So i’m working on a life simulation game featuring weight gain. To prevent easily making the character extremely fat out of the gate and to add realism to it your control of the character is shared with an simple AI that basically gets a vote on weather you do something or not. Like it won’t let you stuff your face all day unless conditions are right that it would make sense for you to do so, also in reverse it may make you do just that even if you were trying not to. Part of making it work in concert with whats realistic of the character is what the characters goal weight is. This can have many factors but the players weight preference is the one im currently trying to find a way to incorporate into the game. Im looking for good methods of asking the player to give his idea of the characters ideal weight should be while not letting them enter or respond with outlandish answers. Trying to avoid straight up asking on an interval and just letting them enter a weight. Any and all ideas are welcome.
A very interesting idea indeed. Maybe have the AI observe the player’s interactions with other NPCs, with some dialog options contributing to what the AI considers the “ideal weight.” Or, maybe simply track when the player prefers to stagnate their gaining so as to have the AI recognize this stagnation and maintain it… Unless the player is able to break through it and continue gaining, then the AI will recognize that the player was just having issues getting above that point.
As a minor-league feedee myself, by far the most significant factor in the mental of my gaining endeavors is how I react to the physical changes brought about by indulging my fetish. Things like reaching for one of my favorite outfits and seeing how tight its gotten, having my mom comment on my weight when she sees me at holidays, the cost involved with extra food and clothes, looking in the mirror and seeing new stretch marks and bigger bulges, etc. Those feelings I get are the dominant factor in deciding my “goal weight” rather than any specific number which honestly feels like the most organic way to go about it. Some people like to stick to numbers if they’re actively trying to gain as they can present good hard milestones, but as someone who isn’t trying to actively push my weight higher as a conscious effort I’m much happier relying on qualitative factors, rather than quantitative.
So, circling back around to some kind of AI, I think one very realistic method for determining its behavior is to have a set of checks in the game with player responses tied to hidden “self esteem” variables or something. For instance, PC gets up in the morning and realizes that they outfit they picked out for work is way more snug than they remember. The game could then prompt the PC to share how they’re feeling: disgusted at the change, indifferent but anxious about their clothes not fitting, amazed at how much they’re grown lately, mesmerized and even aroused by the sight, etc. Then, the AI could take the PC’s response, compare it to the change in weight and contrast it with how happy eating makes the character. If the PC gets a lot of enjoyment when they eat but doesn’t like the side-effects or if eating doesn’t really bring much joy but they like being soft, they’ll have a much harder time trying to actively gain down the line than if they were a total foodie and also loved their new curves.
Lastly I just want to stress that my knowledge of coding, game design and AI behavior is pretty much limited to watching Code Bullet videos on YouTube so take any advice I give with a grain of salt. Just wanted to toss in my real-world experience for consideration :3
I don’t know a thing about coding, but I think I see what you’re getting at. I have a hunch tweaking the weight formula is all it takes, but I could be wrong.
Perchance, if you were to use a Metabolism model similar to a population model, you could get the effect you want? Basically, make a series of Metabolism variables that slowly increases or decreases with weight, representing the amount of food needed per day to maintain, increase, or decrease weight value. An extra cold cap on amount gained, and having upkeep increase enough, and I’m sure you can get a formula that let’s the player get their desired weight with relative ease.
An example, in case I made no sense.
Cal. eaten today: 40
Gain cap: 35
Maintain cap:30
Maintain min:20
Starve min: 15
Assuming these are the used variables, the player would increase weight by a value of 5, whatever that means. The other values would increase as well, scaling with the excess amount. In this case, the excess value is actually 10. I’d play it safe and make the increase of each value 20% the excess, scaled between the variables, with the Maintain min being the relative scale. It may not be an actual A.I., like you asked, but I’m a sucker for formulae, so this is what I can contribute.
That is part of it, since this is a simulation im actually using the formula to calculate the player characters base metabolic rate which scales with weight, age, and height, compensating for all possible player characters, and then counting the calories eaten in a day then determining if the payer gained or lost weight at the end of the day. What im specifically working on though is the ai logic that determines if or how much to eat, will the character over eat past their bmr(base metabolic rate) and gain weight or under eat and lose weight. What will they chose a icream sunday or a salad. Assuming you care about your figure and weather you want to be bigger or smaller that would determine what and how much you ate and if you ate well past your bmr. Getting an idea of the players ideal body size or weight would help make the ai logic that does this, better at acting in a way that aligns with what the player wants.
You could maybe incorporate something like keeping a measure on their serving sizes. For example, if they consistently put more on their plate than they can actually eat according to their body’s current statistics, it would indicate a desire to gain weight. How much extra they serve themselves could imply the goal weight somewhat. Similarly, under-serving themselves would express an intention to diet, unless of course they then supplement with extra courses throughout the day.
I don’t know how many life details will be included, but you could possibly note if when they shop for clothes they buy things at their size or things that leave room for growth, which would mean they’re anticipating getting bigger. If they weigh themselves frequently and then over-serve themselves, they think their weight is still too low.
None of that really explicitly shows the ultimate goal weight you’re trying to find, I guess.
If you don’t mind being a little unrealistic, you could show them a dream sequence where things are vastly accelerated and just see when they choose to wake up? Or perhaps more realistically, have them describe the fictional celebrity they admire the most and aspire to be like? (In terms of size, of course.)
Those are all my ideas for now.