A-Life System

The A-Life system is a name for the genetic system that allows Chao to pass on and express traits. This system originated with NiGHTS Into Dreams, where the A-Life system was invented for Pians. We have a surprising amount of information about it. This page is dedicated to collecting that information.

NiGHTS Into Dreams

This interview from 1996 is very revealing.

Naka: Actually, the truth is I wanted to make the A-LIFE sim more meaningfully connected to the game itself, but that would have meant changing the underlying gameplay of NiGHTS. For awhile, I thought we should just make the A-LIFE sim its own game. We talked about it, but eventually settled on the way it is today.
Katano: Yes. (laughs) As you can imagine, it took a lot of time fiddling and tweaking everything to get it right. We had an overall tight, very limited schedule for NiGHTS, and the A-LIFE part especially took up a lot of that time.

Naka: The genetic evolution of the Pian’s shape, form, and abilities are all a matter of statistics, so if it wasn’t tuned just right from the beginning, we were worried certain undesirable patterns would occur downstream, like all the Pians eventually becoming one type, or their actions and behavior all eventually becoming uniform. If we gave one genetic pattern too much priority, you see, it threatened to ruin the entire A-LIFE system. I think we managed to balance it all pretty well, though.
Iizuka: For me, more than just creating them, I find it’s most fun making the Pians do all kinds of new actions. Even though I technically should know all the parameters of the A-LIFE system, whenever I see them do something new it’s still really fun to me.

These quotes reveal some cool things: Naka considered making the A-LIFE sim its own game; Naka wanted to integrate the A-LIFE sim more directly into NiGHTS; the A-Life system took up a lot of NiGHTS decelopment time; the A-LIFE system would produce unexpected behaviors, which was part of the fun.

staff

Sonic Adventure (1999)

The debut of Chao. Before the game's release, they are not really mentioned, being treated as a surprise.This pre-release interview hints at the Chao.

Sega Saturn Magazine: Will you be taking special advantage of the VMS?

Yuji Naka: I have a specific idea about using the VMS and this game is sure to have VMS functions. I can give you one clue and it's related to A-life [a concept from NiGHTS], but right now I can't make any other comments! [laughs]

After the release, this interview sheds light on the A-life. It is noteworthy that he refers to them both as A-life and Chao.

Gamefan: Do you feel that American gamers will pick up the whole A-Life aspects in Sonic Adventure? If so, is the goal to make A-Life as popular as Nintendo's Pokemon in the states (animated TV, trading cards, plush toys, etc.)?

Yuji Naka: I am not sure if Chao will become popular in the US. However, I feel the concept of A-Life is very interesting and therefore I hope many consumers in the US will enjoy playing the A-Life aspects. I also hope that the A-life aspects of the game will help increase the number of people that are Sonic fans. Chao was incorporated in the game because I hoped to provide the means to enable those who buy the game to continue to enjoy playing it even after they have cleared the main adventure story. If Chao gets popular and the market demand is there, I will be happy to consider merchandising characters such as Chao and other characters in the game.

Gamefan: Where did you get the idea for the "A-Life" in Sonic Adventure?

Yuji Naka: A book inspired me in the concept of A-Life. (A little side note, Tetsu Katano programmed the original A-life section in NiGHTS. -Tunek)
June 1999

It is interesting that Gamefan views Chao as a potential competitor to Pokemon, while Naka doesn't even seem to entertain the idea that Chao themselves are a marketable part of the game. Instead, he emphasizes the replayability aspects.

Staff

Confusingly, there is A-Life system and then something called "CHAOS". It's not clear what this refers to. I think it must be the Chao Garden, since there are aspects of them that have nothing to do with the A-life system, such as the gardens and races. In general, A-life is used to refer to the program that carries traits for the beings, which happen to be Chao here.

Sonic Adventure 2 (2001)

This era has fewer interviews for some reason. Here is one.

IGNDC: Okay... Chao. Now, we've heard there's a new Chao raising system. We've seen online movies of Sonic petting Chao and Chao displaying new animations, but beyond that, we don't know too much about the Chao in SA2. Can you go into the Chao raising system further - is it still similar to the system in SA, does it still use the VMU?

TI: (shuffles papers) Well, it's a little bit too early to release all the information on Chao, but I'll touch upon a few things. In Sonic Adventure, the Chao were a relative neutral entity. To remain consistent with Sonic Adventure 2, where the game is divided between the Hero side and Dark side, depending how you raise your Chao, you can raise it to become a Dark Chao or a Hero Chao. And each Hero or Dark Chao will display different animations. For example, when a Hero or Dark Chao goes to sleep, the will display different mannerisms... you'll definitely see something different.
In Sonic Adventure 2 we've basically tripled the volume of Chao. In terms of the combinations, you'll see a whole lot of different Chaos for the new A-Life system. When compared to the Chaos in SA, we had one program running all the Chao different actions. In SA2, we've incorporated a "socialization program" of sorts; so you'll see Chao interacting with other Chao differently - they kind of grow up together and their personalities will be altered accordingly. It's a little more unique in that aspect.

IGNDC: So what happens when you put a Hero Chao and a Dark Chao together? Or can you place them together in the same room?

TI: Oh yes, you'll definitely see situations like that. What the Hero Chao and the Dark Chao will do to each other... that's something you're going to have to see for yourself

This interview emphasizes the socialization and hero/dark divide. Curously, Iizuka says that SA1 had "one program running all the Chao different actions." He says that there is a "socialization program" but it's not clear if this is distinct from the "one program" that ran all the Chao actions. I'm inclined to think it's different because he points out that the Chao are now more unique and have more personalities, unique relationships with other Chao. Notice also the interviewer asks abotu the VMU and he doesn't mention it.

Staff

By Sonic Adventure 2 it is no longer referred to as A-LIFE. Yoshihisa Hashimoto returns.

Phantasy Star

The A-Life system was also used in Phantasy Star. From the following interview.

Q: The reason for asking about Nights is that it had the Nightopian A-LIFE system. Sonic Adventure had the Chao system, which grew from that, and PSO has the MAGs. It’s really impressive because that “pet” system grew in complexity over time. In PSO it’s almost like a game in a game, because you have to feed the pet, etc. It’s a lot like a Tamagotchi.

A: The A-LIFE system was created in Nights, and that system was used to create the Chao in Sonic Adventure, and that knowhow was passed down to PSO. Initially, the plan was to have players take a dragon’s egg, nurture it, and then raise the dragon that hatched from the egg. Sakai was good at designing dragons so we thought that would be cool, but then we realized the sheer number of dragons that we would have to design for the game, and decided it would be impossible. And if the dragon walked with the player and each player had their own dragon, that would mean there would be eight characters on the screen when playing online. It just became technically impossible; we couldn’t have that many polygons on the screen.

I was told that we could only have a small round character floating in the air above the player’s character. And that’s how we came up with the MAG. We had the idea to incorporate something similar to the A-LIFE system into PSO from the beginning, and we had to come up with a system that would work for the game, and the MAG system is where we landed. We could change the shape of the MAG’s body — we could make it bigger or chubbier — but we couldn’t add clothing. So in order to show some evolutionary elements to the MAG, we adjusted the silhouette and added things to the back like wings, and enlarged it as the MAG got stronger.

Q: So you weren’t part of this system’s evolution from Nights?

A: No, others at Sonic Team made the A-LIFE system, and it was Naka’s idea to incorporate the A-LIFE system into PSO. I wasn’t involved in Nights in the least. The team that worked on Nights was burned out from working on that title, so that’s why I had to come in and make Christmas Nights.

Q: Do you know who came up with the original idea for the A-LIFE system?

A: I don’t know for sure. If that person is still at Sega, it might be [Takashi] Iizuka, [the original game designer of Nights].

More important information revealed. Even if the programmers weren't directly involved, it seems that 'knowhow' on the A-Life system was passed down to PSO.

Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg

This game has no A-Life features, as Yuji Naka points out. I just wanted to show this part of the interview where he is specifically asked if Billy Hatcher will have an A-Life feature. It is interesting to see that that name is still being used, and that there is a growing expectation that Naka games will have an A-life!

NP: Are there any A-Life elements (such as the Chao in Sonic Adventure) in Billy Hatcher?

YN: There are none. However, since you have Egg Animals instead, do your best by utilizing them in order to achieve your goals in this world!

Nights journey into dreams

Also appeared in NiGHTS: Journey Into Dreams. Interview

SEGANerds: Where did you come up with the idea for the My Dream segment of the game?

Takashi Iizuka: It was developed from the A-Life system in the original NiGHTS. While the original only allowed you to interact with A-Life in the missions. You now have a separate, small world, the beauty of A-Life, is it creates a place where the developers will not be able to predict what will happen.

Balan Wonderworld

A similar concept appeared in Balan Wonderworld.