The inspiration of the A.I. system for CodeX Athena actually came from Capcom’s classic side-scroller Magic Sword. This game would’ve been just a normal hack and slash, but its companion system took it to a whole other level. The ability to have different helper companions help you in your quest gave the game great depth.

So based on that idea, Athena can “summon” up to 3 teams of 3 robot companions. We went beyond Magic Sword in that you can code the behavior of each robot.

Players first selects a condition that triggers the desired action. Then the player selects an action that the robot executes when that condition is fulfilled. Actions can also be bound to specific buttons for players who like more direct control. The UI gets its inspiration from FF12’s gambit system, mainly because that setup works quite well with a controller. However, we’re hoping it goes beyond what gambit can do. More development planned for the A.I. system!