Bot Colony

JUNE, 2014

Robot Cognition Upgrade

Alpha 7 (Steam release) is around the corner with many upgrades. The most major one is related to robot cognition which will make robot reactions more realistic. We’re basically changing the way our robots get to know things. Previously, there was a fact base which contained general information about a robot’s environment, and some background story. Even if the fact base was comprehensive, it could not possibly handle any questions which you can throw at a robot.
We’re transitioning to a new cognition mode, which is much more perception based.
Robots will know information programmed into them in factory, information gathered from perception, and information of interest broadcast by other robots.
Information from factory is about their tasks, and background information about the island. Before they’re shipped to a new owner, they are briefed about him. This will be the case of Jimmy, in Intruder.
The second category is very dynamic. Robots will remember for a certain time things they have seen and heard. In the case of Intruder, they may be able to show the player videos about things that attracted their attention (different enough from routine). Robots will remember EVERYTHING they heard and saw during this time, but on the other hand, that’s ALL they will know (aside from the other two categories, and things the player teaches them). They will be able to challenge questions about things that they had no way of knowing (but will be very happy to learn new things).
It is interesting that we need to re-enact what happened in the world for some time prior to the start of the game, so robots can acquire information through perception (we make them see events).
The third category is robots sharing on a black board information that they found of interest and can help people.
This change should greatly improve your dialogue experience in Bot Colony.