Perhaps players will be forced to work harder and do more favors to recruit someone who is not convinced of their loyalties yet. Putting a character in the hospital or saving them from being beaten up has a knock-on effect with those connected to them, and when trying to recruit them or others in their social circle, players may find them less or more willing based on those previous actions. The webs of connection are there for the player to explore and interact with.” So, if you help someone out, their relatives will like you more, and will like DedSec more as well. Players can see relatives interact as part of the simulation, but furthermore, memories and affinity actually propagate across relationships. By adding these to the simulation, we provide interesting opportunities for emergent gameplay. “This is a game about people,” continues Dragert, “and people have webs of connections in real life. The player can literally follow this schedule and watch as the character – like any real person – goes about their day.Ĭensus also creates webs of connection between characters deeper than this, it can also affect how characters players meet on London’s streets view them and the organization they are recruiting for: DedSec. If a character’s schedule says they are currently at work but will soon clock off and head to the local gym for a training session, then that is exactly what they will do. Not only does the system generate each character’s name, appearance, skills, and various other attributes, it also creates relationships and schedules to match. The simulation layer makes the characters persistent, and dynamically generates schedules appropriate for that character.”Įssentially, Census is the system that adds life and personality to the millions of playable denizens of digital London. “At its core is a procedural generation layer that creates characters and gives them demographic profiles that are internally consistent, and consistent with the character's role in the world. “Census is a large, complex system that populates the world of Watch Dogs: Legion,” says Team Lead Programmer Christopher Dragert. Next is the Player Attention System, a hidden personal assistant that enriches the story by managing the information a player receives to provide a more organic and enriching experience. First is Census, the system that generates the city’s inhabitants and outfits them with an appearance, independent lives, schedules, and relationships. Two systems stand out as integral parts of Watch Dogs: Legion’s London, responsible for creating its mind-bogglingly wide variety of characters and incorporating them believably into the world and story of the game. The tools used by the team at Ubisoft Toronto to bring the city and its inhabitants to life not only built the game, but helped to create a more realistic and immersive world, and informed the design of the innovative and unique Play as Anyone feature.
The London of Watch Dogs: Legion is a sprawling and vibrant city filled with unique characters, any one of whom can be recruited and controlled by players.