Shattered Bounds – Battlegrounds & more

Tag: Shattered Bounds

  • Dev Blog 5 – Building an Open Brain for Shattered Bounds 

    Date: March 9, 2026
    Series: Dev Blog (Dev-05)
    Project: Shattered Bounds: Battlegrounds (Ottawa, Canada)

    TLDR 

    • Shipped: I built an Open Brain for the Shattered Bounds project over the last two weeks, bringing scattered planning, design, and lore into one retained system. 
    • Shipped: The Open Brain is already helping me keep project knowledge organized independently of any single LLM. 
    • Improved: That same structure now suggests a strong direction for AI NPC architecture, built around layered memory instead of one giant prompt. 
    • Blocked by: The NPC version is still a design architecture, not yet a fully implemented runtime system. 
    • Next: Define the first practical NPC memory stack and test it on a small example character. 

    What shipped / works now 

    The Shattered Bounds Open Brain exists 

    Over the last two weeks, I built an Open Brain for the Shattered Bounds project. The main value is simple: instead of leaving key ideas spread across chat threads, notes, and half-finished documents, I now have a more centralized way to retain and retrieve project knowledge. 

    That matters because Shattered Bounds is already too large to hold comfortably in short-term memory alone. It spans game design, business planning, worldbuilding, operations, hardware, and long-term technical architecture. Having that information organized in one place makes it much easier to stay focused and continue building without losing context every time I switch tools or revisit a topic. 

    The project knowledge is less tied to one AI model 

    One of the things I like most about this approach is that it reduces lock-in to any single LLM. If the knowledge is structured and retained outside the model, then the project itself becomes more durable. The information stays with Shattered Bounds, instead of living only inside whichever conversation happened to generate it. 

    For a long-term project like this, that feels important. I don’t want the memory of the world, the systems, or the decisions to disappear just because I change tools. 

    Reference: AI News & Strategy Daily / Nate B Jones

    I want to thank Nate B Jones for putting out a video on Open Brain. This is what had inspired the open brain development for Shattered Bounds and my next step: the Shattered Bounds AI Brain. He has produced many useful and inspiring videos as well as a great set of articles on his substack. I am not affiliated with him or his channel but I do want to say thank you!

    What improved 

    It changed how I’m thinking about NPC AI 

    While listening again to Nate B Jones talking about the Open Brain idea, something clicked for me: this may also be the right direction for NPC intelligence. 

    Up until now, I had not been able to wrap my head around a reasonable way to build NCP with consistent knowledge, memory and personality. You could write a big character prompt, include their backstory, maybe add some lore, and hope the outputs stay consistent. But that approach gets expensive fast, wastes context space, and doesn’t scale well once NPCs need to know about regions, factions, players, local events, and their own history. 

    The Open Brain approach suggests something better: give the NPC multiple memory layers, and retrieve only what matters at the moment. 

    The idea: layered NPC memory 

    The rough shape I’m imagining right now looks like this: 

    Static Reference Layers 

    These are the NPC’s pre-loaded knowledge layers. 

    This would include things like world lore, race-specific context, regional knowledge, and job-related expertise. Instead of hard-coding all of that directly into every prompt, the system could vectorize a kind of World Encyclopedia. Then, when a player asks about a local legend, a nearby conflict, or the customs of a certain people, the NPC retrieves only the relevant pieces. 

    That means the character can sound informed without dragging the entire encyclopedia into every interaction. 

    The Personality Layer 

    This is where things get more interesting. 

    The personality layer is not just flavor text. It acts more like a filter or retrieval bias. A cheerful NPC and a grumpy NPC may both have access to the same memory bank, but they do not surface the same things in the same way. 

    A cheerful character might be more likely to retrieve success stories, hopeful interpretations, or fond memories. A grumpy character might prioritize insults, failures, unresolved tensions, or reasons to distrust someone. The knowledge base may be shared, but the personality changes what gets pulled forward and how it is framed. 

    That feels much closer to how a character should work. 

    Background and Current Memory 

    This would be the dynamic read-write layer. 

    Every meaningful interaction could be embedded and stored as it happens. If a player helps an NPC in one town, that event becomes part of the NPC’s memory. If the two meet again later in another region, the system can semantically search that player history and retrieve the earlier interaction. 

    In practical terms, that means the NPC can remember the alliance, the favor, the argument, or the betrayal without me needing to manually hard-wire every possible branch. The memory becomes persistent, searchable, and portable. 

    For Shattered Bounds, that is especially exciting because the long-term vision is a living world. If NPCs can remember what players did, even in a limited but believable way, the world starts feeling less like a theme park animatronic setup and more like an actual place. 

    Why this matters 

    This feels important for two reasons. 

    First, it solves a development problem. Large prompts are clumsy. They burn tokens, become hard to maintain, and make consistency difficult. A layered retrieval model is cleaner and more scalable. 

    Second, it solves an immersion problem. Static NPCs are one of the fastest ways to make a world feel fake. If every character repeats the same information the same way forever, then no matter how beautiful the visuals are, the illusion breaks. 

    Shattered Bounds has always aimed toward a world that feels alive. I’m still a long way from the final version of that, but this Open Brain concept feels like one of the first architectural ideas that could actually support it. 

    What this means for players 

    For players, none of this is flashy yet. There is no big visual reveal here, no new monster, and no new arena mechanic. 

    But if this direction works, it could eventually lead to NPCs that feel much more believable. Characters would be able to speak from local context, respond in a way that matches their personality, and remember previous interactions instead of resetting to zero every time you meet them. 

    That would make the world feel more personal, and hopefully more alive. 

    Next Steps

    • One sample NPC has a documented four-layer memory structure 
    • The retrieval flow is clear enough that it could be prototyped 
    • Static lore, personality bias, and player-memory examples are separated cleanly 
    • Implement a conversational NPC on this website for players to interact with
    • Test build a Smallville test zone for NPC interaction

    FAQ 

    Q: Is this already running in-game? 

    A: Not yet. Right now this is a design and architecture direction inspired by the Open Brain system I just built for the project itself. 

    Q: Why not just use one big character prompt? 

    A: Because that gets expensive, messy, and hard to scale. A layered retrieval model should be easier to maintain and better at surfacing only the information that matters in the moment. 

    Q: Does this mean NPCs will remember players? 

    A: That’s the goal. The dynamic memory layer is specifically aimed at allowing NPCs to retain meaningful interaction history and retrieve it later when relevant. 

    Q: How does this help Shattered Bounds overall? 

    A: It supports the long-term vision of a world that feels persistent and reactive, instead of one where every NPC behaves like a reset button. 

    Q: When can we see NPCs implemented? 

    A: A full implementation of NPCs is expected in the Shattered Bounds: Grand Dungeon expansion. Before that, you can expect to see NPCs on this website to interact with for story, as well as Shattered Bounds: Tower will contain some NPCs.

    Help us build it 

    Donate: http://ko-fi.com/liminalrealms

    Partner: contact@shatteredbounds.com 

    Related 

  • Dev Blog 4: Hill, Healing, and the First Real Loop

    Date: February 9, 2026
    Series: Dev Blog (Dev-04)
    Project: Shattered Bounds: Battlegrounds (Ottawa, Canada)

    This weekend was the first time Shattered Bounds: Battlegrounds started to feel like a complete loop instead of separate systems stitched together. The win moment was simple but huge: healing finally works the way it’s supposed to, and both players and enemies are moving consistently on the server. Once movement and recovery feel reliable, everything else becomes easier to tune, test, and trust.

    My focus right now is building the core “King of the Hill” experience you can play end-to-end: clear objective pressure, a reliable recovery tool, and enemies that behave consistently enough to shape pacing instead of creating chaos.

    This week’s win: Healing works, and server movement is stable

    Getting server-authoritative movement to feel consistent is one of those invisible breakthroughs that changes everything. If player movement jitters, or enemies don’t behave predictably, it becomes impossible to judge whether a mechanic is good or just broken.

    With movement consistency improving and the healing zone behaving properly in real play, I can finally test the game the way players will experience it: under pressure, with multiple actors, and with real match pacing.

    Hill objective: bringing King of the Hill to life

    The hill is the heart of the Battlegrounds mode. It’s what turns combat into decisions: push the objective, regroup to recover, or rotate to intercept enemies. The goal is that players always understand three things instantly:

    1. Are we scoring?
    2. Is it contested?
    3. What do we need to do next?

    Right now, I’m building the hill system in layers: detection and state logic, then scoring rules, then player feedback so it’s readable mid-fight. A good hill system isn’t just “standing in a circle.” It’s pacing, clarity, and fairness.

    Where it’s at today: The hill functions are actively being built and tested, with the next step being consistent scoring behavior and clear contested/ownership feedback that players can understand at a glance.

    End Goal: The Hill will have three colors depending on who is in the hill. Players will make it glow Blue, enemies will make it glow Red, and while it is contested or empty it will fade to Grey. Points will increase or decrease based on who is in control.

    Healing Zone: complete, predictable, and tuned for match pacing

    The healing zone is finally doing what it’s meant to do: give players a reliable way to regroup without turning the match into a stall-fest. This mechanic lives or dies on tuning—small changes to heal speed and rules can completely reshape how the whole session feels.

    The intention is straightforward: healing should reward smart retreats and teamwork, not erase mistakes instantly. It should keep players in the action loop while still creating space for recovery and re-entry.

    Quick Specs:

    • Heal radius: [1.5 meter]
    • Time from 1 HP to full: [10 seconds]
    • Anti-exploit rules: [The healing stops if you leave, enemies wont approach the healing zone]

    Enemy actions and behaviors: consistency first, complexity second

    Enemy behavior is where the game becomes “alive.” This week’s focus was getting enemies to behave consistently enough that I can start designing difficulty and pacing with confidence—especially in a server environment, where consistency matters more than flashy logic.

    With movement stabilizing, enemies become something I can tune instead of constantly chasing edge cases. That opens the door to building behaviors that feel intentional: readable targeting, fair pressure, and clean state transitions.

    What I’m building next inside enemy behavior:

    • Target selection / aggro rules that feel fair and predictable
    • Attack timing and spacing that reads clearly
    • Avoidance rules around recovery areas (so healing stays meaningful)
    • Cleanup and edge cases (no stuck enemies, clean despawn/lifecycle)

    Player stats and leveling: laying the groundwork for long-term progression

    Progression is the long-term glue, but it only matters once the core loop feels solid. Now that healing is stable and server movement is consistent, it makes sense to continue building the foundation for player stats and leveling so future content has something meaningful to connect to.

    The direction is that player skill still matters most, while progression adds structure: goals, identity, and long-term motivation. The next step is making progression feel visible and understandable during play—not just a backend system.

    Decisions I’m locking in next:

    • How fast leveling should feel from session to session
    • Which stats matter without turning into grind-only power
    • How progression rewards both combat and objective play
    • How to keep the system readable for new players

    What’s next: finishing the first complete match loop

    Next week is about converting these stable foundations into a complete, repeatable match loop: hill scoring rules, clear contested/ownership feedback, and enemy waves that reinforce pacing instead of overwhelming it.

    Planned next steps:

    • Finalize hill scoring + contested rules end-to-end
    • Integrate enemy waves into hill pacing
    • Harden enemy edge cases (no stucks, clean lifecycle)
    • Surface progression feedback in-session (HUD/results)

    Closing thoughts

    This week felt like a turning point because the fundamentals are starting to hold under real conditions. When healing feels right and movement is consistent on the server, testing becomes productive instead of frustrating. The hill is next – once it’s fully scoring and readable, SB Battlegrounds will have its first truly complete, repeatable match loop.

    If you want to follow along as I build this in Ottawa, Canada, you can support the project or reach out about partnerships.

    FAQ

    What is Shattered Bounds: Battlegrounds?
    Shattered Bounds: Battlegrounds is a real-world augmented reality (AR) fantasy game where players fight enemies and compete over objectives like a hill, using a mix of physical movement and AR gameplay.

    What is “the Hill” in Battlegrounds?
    The hill is the main objective area in a King of the Hill mode. Controlling it earns your team points and forces strategic decisions: push, defend, rotate, or regroup.

    What does the Healing Zone do?
    The healing zone is a recovery area designed to help players regroup and return to the fight. It’s tuned to support match pacing without allowing players to stall indefinitely.

    Where is Shattered Bounds being built and tested?
    Development and early testing are being built around Ottawa, Canada, with the goal of bringing local play experiences to the area as the project progresses.

    How can I support or partner with Shattered Bounds?
    You can support the project through donations (http://ko-fi.com/liminalrealms) or reach out for partnership opportunities by email (contact@shatteredbounds.com).