HUMANITY
This human behaviour simulator is crushing it
“EXPLORE HOW WE HUMANS WOULD LOOK TO AN OUTSIDE FORM OF INTELLIGENCE.”
Debuting in last month’s State Of Play, this game introduced itself with a vision of teeming masses navigating a strange obstacle course, hurling themselves through the air in order to make it to their platform, and fighting one another for territory. And we thought our daily commute was bad…
Joking aside, the crowd management title has been in development for the last three years. Tha Ltd is primarily a design studio that has worked with big names like Japanese musician Cornelius and brands such as Uniqlo and Muji. This isn’t its first game (nor its first title focused on crowds collaborating) but it is its first foray onto PlayStation. Tetris Effect publisher Enhance is collaborating with the studio on Humanity’s development, meaning that alongside bringing the title to PlayStation, Enhance is giving the studio input on game mechanics and level design.
The game was initially inspired by the patterns of flocking birds. Tha Ltd’s founder, Yugo Nakamura explained to the PlayStation Blog that he’s long wondered, “How do birds perform these mysterious group behaviours?”
Humanity is inspired by human attempts to interpret distinctly bird-brained behaviour, and how in turn a ‘transcendental being’ (think along the lines of Great Old Ones or super-powered AIs) might attempt to make sense of human behaviour. Nakamura says, “The point is I wanted to explore how we humans and our society would look to an outside form of intelligence, and how they would simulate human group behaviour.”
Naturally, the Tokyo-based creator didn’t lack crowds to observe. Developing the idea has not been easy, he explains: “If you think creating a human group simulation (that’s fun to play), as designed by something or someone not human, sounds like a crazy idea – I agree! I’m no transcendental being; I’m just another guy drowning in human society […].”
The hope is that not only will Humanity be fun for actual humans to play but, as Nakamura later adds, “If these other-worldly beings were ever to see it, they’d think ‘Yep, you nailed it,’ or, ‘Ah yes, so this is what human beings are like.’”