Some of the most active video game studios are using generative AI to automate tedious elements of game design like NPC dialogue and generate new levels of detail for in-game rendering. This is all in an effort to speed up development and focus human talent where it matters more. coercion.
Generative AI is artificial intelligence that can generate new content such as text, images, and music using prompts. It learns from large amounts of data and uses that data to create new and complementary content, from simple sentences to videos to complex works of art.
It’s a technology that has only recently captured the mainstream imagination (and interest), but here’s how some game developers are already using AI.
blizzard entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, the studio behind Diablo, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft, said in an internal memo in May 2023 that the company had begun experimenting with AI to create in-game character rendering.
According to new york times, Blizzard deployed its own internal AI tools and warned employees not to use third-party AI platforms to prevent leaks of company confidential data and IP. Blizzard executives are excited about the potential use of AI in next-gen games, but some employees say the company’s AI has failed to catch in-game bugs and issues in the games it’s been testing.
square enix
In April 2023, Square Enix’s AI division released an updated demo of AI generation for the 1983 text adventure game The Portopia Serial Murder Case, highlighting how large-scale language models can be applied to text-based games.
The company behind Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts has been looking at AI for some time. In May 2022, Square Enix announced that it would sell several subsidiaries and the Tomb Raider franchise (among others) to Sweden-based Embracer Group AB and use the funds to invest in artificial intelligence and Web3 games. Square Enix has since backed Atlas, an AI startup that uses generative AI to turn text and images into 3D worlds.
In January 2024, Square Enix confirmed that it had used AI image generator Midjourney in the creation of its next big game, the colorful PlayStation 5 and PS4 shooter Foamstars. Midjourney was used to create the in-game album artwork for the original soundtrack, but claimed that everything else was human-made.
“We liked what was created and used it as the final album cover that players will see in the game,” a Square Enix representative said. “Everything else was created entirely by our development team.”
Roblox
Online gaming platform Roblox has announced the launch of two new generative AI tools, Code Assist and Material Generator, in February 2023 to streamline game creation.
Currently in beta, this tool automates basic coding tasks by generating useful code snippets and creating object textures at the prompt. Roblox added that generative AI makes the creative process easier and faster, and that it also has plans to enable third-party AI services to attract AI developers and creators to the Roblox platform.
Roblox co-founder and CEO David Baszucki said last August that AI tools would help players create “richer, more dynamic” games.
Ubisoft
Ubisoft, creator of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, has announced the release of Ghostwriter in March 2023. This AI tool allows game developers to generate first drafts of non-player character (NPC) dialogue, colloquially known as ‘barks’, allowing writers to focus on the story. Development.
Ubisoft says its ultimate goal is to give designers the ability to create AI systems tailored to their specific needs, using a backend tool called Ernestine to create large-scale language models like Ghostwriter. And in January 2024, Nvidia revealed that Ubisoft was one of a small number of game developers committed to using AI tools to create more talkative and convincing non-playable characters (NPCs).
microsoft
We are already investing heavily in generative AI, investing $10 billion in OpenAI. microsoft Last November, it was revealed that it would be adding an AI Design Co-Pilot, adding generative AI capabilities for Xbox game developers.
“Our goal is to provide cutting-edge AI tools to game developers of all sizes,” said Haiyan Zhang, General Manager of Xbox Game AI.
Microsoft says new AI tools will empower game developers, allowing them to turn prompts into game elements including scripts, dialogue trees, and quests, thanks to Inworld AI, one of the tech giant’s venture arm portfolio companies. He said it was for this purpose. But the move has sparked significant backlash from both game developers and performers, who say it threatens their jobs.
NCSoft
In March 2023, NCSoft, creator of the Aion, Guild Wars, and Lineage series of games, announced in a trailer for its upcoming game Project M using Unreal Engine 5: Digital human technology has been released. The company used NCSoft’s AI Text to create digital human conversations. -Speech synthesis technology that can not only translate text into human voice, but also reproduce the actor’s tone, intonation, and emotions.
NCSoft was not satisfied with the AI-generated voice and used ‘voice-to-face’ technology to add facial expressions and lip-sync to the conversation.
nvidia
Tech giant Nvidia has released a demo of the NVIDIA Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE) for gaming in May 2023. The demo depicted an AI-generated rendering of a ramen shop with an NPC behind the bar talking to the player.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang explained that by using AI, NPCs can better understand meaning through interactions. Created in partnership with Melbourne-based Convai, ACE integrates several Nvidia services including NeMo, Riva and Omniverse Audio2Face.
Nvidia announced in January 2024 that Ubisoft, Riot Games parent company Tencent, Genshin Impact maker MiHoYo, Chinese studio NetEase and Ourpalm are among those using AI tools for more believable NPCs.
Editors: Ryan Ozawa and Andrew Hayward
Editor’s note: This article was first published on July 5, 2023, and was most recently updated with new content on January 19, 2024.