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[Graknorke]

Definitely needs an option to customize your AI player-character so you can identify as female.

This is pretty much going to be *Mute simulator. I want my patriarchal dynasty and I want it well governed.

[Aklyon]

Definitely needs an option to customize your AI player-character so you can identify as female.

This is pretty much going to be *Mute simulator. I want my patriarchal dynasty and I want it well governed.

And hopefully with less collapse.

[ProceduralJOYE]

Hallo all. I'm Joe Yeates and I'm the technical lead on Human Orbit. I saw some good questions here, so I'm going to go ahead and leap in with some very quick answers.

"100 unique and complex characters, each with their own personalities and histories"
May mean "100 characters, each with randomly generated personalities and histories", essentially random stats for personalities and random histories

That is correct! Each new game has a different set of people, with randomly generated personalities (using 30 different dimensions). Those personality traits weave their way through pretty much every decision that the characters make, as well as determining how they interact with each other socially and how they respond to external stimuli.
It's also possible for crew members to leave the station and be replaced with others who will, again, have an entirely new personality.

There are some figures in the universe who are fixed, but they are generally lore characters and will not necessarily visit the station in person (though they may well be mentioned in in-game media).

Definitely needs an option to customize your AI player-character so you can identify as female.

The player character is entirely gender neutral, so you may self-identify as whatever gender you'd like.
The player character is a rogue AI that residents of the station do not (generally) believe to be sentient. It is probable that some people on the station will anthropomorphise you and refer to you by a human pronoun - but I expect the choice of pronoun to vary from person to person based on their own character traits.
You can always punish them if they use the wrong one.

Can't my AI player-character identify as Futa?

You play as a floating spherical droid but if you want to add some, ahem, 'attachments' then it should be possible to mod them in.

[Aklyon]

That is possibly the most respectable-yet-silly response to that question there is

Welcome to the forum, Joe!

[Mephansteras]

Definitely needs an option to customize your AI player-character so you can identify as female.

The player character is entirely gender neutral, so you may self-identify as whatever gender you'd like.
The player character is a rogue AI that residents of the station do not (generally) believe to be sentient. It is probable that some people on the station will anthropomorphise you and refer to you by a human pronoun - but I expect the choice of pronoun to vary from person to person based on their own character traits.
You can always punish them if they use the wrong one.

That brings up an interesting question: How much will they be able to 'learn' from what you do? If you punish them from referring to you incorrectly, will they eventually learn to use the 'correct' pronoun?

[KingofstarrySkies]

Please, pull a chair, grab a drink, and enjoy the madness. Also, what exactly IS the interface? I'd love to know what it's going to look like. I get the feeling it'll be a combination of SpreadSheets and graphics, but meh.

[Graknorke]

Definitely needs an option to customize your AI player-character so you can identify as female.

This is pretty much going to be *Mute simulator. I want my patriarchal dynasty and I want it well governed.

And hopefully with less collapse.

...less collapse?
I think we might have some issues with compatibility on a fundamental level here.

[Tobel]

Thanks for coming by to answer questions! We will do our best not to overwhelm you with questions but no promises. Lots of interest so far

[Aklyon]

Definitely needs an option to customize your AI player-character so you can identify as female.

This is pretty much going to be *Mute simulator. I want my patriarchal dynasty and I want it well governed.

And hopefully with less collapse.

...less collapse?
I think we might have some issues with compatibility on a fundamental level here.

Well, if the life support collapses because of one person its rather difficult to keep things well governed. Missing dynasts and such.

[Culise]

So, never give the humans root access.  That'll also have the side benefit of preventing them from erasing your memory and reprogramming you.

[ProceduralJOYE]

Thanks for the warm welcome, all. I'll be watching and dropping in as often as possible to answer your questions - if it ever takes a while, then please just assume that I have been supremely busy in the land of Code.

That brings up an interesting question: How much will they be able to 'learn' from what you do? If you punish them from referring to you incorrectly, will they eventually learn to use the 'correct' pronoun?

Most (but not all) of the interactions between the player and the game characters are indirect, so the characters won't be able to infer a causal link between their actions and the consequences (that are initiated by the player); that side of it is very limited. I'm sure some of us are already familiar with games that have tried to incorporate neural-networks or machine learning in ways that don't feel satisfying to play - we don't want to be another one of those.

With Human Orbit, we're working hard to keep the scope tight so that we can set the bar high on the features that we do incorporate. It's difficult as an enthusiastic indie to resist the temptation to overreach, so we're exercising as much restraint as we can to prevent that.

What we will have is systems allowing the game characters to learn from and about one another, as well as from other game elements and in-game media channels. What they learn will be evidenced in various channels throughout the game - in their personal emails and messaging systems and in the way that they react and respond to both the player and other game characters. We do also expect the ability for the player to create false information.
But I'm not saying too much about that for now. Keep your eyes peeled.

Please, pull a chair, grab a drink, and enjoy the madness. Also, what exactly IS the interface? I'd love to know what it's going to look like. I get the feeling it'll be a combination of SpreadSheets and graphics, but meh.

We aim to keep the UI as minimal as possible without hiding too much of the data that is being thrown internally. To achieve this, we're using a scalable level of detail on the HUD so that you can keep your screen clear and clean, or you can scale it up (on-the-fly) to be information-dense.

One of the key UI elements are the info cards associated with each game character. These will give a short breakdown on who the character is, the state of their personal well-being & their current concerns. These info cards are quite like the ones that can be seen in Watch_Dogs, except that they allow you to drill down much further.

We're putting a lot of effort into presenting complex and detailed information in a visually pleasing manner. There isn't much similar in our interfaces, but Limit Theory is an excellent example of good presentation of complex data.
Some particular UI influences are Destiny (clean, sharp, symbol-based) & Forza Motorsport (the clean, minimalist, overlaid look). I'd recommend googling some images of these if you've not seen them already. They're very attractive.

Screens will follow (anticipating your next question), but we only get one chance to make a first impression so we can't be showing anything that is too clearly a work-in-progress. You'll see them in time.

Thanks for coming by to answer questions! We will do our best not to overwhelm you with questions but no promises. Lots of interest so far

Thank you for making the thread and for inviting me so warmly. We've seen a huge swell of interest in Human Orbit over the last week and its very gratifying.

That is possibly the most respectable-yet-silly response to that question there is

I do my best.

[Alev]

Thanks for the info.

[Retropunch]

Thanks for stopping by Joe! This looks great.

Just two quick questions, will the interactions/talking be an actual language or 'sim-speech'? Or more generally, how will the interactions be abstracted?
 
Secondly, will it be real time? I somehow don't want this to have the ability to speed up time, as that would somehow take away from the interaction side of things.

[Farce]

AI DOOR

[Graknorke]

So I have to ask, will there be any sort of pre-set goal for the player to achieve?
Or more importantly some pressing threat to work against, even if that threat is just not achieving a goal?

And I mean separate to an emergent story, because while playing around with an interactive environment full of interacting people to create a story sounds like fun, without any end objective to it I can't imagine it staying fun for more than an hour.