Back in 2002, developer Monolith Productions was showing off a technical demo of the AI systems in its upcoming game, No One Lives Forever: A Spy in H.A.R.M.’s Way. The Artificial Intelligence in this game was a pretty substantial leap forward compared to its contemporaries. Rather than simply stand around until the player character walked by, in this game, non-player characters would behave, seemingly, like real people. They’d step outside for a cigarette, engage in idle chatter, go to a nearby soda machine for a drink, and even use the bathroom (characters inside would use toilets, characters outside would find the nearest bush).
Monolith’s head of AI, Jeff Orkin, demonstrated how characters would make dynamic adjustments to environmental changes.
