Tagged: npcs
Dialogue Trees vs AI Dialogue: Which Should Your Game Use? (2026)
Hand-authored dialogue trees still win wherever a line must be exact: voiced, localized, and QA-tested. AI dialogue wins where reactivity matters more than precision. Most games in 2026 should use both.
How Much Does It Cost to Add AI NPCs to Your Game? (2026)
AI NPC costs come in three shapes: a usage bill that scales with playtime, an up-front engineering build, or a middleware fee. Here is how each one behaves after launch.
How to Run a Local LLM for Game NPCs (2026 Guide)
A practical 2026 guide to running a local LLM for game NPCs: choosing a model, the runtime stack, the hard parts, and when to use middleware instead.
On-Device AI Game Master Middleware: The 2026 Landscape
On-device AI game master middleware exists in 2026, but the category is young and the label covers very different tools. A practical guide to the options and how to choose.
Inworld AI and Convai Alternatives: On-Device and Cloud AI NPCs Compared (2026)
Looking beyond Inworld AI and Convai for AI NPCs? A 2026 comparison of the on-device and cloud options, what to evaluate, and how to choose.
Tracking AI NPCs in Shipped Games: What Held Up and What Fell Apart
A clear-eyed look at every game that shipped with AI-driven NPC dialogue or behavior between 2023 and 2026. What worked, what broke, and what it tells us about where narrative design is going.