The impact of artificial intelligence on the game development market. The perspective of ByOwls developers
The game development industry is increasingly utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), which has revolutionized the way games are created and provides opportunities for more immersive gameplay experiences. This article delves into the ways AI impacts game development.
AI’s use in game development primarily involves the creation of non-player characters (NPCs), which are characters controlled by the computer instead of the player. In the past, NPCs were limited to basic actions and responses. However, AI has allowed for the creation of NPCs that exhibit more human-like behaviors, such as learning, adapting, and even showing emotions.
Developers can also use AI to create more realistic opponents that can learn from their mistakes and adapt to the player’s actions, making the game more challenging.
Procedural generation is another AI-based technique that involves using algorithms to create game content such as levels, landscapes, and worlds. This method reduces the time and resources required to create content manually and allows for vast open-ended environments that can be explored in many ways.
AI is also utilized in analyzing player data to gain insights into aspects of the game that are working well and areas that need improvement. This allows developers to make real-time changes, improving the overall gaming experience for players.
What is the importance of AI?
AI is crucial in almost all games to provide an immersive experience to the player. The aim of AI is to make characters in the game as lifelike as possible, even if the game is set in a fantasy world.
As AI technology advances, it offers different ways to interact with the player’s experience. For instance, in the game “Middle Earth: Shadow of War,” the nemesis system creates orcs that have unique personalities, traits, and abilities. They can join, betray, or spy on the player, and they remember past events that can shape future interactions.
This system allows for a new level of interaction with the game’s NPCs, leading to intense and personal experiences for the player. However, these experiences are still made up of pre-programmed instructions from the developers.
With advancements in AI technology, future games might feature NPCs that genuinely scheme and feel emotions toward the player, creating a game that changes based on every action taken.
The use of AI can aid in the creation of improved games
AI has the potential to assist in creating better games by enabling developers to implement the following techniques:
Intelligent NPCs. AI can help create more intelligent and realistic NPCs by using machine learning algorithms to train them. NPCs can learn from their interactions with the player, adapting their behavior and responses based on previous experiences.
Procedural Generation. With Procedural Generation, game content can be generated by AI, reducing the time and resources required for game development. This allows developers to create expansive, open-ended environments that can be explored in various ways, providing players with a more dynamic and immersive experience.
Improved Enemy AI. Enhanced Enemy AI can be achieved by utilizing AI to analyze player behavior and create algorithms that counteract player strategies, resulting in more challenging and unpredictable enemies. This approach necessitates the use of a diverse range of tactics by players to overcome opponents.
Game Testing. AI algorithms can simulate player behavior to improve game testing. This helps developers identify bugs, balance issues, and other problems in the game before its release, ensuring a more polished and enjoyable gaming experience for players.
Personalization. AI can help developers customize the gaming experience to individual players’ preferences. By analyzing player data, the game can be tailored to adjust the difficulty level, provide hints and tips, or even customize the game environment.
AI Implementation in Game Development
In the coming years, AI could play an increasingly significant role in game development, not just within games themselves. Deep learning technology has enabled AI to memorize and replicate experiences based on a series of images or text.
Currently, AI is already being used to generate art and emails that resemble human-created content. This same technology is being adapted for game development, as seen in a recent experiment where an AI programmed a playable level using only photographs.
As this technology becomes more reliable, it could streamline the development of large open-world games. Facial recognition software and deep fake technology may also have a role in future development cycles, with the potential to generate realistic 3D models of buildings or landscapes. It’s even possible that AI could use a combination of these technologies to create an entire game from scratch, tailored to the individual preferences and habits of the player.
While it’s uncertain if this level of AI-generated game development will occur soon, it’s likely that AI will continue to play a greater role in game development in the years to come.
Examples showcasing the application of AI in game development
AI has been incorporated in various ways in game development, enhancing the gameplay experience for players. Here are some examples of popular games that have integrated AI:
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Skyrim’s AI system is considered one of the most advanced in the gaming industry. The game’s NPCs have their own daily schedules and respond to events in the game world, making them seem more realistic and alive.
Assassin’s Creed
In Assassin’s Creed, the AI is used to control the behavior of the enemy NPCs in the game. The AI is designed to create challenging and unpredictable opponents that require the player to use a variety of tactics to defeat them.
Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo’s AI system is designed to make the game’s enemies more intelligent and challenging. The game’s enemies will dodge the player’s attacks, use cover, and adapt to the player’s strategies, making for a more immersive gameplay experience.
Civilization
In Civilization, the AI is used to control the behavior of the other civilizations in the game. The AI is designed to create challenging opponents that require the player to use strategic thinking and planning to defeat.
F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon) is a first-person shooter game that is known for its advanced enemy AI. The game’s enemies are able to communicate with each other, flank the player, and react to the player’s actions in real time.
Mass Effect
Mass Effect is a science-fiction RPG that features an advanced dialogue system. The game’s AI system is able to remember the player’s choices and actions and use that information to alter the game’s story and ending.
These are just a few examples of how AI has been implemented in various ways in game development, making games more realistic, challenging, and engaging for players.
The role of Artificial Intelligence in Gaming’s Future
Although AI technology is constantly being improved through experimentation, it is primarily being advanced by robotics and software engineers rather than game developers. This is due to the fact that using AI in groundbreaking ways for gaming comes with a risk. Currently, developers have control over the game world they create, and leaving their games in the hands of highly advanced intelligent AI may lead to unforeseen glitches, bugs, or behaviors.
If the possibilities for how an AI character can react to a player are infinite, depending on how the player interacts with the world, it means that developers cannot test every conceivable action such an AI might take. Although the technology and the prospects it offers are exciting, major studios are taking a cautious approach to its adoption.
While it is inevitable that the gaming industry will eventually embrace AI, it is difficult to predict when this will happen. The technology may become well enough understood that a studio is willing to take the risk, or we may see ambitious indie developers lead the way in the next few years to get the ball rolling. Given the rapid pace of technological progress, it is possible that we will have everything we have always envisioned AI to be by the end of the decade.
Conclusion
In the realm of game development, AI is an indispensable technology that equips developers with novel tools and approaches to design gameplay experiences that are more captivating and immersive. The implementation of AI in developing intricate Non-Player Characters and generating complete game universes has dramatically revolutionized the industry. The evolution of AI presents an exciting prospect of even more pioneering applications in game development, challenging the limits of what can be achieved in the gaming world.
