A.I. Companion (Concept)

A.I. Companion

CONCEPT

An AI companion is a computer-controlled ally who follows and aids you through your adventures or who requires your protection. The AI companion's survival is often essential to game and story progression.

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Overview

An A.I. Companion is a computer controlled non player character (NPC) which closely follows the protagonist during any given portion of a video game. Sometimes they may strictly follow directly behind the player characters exact footsteps, other times they might loosely follow along an invisible series of guideposts created by the player characters movement, constantly trying to follow within a set distance but free enough to assist the player in a more complex way during a game event.

Examples and Variations

There are several different popular methods in which a game may attach a Tag Along NPC to the player character. Many top down RPGs "railroad" members of the protagonists party behind him/her while the main character is walking from place to place, typically having 2 or 3 party members follow along in a chain. Within the PS2 game ICO (Game), "holding hands" is used to attach the player controlled protagonist (Ico (Character)) and a tag along NPC (Yorda (Character)) together for much of the game even while the protagonist is fighting. In some games, the NPC is an animal companion rather than a human, such as the dog Hewie (Character) in Haunting Ground (Game) or the horse Agro (Character) in Shadow of the Colossus (Game).

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