What are we developing with the bartender [shown in Inside Star Citizen]?

So basically, what we're doing with the bartender, and why we are working for so long on the bartender, is because the bartender is one of these classic examples that encapsulates so many different problems that are used in different behaviors. So first of all, right now, the bartender is actually just a vendor. So we have vendors in Squadron 42 and we have vendors in the PU, and there will be no difference in behavior except their attitude, their skill and their personality, right? So some bartenders might ask you what you want, some vendors actually might not ask you what you want, and they're just going to wait for you to interact with them. Or some vendors might take back the object that you asked to look at before they show you another one. Some won't. So the bartender has this very complex environment where we have a super realistic bar, right, where you can create cocktails, you can pick up objects from pre-existing locations. Let's say you have a fridge with beer bottles, right? Those beer bottles already exist. You just want to pick them up. But if you are creating a cocktail, well, you have the original sources for the type of drink, right? You have maybe a cola, you have whiskey, and you want to mix them up and you want to put a slice of lemon on top of the glass, right? And this is what we are working on. Our system right now allows all of those. That means that designers will be able to create a lot of content very easily starting from that template, not just for vendors, of course, but vendors will already be a major part of the PU releases, and there will be characters in Squadron providing you weapons or providing you other stuff. So this is why it's taking so long, and it's also taking resources from code and design to work tightly close to each other so that we can get the best out of those systems.

Well, it's very easy to see the benefits of ship AI and FPS combat AI in the combat aspects. The bartender is representative of the social AI aspects. Anybody who's played the old Wing Commander games remembers going into the mess and talking with Shotglass and getting the gossip of the day. And you don't just want them to recite things, you want complex actions and them to feel like a living, breathing person. And the bartender is our gold standard, if you will, for all of our social interactions that happen with every vendor throughout Squadron 42.

Absolutely. Vendors are the central place in every role-playing game, sci-fi or fantasy; the center of the world.