he takes the road of exclusive authorization, it means that he cannot cooperate with other game manufacturers, but if he signs the exclusive, he knows that the commission point he can get will not be low, so the light from From a money point of view, it really is not good to know which model earns more. After all, Ubisoft is still a big game manufacturer with a lot of heritage.
However, from the perspective of Liu Fan's own needs, of course he did not want to go exclusive, so he did not think about it and refused it on the spot. "Sorry Mr. Yang, I think the development of technology should serve all human beings. road."
"Okay, that's a bit pity." Yang Long didn't insist, and talked with Liu Fan about some details of the cooperation. Everyone reached the cooperation intention and signed the intent contract. When the technology successfully merged to meet Ubisoft's needs, It is time to sign a formal contract.
Liu Fan can see that Ubisoft is really anxious, and this cooperation with Ubisoft is not a game circle for the gaming industry, I wonder if it will cause a revolution in the game industry ...