Soulbound Studios is back once again this week with a devblog about the animals of both Chronicles of Elyria and Kingdoms of Elyria, the latter of which has been getting most of the company’s attention since it said it resumed work on the crowdfunded game at the end of 2021.
Today’s post explains that animals in the game are “fundamental to player progression and conflict” as they’re both a resource and a potential threat, and their AI is flagged accordingly. For example, domestic animals like chickens are flagged to stay near settlements, flock together, wake during the day, neutral to humans, and content to graze, while predators like wolves are flagged as wild roamers, pack hunters, night prowlers, bold in packs but wary when solo, and partial to forests. The AI will also react dynamically to the animals’ needs.
“Moving forward, our intention is to apply the above AI framework to all animals within Kingdoms of Elyria, with the desire to bring key Chronicles of Elyria wildlife into the frame, such as the Otterbear and Dryas Elk. The eventual goal is to deliver all creatures from CoE into Kingdoms of Elyria as our biomes expand out of our initial woodland habitat. That all said, while the animal personalities will initially be in place, most of the dynamic behavior is yet to come. As it currently stands, by the end of the month animals in KoE will have only basic needs, with just their primary survival goal (to obtain food) implemented. From there, we’ll be adding more actions and goals based on their hierarchy of needs as development progresses.”
