Designing the Enemy AI of Tom Clancy's The Division 2 | AI and Games
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.พ. 2020
- In collaboration with Ubisoft and developer Massive Entertainment, I get an inside look at the challenges faced when building the AI of Tom Clancy's The Division 2. I sit down with Division 2's lead AI programmer, Philip Dunstan and get his perspective a year after the game first shipped. Over a three-part series we discuss the challenges of designing AI characters for missions and open-world gameplay and the other interesting problems faced along the way.
In this first video we discuss how the programming and design team at Massive and their supporting studios revamped the design of the enemy AI for the sequel. Plus how the experience of shipping and maintaining the first game helped influence their decisions as they moved from New York to Washington D.C.
Watch all episodes here:
• AI and Games / Ubisoft
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Please note: as part of my collaboration with Ubisoft I was compensated for my time in developing this and related videos. - เกม
Back in late-2018 I released a two-episode segment on the AI of The Division and now just over a year later, I'm here to talk about The Division 2. However, this time around I have a little help! Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment have been incredibly supportive of this project and I'm pleased to say my previous episodes remain untouched - because I got it all right the first time! I build from those two episodes to tell the story of how the AI was built for Division 2. A huge thank you to Philip Dunstan who gave a great interview and I hope you all enjoy the series. Episodes 2 and 3 are coming your way shortly.
AI and Games can I get a link to the 2018 videos?
Simply amazing video. We talk about this in reviews and on the podcasts all the time and AI is so often overlooked. Keep it up man.
Thanks a lot! Got two more episodes on Division 2 coming in the next couple of days.
Me starting the video: "I hope they explain how the enemies will sit in cover for 45 seconds then pop out as soon as you look away or go to reload like they were freaking psychic."
Wouldn't you if you were being shot at? I mean, when we're in cover we can see the enemies, so I can only assume they can see us when they're in cover.
@@Dutchy1898 maybe if they have x-ray vision. The fact they do it when they're behind a stack of boxes or a concrete divider makes it look bad. The npc runs to cover and will sit there for as long as you ADS at them, even when there's no way they can see you, then pop out of cover the second you look away or reload. There's making AI better or more "human" reacting, then there's having it cheat. That doesn't even take into account enemies running backwards or being able to turn 180 degrees at a full sprint without breaking stride to get to cover when you're leading them with your fire. It's minor, but annoying.
@@gunslinger57 You said it all and you said it right!
bait them
@@gunslinger57 yes you would just pop out of cover when someone is unloading a full machinegun mag into your position...dude the AI in this game is literally one of the best AI in the gaming industry period, have you ever played Breakpoint? Now that is absolutely piss poor AI, the Division's AI will flank you, encircle you, react to gunfire instantly and move to cover immediately, the response to being shot at is solid and the closest thing I have seen to real life when it comes to a video game, people don't stand up straight in a gunfight, they duck and cover for as long as rounds are flying by because you can hear that shit when it does so you hunker down until the shitsnitz stops because nobody wants to get their heads blown off; so definitely mad props to the AI designers for including human like reactions to this AI, I bet it took a lot of fucking hard work and stress with a company that push crazy deadlines, imo bad AI...the first game had bad AI, with NPC's that would just stand there while taking rounds to the head...zero human element, now idk how many times have you coded AI in games but judging by your comment I doubt you have zero clue about it and just whine and half ass criticize something based on " well I payed for it ", go play Breakpoint and then lmk if the AI checks...or you probably like that play pretend bullshit ass type game. Moral of the story...The Division 2 bugs and all is an amazing experience, the only thing it needs is more lore related apparel.
This is the kinda sponsored content I can get behind. Thanks for your amazing production quality and thanks to Ubisoft for supporting one of my favorite youtube channels. I loved the interviews with the AI lead.
>me Kills Hyena member.Other Hyena: I didnt like him anyway.
Hah, just when I was starting to think "but wait, all those 'different factions' sound like they're just two factions, with duplicates on each end of the spectrums", you go into details about how Hyena and Outcast might have similar parameters, but behave radically different. Great video! If I had a more consistent group, I might've just gotten the game to mess around a bit. Had fun with D1 back in the day.
Naturally I'm biased, but the endgame is really good in D2 and those factions not only stand out but keep it interesting over time. I think my group might be less consistent going forward, after badgering them to play the game for the last couple months!
I think the TD2 is still on sale for less than $5 (on PC, can confirm it's $3 on Ubisoft site) and as a solo player, I can overwhelmingly recommend getting back into the game. Gone are the days when you had to farm the DZ for the best gear, you can get *almost* all of the gear in the game as a solo, pve player in the open world. There a few pieces reserved for select content like the raid but to be honest, you won't miss it. There are so many activities in the open world to do, check points to take back control of, supply lines to disrupt, bounties to capture, and more. I've soloed this game since the beginning and occasionally ran with friends but I'm confident you will enjoy it.
@@sagacious427 Yeah I rarely ever play in the DZ in D2 - which is great, as personally I'm much more interested in PvE. I'm still trying to clear everything off my to-do list at the moment before the DLC release.
@@AIandGames I'm right there with you, still a few little nuggets of content I want to get done. I did just get a good build put together at gear score 500... just in time for the cap to go up. I'm really excited to go back to New York!
Game is fun on your own if you dont ruin it for yourself by googling a minmaxxed double lmg loadout. Double lmg is izimode.
I appreciate the coders and artists that make these games. I’m impressed
they talked about how Massive made the "time to kill" lower on TD2 vs. TD1 to make it less frustrating, and then Massive go and release an expansion and basically reinstate the old bullet sponge problems of TD1. I don't get it at all.
division 2 ai in practice : a hyena, being shot at and blown up, single hand his smg, down you with 1 shot
I love these division ones you do buddy 👍👍 this one is so informative!! And big kudos to massive for colab 🔥🔥🔥
Amazing vid Tommy
Glad to see you getting in with the big names too. Keep it up man, this channel is absolutely fantastic.
Love this division content!
Fascinating. I really enjoyed this.
This was so informative
Great video Tommy. Shows that AI isn't about state of the art tech, its about interesting archertypes, readable realization and offering the player opportunities to understand, learn and master the gameplay.
Excellent video, thank you
Faction Details seems just awesome
Well this was cool to learn, i appreciate the video :3
Remember the LMB shotgunner who ran at you shooting....but had no shotgun? Yeaaah
Yeah, this game has some of the best NPCs found in any game. Really intuitive and crafty. You can't just run and gun, you'll be dead in a few seconds. Can't wait for this Tuesday and the new expansion. It's gonna be awesome!
Thanks for the video, very informative.
See you in new york agent
It’s kinda annoying how some just rush u for no reason and they be tanky af
It is a fact this game has one of the best AI found in any game, if you disagree go play Breakpoint and lmk how is AI there..
I think the enemy AI is pretty good in the division 2. Compared to a lot of games I have played.
Just discovered this channel. Cool video dude
Thank you and welcome!
Wow more like this!!
but why can the enemies run 50 mph while being shot
P sure only hyenas do that, specifically their drugged up units.
Drugs bruh
@@jayjaygolden5123 They are already slow. The hammer guy is much faster.
@@jayjaygolden5123 no there was an issue with the AI where they would zip around too fast, they talked about it on SOTG (division dev stream)
@@Exigentable Drugs are not that potent. And the body can handle some fatal hits with drugs but these weapons you wield are military grade, wielded by professionals in a ostensibly Tom Clancy game. The human body has limits when pushed beyond it break it normally beyond repair.
They did one hell of a job on the AI for Warlords of NY. I love it. Even on a normal tier 5 level as im grinding to 40 are these guys hard to engage solo. Especially the tanks with the bleed effect. Their shield is tough to crack. out standing
Facts but having our skills scaled to our lvl helps a lot
Liked and subscribed.
Love this game and decided to create a channel now cheers for all the good work.
"NPCs that look like they are immersed in the world" Yeah....the back up you have in this game to take on guarded control points show up in polos and flip flops....
well they're supposed to be civilians who dropped what they were doing to come help you
@@largebaboon5559
Well, that makes a lot of sense
I will really like to see how they came up with the AI of the Hunters!
Great video, more videos about stealth AI, CHEERS!
Reaction is Paramount! Aa soon as they spot me they should start to shoot. And another thing.. can ubisoft please improve the friendly settlement resources based on how much we donate? I donate the hell every time and they still fight with t shirt and pistol...
As a solo player its been a nightmare! I'm off work with a broken elbow and got back in to Div2 about two weeks ago, relearnt the game (heli missions weren't a thing when i last played), built them up to 500, ran around stomping enemies and was farming exotics.
I launched seekers and took out most enemies and then used my LMG/SMG to clear the rest whilst i had a short wait for my skills to reset and all was good.
I booted back up today after a few days off and i'm getting wrecked by everything! I tried the Invaded Hotel mission yesterday on hard, i normally breeze through it. Not this time. I could not get past the loby of the hotel, i got wrecked and every time i took an enemy down an overshielded medic went round reviving everyone. My seekers tickled anything that wasn't a red bar and i just didn't have fun!
Today i tried again and could only just about survive normal missions, running round like a loon, whilst enemies charged me without flinching! Yellows taking two or three clips from my Stomer LMG! Christ those axe yellow bars in the Zoo were a nightmare
and its not like "git good" its like they changed word tier 5 to world tier 7 under the same name
Theres that term again. I heard it a lot from DOOM "combat puzzle"
I'm thinking certain films could incorporate this concept into their fight choreography too.
There's some good anime that do that really well.
I Feel Like This Franchise Has So Much Potential!
I Just Wish They Had Enough Resources To Pump Out New (Replayable) Content On A Much Faster Pace!
I’ve been saying that since the first one and it (TD1) was set to win game of the year imo but ubi flopped hard
Curious to see what Episodes 2 and 3 will discuss. I'm assuming it will cover the NPC AI, and specifically how they've gotten better since Div1. The AI civilian militia do actually help a bit more in Washington DC compared to the JTF in NYC, notably during assaults on control points.
There was even an update where the civilian militia models were at least given body armor which, while it's hard to say if this actually did anything like increase their HP, did help give players the perception that these were trained and decently equipped friendly forces, rather than just completely unprotected cannon fodder sent to attack a heavily defended control point.
I do wish though that the civilain militias would be more distinct and have archetypes of their own beyond just the weapon they happen to carry. While there are leaders who only use handguns (and a very welcome update to solo Agents allowed them to revive a downed Agent in the middle of combat), and some do occasionally throw grenades, these don't feel as distinct as the enemy factions. While I get that this may have been purposefully decided to not take away player's power it would certainly be nice to have allies worth fighting with.
Part 2 is open-world AI: civilian and enemy convoys and attack groups and all the problems that came with adapting open-world systems to the D.C. map.
Part 3 is the two types of bot that playtest the game daily to minimise bugs.
I should have both videos out in the next couple of days.
half of time i didnt take this game is 'Looter Shooter'genre this fun ai i pretty much played Cover based shooter because how fun to combat those ai in each factions
they should add some variety in gameplay like stealth takedowns and etc....
Idk if is only me but when I go to some strong hold with group on heroic and you are dying and dying or just wiping the AI is more hard and aggressive some times spend 2 hours on tidal basin cuz the npc rush to hardcore but good video and I like when the AI is really challenging :3 even if I’m dying like crazy
What game do you consider have the best most challenging enemy ai. I think the hunter in the div where pretty good they stalked you flanked noticed when you were low health etc.
Philip and I discussed the hunter quite a bit on our interview. We might release something about it in the future, it's pretty interesting.
Hyenas were the hardest faction to me lol. Outcasts are up thrre too, maybe harder.
They have so many lethal rushers. I reload, and suddenly theyre behind cover
you will be crying AFTER facing the hunter s in division 1
Yea, you obviously havent faced many hunters lol
@@farawaythrower never got to that point of the game. It got too easy so i got bored. Kinda my own fault for running a broken minmaxed double lmg build
@@jayjaygolden5123 Uh.. so if you never even got to endgame, which in Division 2 is basically starting the real meat of the game, and so you haven't had any actual challenges, and no, it isn't because your build was good. Reading what you responded to me with, I can guarantee it was mediocre at best. Do you even know what Heroic Difficulty missions are? or Operation Dark Hours?
@@farawaythrower it worked amazingly for pvp (basically meant i didnt have to reload ever, unless i messed something up. Enemies behind cover because of supressive fire got nabbed by my drone)
And yeah i know like any mmo lategame is where it really picks off, but i dont want to play the whole game before it gets fun.
I miss those yellow boxes
I've been impressed by this game's AI. At some points it begins to rival FEAR or Halo.
At other points, I've found myself easily flanking enemies who don't notice me walking right up to them. It's not perfect.
Interestingly, Tomb Raider 2013 uses the same AI system as FEAR. I'll need to replay it to see if the fights play out differently.
Division 2 ai is extremely impressive
hunters are true definition of challenge specially in division 1
I can't comprehend the origin of the narrator's accent. Quite funny
Incredible Game...... bugs and all!
still don't explain the bizzare AI behaviors like sitting in cover for 1 or 2 minutes then popping up when you look away, full on running at you in a open area with no actual plan or regard for there safety which often ends giant conflicts that were supposed to last several minutes in literally seconds as everyone of them gets gunned down faster then they spawn in, at times spawning enemies literally right in your asshole leading to you being basically insta-killed, magical nade tosses that ALWAYS land on your head. To me AI feels more cheap then hard, especially the end game faction with there super annoying skills that recharge way to damn fast
Best enemy AI in a third person shooter so far
What about cod mw3 ai design in the survival mode
Never played it but seems like a good game! I heard the first game was too bullet spongey so had stayed away..
Yes and no.
If you dont make good builds then yes. Has to be good though.
Decent builds melt through everything but gold enemies in D1
They didn’t learn how to test, maybe in div 3. So for div 2, they looked at what worked and didn’t work in div 1... and implemented everything which didn’t
If only they spent 1/4 of the time addressing the PVP content and the bugs there. Everyone who enjoys fighting NPC's moved on to other games. Duh
Bring back div 1 flame turret 😩
Next time??? Noo!!
(Check back tomorrow 😉)
"Regardless of how the A.I of "Tom Clancy's The Division 2" works, the most important thing to remember is the game's story and themes are *NOT* political!" -Ubisoft (probably)
too bad they fuked up the math in the difficulties when New York DLC came out
everything else was on point.
I wish so bad they would make a single player game of the division, the game has a lot of potential.
no it doesnt
It’s called playing single player.
Played 100 hours on launch, 100 more when it went on sale.
The game was never "Great", it was good enough, but after the equipment rework that rolled out a week ago, the game is complete trash. It reminds me of Payday's crimefest 2015, thats how bad it is.
About the AI, its pretty well made, and they work well with the map layouts... if you are playing alone. If you are playing online, the ai get so jittery that it is impossible to use sniper rifles effectively. Its like the ai is trying to do 4 actions per second, but its doesnt know which player it should engage with, so it just runs, stops, and then goes right back to take cover where it was 2 seconds prior.
Agreed. The reworking COMPLETELY made it unplayable.
Uninstalled and POOPYSOFT has never gotten another nickel from me since.
And just a few days from WONY.
Sadly this game fell into the typical spongey npcs where the reds can melt your armor in just a few rounds. They will hit you from a hip fire whilst moving at untold ranges. Grenade spam, hiding in cover, especially during timed runs, suicide bombers appearing out of nowhere who can one shot you. snipers and juggys one hitting you to a sliver of health. Bosses who don't die until the games predetermined time. These devs are a total failure
why do bullets not stagger enemies?
Bullets do stagger them, unless your chc and chd is trash then you do no dmg, remember is an RPG
it would be cool if you added a kick
How beautiful ☑I
The Division AI: "Run to cover at impossible speed so player cannot shoot you. Use janky animations so the player cannot hit you. Climb objects without using animation frames so you teleport onto it. If all else fails, soak bullets like a sponge without animating a hit response. Drop crappy purple loot."
Success!
It must be hard to develop AI which isn't too good at killing humans. Being able to play 10.000 matches in an hour or so...
The problem is, the AI is so overly programmed to do things, and to not do things, it feels like you are fighting scripted AI and it is not as fun as it could have been.
Those assholes like to flank me from all sides. Ugh!
But the game is amazing though.
Love division people sleep!!!!!
Then i need to say: mission failed
Hi there friend
Designing enemy AI in Division 2:
1. Give braindead bots an ungodly amount of health.
2. Make them charge at you.
3. Profit.
nothing but camping technician bots ai
A puzzle??? So yom make cover based tactical shooter a puzzle? Are you guys nuts?
Is tactical cover base shooter but is also an RPG and they say puzzles they're referring to how NPC's target you and flanks forcing you to prioritize targets, combat is a puzzle 💯
Basicly how they made this game is smacking there face on there keyboards and yep that's all
Hilarious how he speaks about immersion when numbers are magically flying off enemies with every hit, they're sponges for bullets and the HUD could be so minimal to clear the screen up and add actual immersion centric states. Ubisoft are poop.