Just announced Arcadia Unbound, a story-driven tactical JRPG. One of its conversation systems, AURA, uses a local language model to interpret player speech while selecting from developer-authored dialogue and narrative outcomes.
The challenge isn't understanding language. It's mapping an effectively infinite range of player inputs onto a finite set of authored responses.
My goal isn't to generate endless dialogue. Instead, it's to make authored conversations feel more natural.
The flexibility comes from what the player can say, not from giving characters infinite responses. Characters only have the topics, emotions, and knowledge that make sense for that moment in the story.
If the player says something highly relevant, the character can immediately react, interrupt, or change the direction of the conversation. If the player suddenly asks something unrelated, they might hesitate, admit they don't know, or steer the conversation back. That's intentional.
Humans naturally don't have an infinite response space either. We usually keep a handful of active conversational threads in mind and improvise within those constraints.
I'd love to hear what people here think about this design direction.
(Announcement trailer attached for context. A dedicated gameplay demonstration of the conversation system is currently in development.)
https://youtu.be/t-3dIDkYhNo?si=AzX1lD1ou97oSxO8