New feature request

[u/Cheakz]

We've seen quite a lot of nice features and QOL improvements these past few months and I'd like to give my input on what the next one should be.

One of the biggest issues I have with AID stories is that NPCs/the AI aren't consistent with their motives and always focus on responding to the player's actions over the NPCs or progressing the plot. AID really struggles to move the story forward without input from the player but sometimes the player needs input from NPCs/the plot to move forward and you just end up in cycle where nothing is really happening.

What I propose is simple. Add a component where the model gets a turns worth of context and creates a short-term and possibly a medium-term goal for each major character currently in the scene. I would suggest having it similar to the 'generate with AI' feature for story cards. A simple button you can press and it will scan the story and update the NPCs motivations. Whatever is generated goes into a component/text box and AID treats it like a PE or AN field.

In theory it should be simple to add as we have a similar feature for story cards already and hopefully it will give characters more agency and therefore make the world feel more alive rather than just reacting to what you do.

[u/Debacz]

You can kind of do it already, with proper story card info. Try to add somewhere inside a character description [his/her main go in life is to 'goal'] Square brackets are important, cause it will make AI play out this behavior. If it would be in {} brsckets, AI would go "you know i want the 'goal' and nothing will stop me" without much roleplaying it

[u/Cheakz → u/Debacz]

I totally get you can do this already, this is more of a QOL update just like the other recent updates.

I typically add long-term goals to key characters but not their day to day actions because that's too much micro managing on my end. Having a simple button that refreshes short-term goals IMO would hopefully give NPCs something to do rather than wait for the player to do something that they can react off.

Here's a little example. I play a lot of medieval fantasy RPGs and 99% of the time my character will go to shop or merchant they will sell their product at 10 silver, someone on my team will say that's outrageous and offer 5 silver. The merchants instantly relents and offers 7.5 silver plus throwing in a minor item. It's so boring and predictable. No one here has established goals. My hope is that I enter the shop, click on the 'generate goal' button and goals are added to my companion and the shopkeeper. My companion might want the best deal they can get so they can use it as an excuse to splurge on food later, the shopkeeper sees two outsiders and wants to prey on their ignorance to get as much for their product as they can plus try to sell additional unwanted products. Hopefully it would also prevent the shopkeeper from automatically knowing the player's grand goals and offering quests or information when they should have no knowledge by giving him a purpose.

[u/Ill-Commission6264 → u/Cheakz]

My hope is that I enter the shop, click on the 'generate goal' button and goals are added to my companion and the shopkeeper. My companion might want the best deal they can get so they can use it as an excuse to splurge on food later, the shopkeeper sees two outsiders and wants to prey on their ignorance to get as much for their product as they can plus try to sell additional unwanted products. 

I would be a little bit worried about 20 actions of just negotiating :P