In Animal Crossing you play a little human who lives in a small village with a bunch of animals. The game does not have a linear narrative structure, except that it is tied to the Gamecube’s system clock. So when it is night in the real world, it is also night in Animal Crossing. The same is true for the seasons and certain holidays.
The whole game revolves around talking to the animals through simple multiple choice menus, doing jobs for them, sending letters, collecting things and decorating your house. You are awarded points and money for certain things, but it’s the ambient sandbox experience that really drives the game.
On the surface there doesn’t seem to be much Artificial Intelligence in Animal Crossing. A lot of things indeed seem to happen at random. But the game is very succesful at displaying credible characters for which you can feel real empathy.
The animals in the village are capable of remembering you and developing a simple relationship with you. Some characters are easy to become friends with and others have a more difficult personality. It seems like there are only 5 or 6 different personalities. So there’s always multiple characters with the same personality.
The animals also have relationships with each other. They talk to each other (though you don’t know what they say) and as a result they can get happy or sad or angry. If they really like each other, they will change their outfit to be the same as the other critter and they will hang out in the same area often. Until they break up.
Animal Crossing is of course a good example of how one can make simple A.I. seem convincing if the characters are animals, and very cartoony ones at that. The designers really exploited that element, but I still think there’s things to learn from the game for more realistic applications.
The animals have very simple ways of expressing themselves. But these are very efficient. When they are annoyed, grey clouds appear over their heads, when they’re sad, rain falls out of those clouds. When they are happy, they radiate flowers and when they are in a good mood they walk around whistling.
I have only discovered some 15 emotions that they can express and still the characters are credible and endearing. You can’t hep but feel sorry if one of them passes by with a raining cloud over his head.
Posted on May 1, 2006 at 4:33 pm
[…] As Animal Crossing shows us very convincingly, making the player like the autonomous characters, already gets you halfway towards making the player believe them. This seems related to what Richard Evans once said about the creature in Black and White: one of the three design goals for the A.I. was to make the creature loveable. […]
Posted on April 15, 2007 at 12:20 pm
I LOVE ANIMAL CROSSING ITZ THE BEST!
Posted on May 20, 2007 at 9:19 pm
I agree with your thoughts on animal crossing. Just to let you know in the DS version when the animals are talking to each other you can actually join in the conversation. You just got up to either one of them and talk the way you normally do.This is the DS version.
It is a great game and the A.I of the characters as well as their speech/words are quite realistic. One of the few games I have actually felt like their was a connection between me and the game characters.
Posted on June 27, 2007 at 2:16 pm
i love animal crossing i live in kent that’s what ma town is called and i love it i have goose, melba, alice and more and i loooooooooooooooooooooooove it sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!
luv u animal crossingxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Posted on July 8, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Animal Crossing is such a good game! I am so attached to it- I cried when my favourite villager, Dotty, moved out! What amazes me is that Animal Crossing is so simple to play, understand, and have fun with, but the the technology and concept is very complex. What makes Animal Crossing so kid-friendly is that it doesn’t have a structure, everything is random and you choose what to do. It’s so fun because it’s so easy- Animal Crossing is the game of life.
Posted on July 8, 2007 at 6:24 pm
When a villager is moving out and you don’t want them to, clog them with mail. Send about 5 letters with presents and the next day the villager will have unpacked the boxes. I think this is because the villagers are programmed that they have to open mail. I’ve only tried this once, so I can’t say if the villager won’t try to move out again.
Posted on July 8, 2007 at 6:25 pm
When a villager is moving out and you don’t want them to, clog them with mail. Send about 5 letters with presents and the next day the villager will have unpacked the boxes. I think this is because the villagers are programmed that they have to open mail. I’ve only tried this once, so this could delay the villager or stop him or her from moving completely.
Posted on August 8, 2007 at 4:14 pm
OMG ilove ACWW. Its so great! I live in a town called orchard and my name is anna i have STitches Tangy Deena wart jr.,Mitzi,and gwen
Posted on August 18, 2007 at 1:33 pm
That is one of the shortest reviews I have ever seen for this game! This actually happened to me once. Gulliver the “space alien” asked me to come in his ship. I WENT THROUGH SPACE!!!!!!
Posted on September 17, 2007 at 1:42 am
ok well i want to play it but it wont let me grratr
Posted on September 22, 2007 at 7:00 pm
how do u get a friend code??
Posted on November 10, 2007 at 11:49 pm
ACWW is my LIFE! I am on it everyday and nothing can stop me! If I had a GameCube I’d be on that AC all the time too! In my town I have: Tangy, Kiki, Dizzy, Big Top, Opal, Curt, Truffles and Goldie!
Posted on November 11, 2007 at 7:00 pm
i swear im in love with this game.
savannah is my best friend xDD
Posted on December 31, 2007 at 3:40 am
ok my friend has animal crossing and i llooooooooooove the game. but when are they making it for psp??!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Posted on January 2, 2008 at 1:31 am
i LOVE ANIMAL CROSSING.
its so FREAKING AMAZING.
its addicting..
but im sad
because
my favorite animal – chevre moved out! D:
i love this game!
DEFINITELY get it! 😀
its amazinggg.
Posted on January 20, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I love this game!!!!! and i thinke it’s the best animal game i have ever play and i hope this game gana kome on nintendo wii some day?
Posted on January 24, 2008 at 2:19 am
I really like animal crossing.
My town is called Froland and my villagers are Hank Rollo Genji Mitzi Freckles Camofrog Opal Peanut Paolo Rolf Pango Eunice and Mint. My favorite is Genji
This game is really addicting.
Posted on January 24, 2008 at 2:21 am
Oh! I forgot about Daisy and Pecan! they are villagers too.
Posted on February 5, 2008 at 2:40 am
ok. i love this game and my brother was wondering can you ‘go out’ with one of the characters? he thinks a puppy named cookie likes his player.lol
Posted on February 5, 2008 at 2:44 am
sorry, i forgot to ask who is gulliver the space alien and how do you get him to come to your town?? it sounds exciting!
Posted on August 25, 2009 at 2:43 am
THIS IS AWFUL!!! One of my villagers is really sad ALL THE TIME! And won’t leave the house! He will walk around his house shivering and keep saying stuff like “Heh, I always figured I’d outlast you. Take care of the town. Cold so cold” and “your voice is like a jackhammer” and “i won’t go to the light, i won’t, got it!” WHAT’S WRONG WITH HIM!!!??
Posted on August 25, 2009 at 8:57 am
He probably needs medicine. You can buy some at Tom Nook’s.