The Next Blockbuster Videogame Is Being Built By Artificial Intelligence

There have been a lot of claims in the recent past that the kind of technology behind ChatGPT would speed up videogame development, reduce costs, and allow players to interact with characters in a way they were never accustomed to before.

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A recent development has seen the rise of artificial intelligence tools that are capable of producing essays, images, and even music in response to simple text prompts in recent months, thereby enhancing the ability of those tools. It has already been used by game studios for a wide variety of tasks, including designing weapons and characters, crafting virtual scenes and scripts.

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In Electronic Arts Inc.'s creative and development division, Marija Radulovic-Nastic, said that there are probably not many games that aren't being thought about for some of the use cases for generative artificial intelligence. The company behind hit franchises such as Madden NFL and The Sims, EA -0.32%decrease; red down pointing triangle, is one of the world's largest in the video game industry. 

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Using this technology, EA is able to create quick digital sketches based on ideas for game levels, challenges, and other features without having to spend weeks drawing them out by hand by hand. They can now produce these designs with only a few minutes of hand drawing, and now can be done in a matter of minutes. 

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In order to develop games and other experiences for its platform, Roblox Corp. RBLX 0.00%increase; green up pointing triangle will provide developers with its own generative AI tools. In the case of the tool, you could change a car's paint job to look like bubbles and make it fly. It would not require any coding on the part of the developer. With simple text prompts, he or she could try to change the paint job of a car to look like bubbles and make it fly.

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Dan Sturman, the technology chief at Roblox, said: "You can use generative artificial intelligence to be able to create the materials you want, if you feel that you have an incredible idea in your head." "If you have the idea in your head, you can make it a reality." 

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A new tool designed to diversify the dialogue of nonplayable characters or extras in games is being tested by NetEase Inc. NTES, which increased by 0.42% on Monday.   

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As a rule, players would have to select from a menu of preconfigured responses that would be displayed when they encountered these so-called Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in order to communicate with them. Other times, players might be given a limited number of scripted responses that would repeat each time they encountered such NPCs.  

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NetEase has plans to introduce a more free-flowing approach to conversations between players and NPCs in the mobile version of its multiplayer computer game, Justice Online, that is yet to be released. Through this approach, the company hopes to follow the imaginations of players of the game.

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A NetEase spokesman said that the artificial intelligence used to create the NPCs' responses was trained on Chinese history books, poetry and music because the mobile game is based on a Chinese martial arts novel. According to him, the feature is currently being developed as part of a collaboration between its Fuxi AI Lab and ThunderFire game studio, however it is still in its infancy. 

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Moreover, generative AI is also being used by developers to create soundscapes for games by allowing them to simplify the process of writing conversational dialogue for characters in the background, such as reacting to explosions, in real time.

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It was only recently that Ubisoft Entertainment SA UBI announced its launch of Ghostwriter, an artificial intelligence tool that generates first drafts of this chatter, something the company says is among the most difficult task for videogame writers and which it calls one of the most challenging tasks of the industry. 

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An article published by the company in March said that scriptwriters put a lot of effort into writing crowd chatter and NPC dialogue, time they could be spending on other aspects of the plot instead. 

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The generative AI technology can also be utilized by companies to quickly transform the look and feel of their games according to the season. Last month, Playtika Holding Corp. PLTK -2.96%decrease; red down pointing triangle added graphics and copy to its popular game “Bingo Blitz” that incorporated St. Patrick's Day graphics. 

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A number of game makers have expressed concern about the benefits of generative AI, despite the fact that it can have a huge impact on the industry. Several testers reported inaccurate or bizarre results after Microsoft Corp. announced it had developed the technology in its Bing search engine in February. As a result, developers are worried that similar results could occur in other games whose dialogue is created using the technology. 

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Additionally, it is also important to note that companies using AI to create characters, weapons and other content may be at risk of running into issues of copyright as generative AI models are often constructed based on vast amounts of public-accessible information, words, and codes. The technology could also result in the creation of similar-looking games by different companies with the same look. This can also pose a danger. 

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Game developers are being able to train artificial intelligence generators on their own artwork and style in an attempt to assist them in creating original content. To produce customized results, Scenario Inc. has built a platform on top of artificial intelligence generators like Stable Diffusion and Midjourney.

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The advent of hyper-personalization in AI is a sign that we have entered an era of truly personalized AI, according to Scenario's chief executive and co-founder, Emmanuel de Maistre. 

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A lot of small game studios are finding that the use of generative AI is allowing them to accomplish more. 

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In the mobile game “Dead Man’s Phone,” Electric Noir Studios created a text message and voice mail that act as clues for the game by using ChatGPT and Murf, which both use ChatGPT. Midjourney, on the other hand, created photo-realistic images of characters in a courtroom for the legal thriller game “You be the Judge!” by using the same software.

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In an interview with IGN, Nihal Tharoor, co-founder of the London studio, explained that they would not have been able to afford to hire actors and costume designers.  

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He stated that the technology has enabled us to produce high-quality content much more quickly and in a much more cost-effective manner. 

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There is no evidence that genetically engineered AI can completely replace human talent. Industry executives believe this is true since someone needs to input the prompts and results need to be refined. 

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It has recently been announced that Demourge Studios, a small Boston-based game development studio owned by Embracer Group EMBRAC.B 2.06%increase; green up pointing triangle AB, is starting to visualize ideas for new games with artificial intelligence art generators, said the company's chief strategy officer, Albert Reed. Despite the fact that they use their own employees to guide and check the results, Reed said.

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In order to make this tool efficient, an artist must guide the AI from the steering wheel. "You need to have a human steering the AI," he continued.