Building game NPCs with Jev: on-demand decisions cut cost 50x
The author estimates Jev's Doom demo makes about 10 decisions per second at roughly $7 per hour, which would cost $168,000 a day for 1,000 players online, so he has scripts handle routine behavior and lets Jev decide only at key moments.
$168,000 A DAY That's what AI NPCs could cost a game with 1,000 players online Everyone wants Jev inside their NPCs Nobody did the math Jev's Doom demo: ~10 decisions per second, ~$7/hour Now give every player one smart NPC: > 1,000 players = $7,000/hour > 24 hours = $168,000/day No studio pays that But NPCs don't need to think 10 times a second A guard walking his route doesn't need a brain He needs one when the player shows up So here's how I'm building it: > scripts handle routine > AI only decides at key moments > 1 decision every 5 seconds = 50x cheaper ~$0.14/hour instead of $7 Smart NPCs aren't a model problem They're an architecture problem