Quixotic Ring
A newcomer approaches the arena of eternal strife. Without pause, the denizens of this ring clash in the heat of combat, yet their hearts are content. Will you come to feel the same?
Single-player sandbox simulation in which the player wrestles opponents and cultivates rivalries with different personality types. They come away from the experience feeling affection for personas and connection within the world of performance wrestling.
Genre: Social Simulation, Fighting
Platform: PC & Mac
Engine: Unity
Team: Solo; expanded to collaboration with 2 Engineers.
Duration: November 2018; November 2019
Roles & Contributions
Game Designer: emergent relationship mechanics between agents motivated by results of wrestling matches, personality evaluation character-creator.
C# Developer: programming AI behavior trees, architecture of stat-change systems, implementing wrestling gameplay.
Game Artist, UI/UX: character designs, ui/ux, all visual assets.
Quixotic Ring is a rivalry cultivator game and agent-driven social simulation wrapped up in the unique world of performance-wrestling. It was created with the scholarly objective of using a user personality test and self-reported personality metrics to create a social network of artificial intelligences. Beyond meeting this design challenge, it further expands into a ludic experience about playing roles and engaging in arduous activities solely for the sake of fun and ceremony; an experience about how enjoyment may supersede the desire to meet a tangible goal.
This project begins with the desire to bring social simulation to a fantasy wrestling setting. The Ring is a private domain where fighters, seeking a myriad of wishes, come to prove themselves through fights against other champions. Combatants face off against one another for superiority, but inexplicably establish unbreakable bonds with one another in the process. Adversaries grow fond through respect and familiarity. Forces in opposition transform into rivals in admiration.
With the overarching story I wanted to express through this experience established, I needed to work backwards from there to design a framework for the agent-driven simulation that would embody it, as was the objective of the assignment. I began with what qualities seemed important to keep track of under this context. I decided on aspects that would not only be functionally useful in a fighting environment, but could speak to the larger social implications of formed rivalries. These ended up being: Hostility, Savvy, Interest, Grudge.
Character creation played a role in allowing players to not only understand this nontraditional stat system, but also served to weave in some exploration into the personas evident in performance wrestling. Half of the player’s stats are determined through random choice and become their zodiac; this is the predetermined temperament that a person is born with. The other half, the player’s archetype, is determined either through a quiz modeled after the Big Five and Enneagram personality tests or self-determination; this is the personality and set of personal values that a person grows into. These two aspects come together to create a concatenated representation of them, their persona.
This persona, as the term implies, isn’t a perfect portrayal. Much like the amplified, theatrical characters that professional wrestlers take on, it’s a simplified mask they wear. It may be an intensification, alteration, or complete departure from their true self, but it’ll still be fun, won’t it?
Hostility affects readiness to throw hands and aggression in fights.
Savvy determines skill and maneuverability during combat.
Interest governs the capacity to maintain rivalries and how performance raises opinion.
Grudge influences how failure drives opinion and how eager they are to fight again.
Agents build up a desire to fight as function of their hostility, grudge, and performance in their previous fight. Once they reach a threshold, they become riled up and storm about challenging everyone they encounter to a fight. Whether or not the other individual chooses to square off depends on how deep their bonds are. Rivals are more willing to accept a challenge from one another. Between non-player character, the victor is decided by the participating agents’ hostility, savvy, and a smidgen of random chance. For the player, these stats manifest is how effectively the player pushes and switches wrestling positions in a furious button-mashing battle mechanic.
Upon conclusion, the victor’s interest affects how much the combatants’ rivalry grows, and also how much their investment in other agents decays. For the loser, their grudge does the same, and additionally determines how much they’ll be aching for another match sometime soon. Combatants exchange some words, mingle, and agree to fight again in the future before going their separate ways. And thus, the cycle begins anew.
Fighters grow fonder of you as your rivalries develop. When the player maxes out this bond with someone, that agent’s zodiac, archetype, and stat breakdown by aspect become visible on their summary card. After all, true rivals come to reach a deeper understanding with one another.
Though the player is presented the task of becoming the greatest rival of each of the Ring’s members, and thereby establishing their conclusive dominance as a fighter, perhaps the personalities they grow to interact with, and the simple appeal of squaring off against them, becomes a more enjoy activity than the goal they set out to achieve. It’s certainly why the other denizens fight on eternally, after all.
This project was an interesting foray into building a model for artificial intelligence, while also using such a system to drive a story about finding joy in raw engagement of an activity with others. It also speaks to a lot of my personal interests in the construction of human values and identity, the inherent fun and kinship found in role-playing, and the immersive culture of performance wrestling.
On an art note, I really enjoyed myself with the visual direction. Character designs are easily the most vibrant and visually diverse part of the art, working in service to the idea that interacting with the fighters is its own reward. The haphazard, sketchy style was a practical decision given the quick nature of this production, but also gives everything a constructed feeling, as if the voices hosting and observing all the contestants in this ring had quickly slathered on the paint strokes themselves. It also borrows from Chinese architectural design, to go along with the use of the zodiac throughout the game, and simply because it felt like a unique aesthetic to combine with the concept of a fight club.
LESSONS LEARNED
What went well.
Creating functional AI agents that were driven by different personality variables was a success, along with the personality survey at the beginning of the game. I was able to create robust personalities and have them interact with the world across different interconnected mechanics, which is quite a feat. I learned a lot about how to write behavior trees and manage the architecture behind my agents.
Areas of improvement.
This game, due to time constraints and technological challenges, lacks much of an experience arc. On one hand, the game is meant to be endless, but on the other, I implemented scant progression systems: only giving characters some different textual things to say upon your first few fights, as well as upon maxing out a friendship with them. Further structure and considerations towards these ends would have benefitted the experience, and I endeavor to make use of graphs and macros to ensure emotional progression in future projects.
Closing thoughts.
It is mindblowing that this game functions and has as complex of an AI system as it does, and I really believe that is cause for celebration. While it feels a bit monotonous and is not effective as it could have been if focus had been placed on the experience over the mechanics, I think for what this project is, it was worth it to invest so much time in simply experimenting with and building up its interesting agent behaviors. It was definitely a nursery bed of ideas and techniques I carry on into my future work, particularly STARWEAVE.