Splash Damage Details the Human-like AI in Brink

The trailers for Bethesda's upcoming FPS, Brink, look gorgeous, and according to creative director Richard Ham, it plays just as beautifully thanks to enemies and allies with near-human artificial intelligence.

Brink's engine is based on id Tech 4, and developer Splash Damage added a new rendering framework and improved support for multiple CPU cores. Ham recently told Skewed & Reviewed the studio re-wrote the engine from the ground up, giving the game its distinctive, detailed look. And just as much work as the developers put into the engine, they've put into the A.I.

"Brink's AI has to be great because of the way we blend single player and multiplayer gaming seamlessly," Ham told the gaming site. "At any time, you could be playing against AI or against other human players, and our goal is that you can't tell the difference."

Brink features 8-member squads, with AI friends and enemies seamlessly being replaced by players as they log-on. And when a player goes idle, they can even enable AI to temporarily take over their character. "You won't be earning any Experience Points during that time, but we want to give players the break option," Ham said.

"Not only are the enemies more ruthless and surprising, but your teammates are more self reliant and useful. In Brink, you won't have to babysit your AI squad mates and make sure they do their jobs. Actually, if you're not doing well, they'll babysit you!"

Brink is set for release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC on September 30.

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  Publish date: Jun 17, 2010

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