Conan Exiles
"Living Settlements”
Living settlements was part of a multi-season push to embody the era of Howard’s lore where Conan grows into a powerful leader, hoarding vast wealth and attracting a kingdom of followers around him.
I designed and built systems to replace the games uninspiring “thrall” system with one where player-built bases could begin to grow out of the “settlement” stage and on their way to Kingdoms.
Where it started…
Players could only expand populations by capturing enemies and turning them into inventory items called thrall items which must be carried or stored.
These thrall items could be plugged into a crafting station to:
Apply crafting perks to the station.
Show a skeletal mesh, dressed like the enemy you captured, infinitely looping one of 4 animations.
….Where it went.
All “Thralls” became real NPC’s in the world, each with a system of needs, priorities, gameplay effects, and other outside influences driving procedural 24/7 activity:
The heart of Living Settlements is the new AI Needs System:
Sets of Needs, which are evaluated and fulfilled dynamically.
Needs can come from any source at any time.
Different ranges of needs can apply buffs/debuffs (well-fed, starving, disgruntled, etc.)
The relative importance of a need and the rate a need fulfills/depletes can be modified by an endless variety of factors, including other needs.
Needs can be fulfilled by a generic “Fill Need” behavior, have custom Behavior Trees assigned, or be filled by any custom source.