The Future of Gaming and AI

[Clint Thompson]

I would have never imagined self-driving cars being a possibility while growing up, yet here we are. Living in a world where cars are almost fully autonomous and capable of safely driving across the country with little to no intervention or guidance.

Just like the self-driving car, I never imagined the day computers being able to create video games would become a reality and so far, that doesn't seem to be a thing that will actually happen, though I suppose it's possible to a lesser degree for really simplistic games. The side of AI I've seen explode recently has been the artistic side and intelligent interaction side. Two both key components in creating rare and unique, one of a kind experiences unlike ever before.

Imagine owning the same game every other person owns, and while the gameplay will share  common characteristics all the other players will experience at the core of its gameplay, we will one day be playing games where each experience is just as unique as our own worlds and so individual that no two game play experiences will ever be the same, unless directed to be so. That part or idea of future gaming fascinates me. I'm not sure if it's talked about or if there are plans for it to happen currently but it's inevitable with the rapid growth of AI we've seen in the past few years.

Did anyone else here get excited only to be let down by CyberPunk 2077? I'm not sure what I was hoping for or expecting but it fell short of anything I had imagined. Maybe it was more to do with the promises made by the development team, the massive amount of people who were working on the project (over 500 employees!) or the duration of game development that had taken place. Either way, all of that added up to a far higher expectation than delivered.

If you interact with some of the NPCs in the game, you'll mostly only ever get a single response that is generally generic overall by default. If you approach to talk to them again, they just hmmph or nod you off. Completely breaks the experience and expectation of having more random conversation even with people who aren't key elements of the game. Again, I think it in part was because they were promising to go beyond the sky and I was expecting truly other worlds as a result.

So what could AI gaming be like in a few years? (I imagine as soon as 3-5 years from now, we'll start seeing these things implemented) and if not, I'll consider it a complete and sad waste of time and investment on the AI side of things. Character generation unlike anything we've seen before is one of the biggest things I'm expecting to see, each with their own unique personality that can be re-generated to a specific set of guidelines each time you start a new game. While there could be some similarities between two in-game NPCs, just like you have with people in real-life both having blonde hair or wearing similar clothes, the characteristics all-around will be completely different. Different names, faces, body features, personalities, likes, dislikes, and intellect while interacting with them, all completely different.

AI will be able to generate hundreds of new game characters on the fly that can almost always be guaranteed to be different from one another. From looks to AI personality, there can be thousands of differentiating factors that can help create a new game world each time you play and thus, make the game truly different in so many ways never before imagined. You'll be buying a game you'll be able to play 100 times and each time will be truly different, and this is only one single regard to NPC characters alone that we're talking about at first.

The next biggest AI factor I see coming into gameplay is the actual interaction element of these newly created characters, each time you load up a new game. Not just your typical press a button for interaction at someone at a CyberPunk bar but one where it actually takes your voice input and interacts intelligently based on what you're saying. Someone someday soon is going to take what they've done with Replika for example and fully implement it into a game where you can have conversations with thousands of NPCs and each experience will be just as different as their AI generated characters at the beginning of each newly created game at that time. 

It'll probably prove to be one of the most interesting aspects for gaming outside of the realistic visual graphics we've become accustom to with the evolution to follow being deeper interaction and unique experiences for individuals that the computer will create for you on the fly. I would say the third element to AI in gaming would to actually be graphically generating the words entirely on their own. So while the computer will not necessarily be able to create new games out of thin air, it would be able to create different cities, vehicles, and other major aspects that would in-turn make every single game release a different experience beyond our wildest imaginations. All thanks to the wonder that is AI that is booming at a rapid pace.

If you're not already aware and are curious as to the technologies I'm speaking about that currently exist mostly in very early stages, just look up Replika and DALLE, both probably the biggest factors in usable AI for games moving forward. DALLE2 is currently out there being tested by users now and is amazing for a 2nd generation AI project. Given a few more rounds, it'll be completely unreal with what can or will be capable between both visual generation and personable interaction. 

 

Try these out for example: 

https://app.wombo.art/

https://www.craiyon.com/

Would love to hear the thoughts of others regarding how this technology will change the future of gaming for the better, or worse...