A new Take-Two patent was discovered that appeared based on the improvement of the intelligence and navigation capabilities of AI.
The patent, which registers a “system and method for virtual navigation in a gaming environment”, has been posted on Reddit for the past few days, although the actual document was originally filed by Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two, in October 2020.
In the simplest terms possible, the patent is aimed at making non-player characters (that is, NPCs for short) artificial intelligence a little smarter and more organic, in an effort to move away from the current AI solutions that a little is starting to feel outdated.
The patent points out that ‘conventional systems provide only limited resources’ for developers who want to populate their worlds with active elements. Think of the pedestrians you see walking down the street, the cars you see on the roads – even vehicles you see flying overhead. It is used on scripts with which only a limited number of cases can be active in the game at a time. NPCs usually all ride the same speed, follow the same routes and do the same things.
Rockstar believes these current systems are “flawed” and would rather enable systems to produce a “realistic virtual world that is not limited by hardware or software.”
The proposed system in the patent then points to an NPC solution that gives characters different personalities. Maybe an NPC in a certain kind of car will intentionally take sidewalks to avoid traffic jams. Maybe another, who is not so confident, will move much slower as the sun goes down at night.
There is, of course, no suggestion that at the time of writing it was definitely linked to GTA 6; Rockstar has barely acknowledged that the game exists. But references to a ‘fast chase’, ‘ambient traffic’ and so on indicate that we are looking at something more modern here. Not – for the sake of argument – Red Dead Redemption 3, or similar.
The patent is filed under the parent company, but the names attached to the patent as ‘inventors’ are David Hynd, technical director of Rockstar North, and Simon Parr, head of AI. So this is definitely something the studio is looking at when it comes to the next world titles.
Although Rockstar still remains tight on whatever it does, we have had reports that the next GTA is in early development and will be smaller compared to previous Rockstar games.
Elsewhere, it appears that the Take-Two marketing budget implies that GTA 6 is likely to launch in 2023 and that a GTA Online race would apparently point to Vice City for GTA 6 in 2020.
Just remember, officially GTA 6 does not even exist yet.