Artificial intelligence comes to game development and raises fear of cuts

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While artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney are wowing the world with tricks like passing university tests and winning art competitions, the games industry is already seeing practical uses for them and putting them to use to facilitate world-class game development. line.

The speed of the industry to adapt to this technology is explainable. Games have used more primitive forms of AI for decades, for example, embedded in the programming of non-playable characters (NPCs) and for building procedurally generated scenarios. Furthermore, some of these tools seem tailored for use in large games, which need hundreds — sometimes thousands — of images and text in a predefined style.

With this combination of technical familiarity and interest, it was not surprising when the first use cases of artificial intelligence in game development started to appear.

Justin Roiland, co-creator of the “Rick and Morty” series, confirmed that the developers of his latest game, “High on Life”, used AI platforms to complement the work of illustrators. The technology was also used to prototype the voice of some characters and one of them ended up being used in the final version of the game.

“It makes the world [do jogo] feels like a strange alternate version of our world. […] I don’t know what the future holds, but AI is a tool that has the potential to make content creation incredibly accessible,” Roiland said in an interview with Sky News — before resigning from studio Squanch Games over allegations of violence. domestic.

Haven Studio, created by former Google employees and bought by Sony in July last year, is also betting on technology. Company executives revealed, in an interview with the GamesIndustry.biz website, that they are developing artificial intelligence software to, among other things, create 3D models based on text commands.

If, on the one hand, AI tools can help developers make great games, reducing costs and accelerating the production of visual resources such as concept art, illustrations and 3D models, on the other hand, artists who work in the games industry today see these tools as a threat. to their jobs.

The concern may seem exaggerated, since many of the tasks currently performed by artificial intelligence could simply be cut from projects with minimal damage to the final product. However, situations such as the announcement of the dismissal of 10,000 employees by Microsoft (about 5% of its workforce) hours after its CEO, Satya Nadella, praised artificial intelligence technology in a lecture at the World Economic Forum give reason to the most pessimistic.

In a message sent to Microsoft employees about the layoffs, Nadella said this is a time for big changes, citing a new pattern of digital consumer spending after the pandemic, the need to be cautious with the onset of a recession in various parts of the world. and “the birth of the next big wave of computing with advances in AI.”

The cuts hit at least three major game studios of the company: Bethesda responsible for the “The Elder Scrolls” franchise; 343 Industries, developers of the latest games in the “Halo” series; and The Coalition, the team behind the “Gears” franchise. Days later, Microsoft announced “a multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment” in OpenIA, the startup behind ChatGPT.

Although artificial intelligence technology advances at an accelerated pace, human creativity remains essential for the creation of works of art, such as games. These tools serve to enhance, not supplant, the human capacity to create amazing stories and worlds. Measures like the one taken by Microsoft, however, are worrying and send a bad signal that Silicon Valley executives may not share this thought.


play

game tip, new or old, for you to test

Teardown

(PRAÇA)

There are many games whose premise is to build, but few like “Teardown”, where the objective is to destroy. In this indie title, the player takes on the role of the owner of a demolition company that is close to bankruptcy and starts accepting shady job offers to try to rebuild his company. In general, the objective of the levels is to open an escape route by knocking down walls and destroying objects to pick up a specific item and leave the place in less than 60 seconds. In addition to the story mode, there are challenges and a “sandbox” mode, in which the player can freely destroy the scenario.


update

news, launches, business and what matters most

  • Microsoft announced on its balance sheet a 13% drop in profits for its games division in the last three months of last year, with similar drops in both the hardware and content and services areas.
  • Despite the negative numbers, the company celebrated the record of 120 million active users per month on Xbox Game Pass, its subscription game service.
  • To help break the tide of bad news, Microsoft held a virtual event last Wednesday (27th) and announced for its own Wednesday the surprise release of “Hi-Fi Rush”, a rhythmic action game in cartoon style by Tango Gameworks for Xbox Series X/S and PC consoles. The company also revealed the release dates for the strategy game “Minecraft Legends” (April 18) and the Arkane vampire game “Redfall” (May 2).
  • Riot has announced that the source code for its games “League of Legends” and “Team Fight Tactics” has been stolen by hackers. The company said it refused to pay the ransom demanded by the criminals and that it is taking measures to prevent the proliferation of cheats resulting from the leak of the code. According to Riot, no player information was compromised.
  • Crystal Dynamics has stated that it will publish the latest unreleased content for the game “Marvel’s Avengers” on March 31 and that it will stop supporting the game on September 30. According to the studio, multiplayer and singleplayer modes will continue to work even after the end of support.
  • Neil Druckmann, creative director at Naughty Dog, said in an interview with BuzzFeed that the studio no longer intends to work with the “Uncharted” franchise. “‘Uncharted’ was an insane success. ‘Uncharted 4’ was one of our best-selling games and we were able to put our final brush on that story and say we’re satisfied. Let’s move on,” he said.
  • Actress Annie Wersching, 45, who played and dubbed the character Tess in the game “The Last of Us” died last Sunday (29) due to cancer. She is survived by her husband, comedian Stephen Full, and three children.

Download

games that will be released in the next few days and promotions that are worthwhile

31.jan

“Inkulinati”*: BRL 74.95 (Xbox One/X/S), price not available (PC)

“Season: A Letter to the Future”: BRL 133.90 (PS 4/5), price not available (PC)

“SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake”: R$ 107.99 (PC), R$ 199.50 (PS 4), R$ 221.95 (Switch, Xbox One)

Feb 2

“Deliver Us Mars”: BRL 52.19 (PC), BRL 159.90 (Xbox One/X/S, PS 4/5)

“Tails: The Backbone Preludes”: price not available (PC)

*Available on Xbox Game Pass

promotion of the week

As the final chapter in Arkane Studios’ “Dishonored” franchise, “Dishonored: Death Of The Outsider” will be available for free on the Epic Games Store from February 2nd to February 9th.

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