Video: Coding AI to do multiple things at once in The Sims 4

In real life, people often do several things at the same time without thinking twice about it.

But in the simulated worlds of video games, people are typically designed to perform actions sequentially. At GDC 2014 Maxis' Peter Ingebretson explains how, in The Sims 4 , they developed a system for authoring interactions that allows simulated people (those eponymous Sims) to express multiple concurrent behaviors.

This system allows Sims in The Sims 4 to convincingly eat, watch TV, chat with other Sims, express emotion, and perform many more behaviors simultaneously. Ingebretson believes that this powerful and simple technique could be applied to a similar effect in your game too.

To learn how, you can now watch his talk for free via the offical GDC Vault YouTube channel.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vaultand its new YouTube channeloffers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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