Visual effects producer Tom Paton launched his limited series Non Player Combat, where AI-controlled contestants compete on a remote island to win 500,000 coins.ByDec 09, 2025 6:30 PMTags‘Survivor’ Season 49 Cast Revealed: Meet the 18 New CastawaysTom Paton is programming his NPC models to be in survival mode. The visual effects producer, who’s known for creating AI-driven projects through his production company AiMation Studios, launched a new reality show Non Player Combat on Dec. 8. In the limited series, which released its first episode on AiMation Studios’ website, six different AI contestants who have “no idea they’re not real” compete on a remote island to win 500,000 coins. Once the challenge starts, the players receive weapons to help them eliminate smaller threats—such as bears and venomous snakes—and ultimately, each other. “Non Player Combat contestants aren’t performing for the camera, so in many ways they feel more genuine than your average human reality TV contestant,” he said in a press release of the show’s plot, per People. “The future lies where the characters from the shows and films we watch are living their stories in real time.”Indeed, viewers are introduced to the six contestants in the show’s first episode: former Navy Seal Travis Drake, wilderness coach Micah Grey, influencer Madison Cross, Special Forces trainer Kai Chen, former Army veteran Ed Harrington, and ex-con Eliza Cole. As for how the team crafted each character? The series was created with AiMation’s Omnigen tool, which helps build the contestants’ features, and other advanced technology to flesh out their personalities. After all, their background stories are also the heart of the competition show. “It all means nothing unless you care about the players,” Tom explained of the cast to People. “If the audience doesn’t fall in love with the characters, then it’s pointless.”Though the players are undeniably AI-operated, he wanted their hunger to win the challenge to feel real. And to reach that goal, AiMation Studios doesn’t plan the outcome of each battle. In fact, the contestants are the only ones who call “the shots.” “Every player has hundreds of pages of backstory,” Paton told Forbes in a Dec. 7 interview. “Childhood, trauma, love, crimes, philosophy. Their behavior emerges from that foundation. The AI takes those inputs and becomes the character. We did not pick the winner. We did not pick who died and when. We created the psychology, not the plot.”For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
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