Grip Entertainment said this week that it licensed its artificial intelligence technology to fellow Canadian company EA Montreal for use in the development of Electronic Arts'
Army of Two: The 40th Day.
EA's co-op shooter used the A.I. tech, called the Grip Digital Extra System, to populate the game's world with secondary characters. Grip, founded in 2007, said developers using its tech can populate game worlds with digital "extras" in "only a few hours."
"
Army of Two: The 40th Day is set against the backdrop of Shanghai as it falls under attack by mysterious forces so it was critical to include the civilian population in our design," said executive producer Reid Schneider of EA Montreal. The studio's A.I. lead Nathan Brierley added, "Grip helped us to establish both the large city feel of Shanghai and reflect the human cost of the surprise siege."
The technology is not limited to creating digital people. Extras may also take the form of animals such as rats and birds, the company's website says. The digital extras use "a fraction of the computing resources of standard game NPCs," the site claims.
Grip president Dr. Paul Kruszewski said that the company was able to refine the tech during the course of
Army of Two: The 40th Day's development. The technology can be seen at work in the
intro trailer for
Army of Two: The 40th Day.
Grip's past and present customers also include Intel (
Project Offset) and Eidos (
Deus Ex 3). Grip also provides the Character Control System, a means to "visually construct and manage NPC A.I. decision logic."
