An interesting point in the news (courtesy of wccftech) this week was made by Cliff Bleszinski (Cliffy B) of Unreal Tournament and Gears of War fame and more recently the co-founder of Boss Key Productions.
During industry conference Reboot Develop 2017, Cliff took to the stage and put forward his view that ‘AAA games’ cost too much to make and the development of such games are a ‘nearly unsustainable’ model, his reasoning behind this is based on a number of points
Is the future of artificial intelligence in video games playing out in a cyberpunk ramen bar? Tech companies would like you to think so, but game writers aren't so sure.
From witnessing countless ai generated articles and content it's clear ai is not very creative and often produces nothing but word soup so I'd like to keep ai away from storyline or side quests as much as possible
Where does ai have a place I think ai can be used effectively in upscaling technology or the remastering process for older games touching up assert etc however it must be done with human supervision ala GTA trilogy where it was used but clearly not vetted before being included in the game
I mean the core issue with AI is exactly what it's substituting. Generating visual art is a perfect example of this. Currently, if you want to use AI to generate anything short of a background, you are going to deal with numerous drawbacks. From anatomy issues in humans and animals to completely broken fonts for logos and visibly recycled styles.
But when it comes to writing, things are a bit messy. There are indeed extremely talented writers out there working on video games. But there are also a lot of them who really aren't, and we all know it. Take games like the recent Suicide Squad or Starfield; those game scripts could very well have been done by AI.
Another issue with AI writers that is often pointed out is the ludonarrative issue. Basically, AI, by its very nature, wouldn't be able to write within the context of the game mechanics and scenarios, which would lead to a lot of ludonarrative problems and break immersion. However, against that argument, one need not look further than The Last of Us Part II. That game is a embodiment of ludonarrative issues and is still considered by many as one of the best games and game stories out there, so it's clear that for the majority of the market, that would not be an issue.
So AI, with all its limitations right now, probably wouldn't hurt game stories as much as the writers would like gamers to believe. I doubt that it would improve what we have now, but given what we have now, I also doubt that it would be measurably worse.
As it stands right now, AI is really good at taking existing concepts that a human imagines and then organizing them into a coherent story. You still need creativity, but I think having a "room of writers" is probably no longer necessary. So in that regard AI is taking jobs. For instance, let's say I provide AI with a number of characters and what their personalities are. I might say, (if making a murder mystery) the Butler who seems like the protagonist is actually the killer. If you try this, AI will do a pretty fantastic job of writing dialogue between characters that would lead you, as the reader, not to suspect who the killer is. Normally a writer works with other writers and breaks a story down into parts where the characters motives start as unclear and then progressively become revealed. AI does a really nice job with foreshadowing also. You can also tell AI to incorporates symbolism, and misdirection. TLDR; I'll never not use AI when writing a story. It's just a tool that when used properly will make good writing great.
The release of more high-flyers like Palworld and Helldivers 2 could save game spending from dropping to 10% in 2024, predicts an analyst.
"gamescom latam 2024 is getting closer. The Latin American edition of the biggest games event in the world will have a grand opening show, gamescom latam countdown 2024." - gamescom latam.
This is actually nothing new; back when NES was still 'the thing' companies tried to debate making lower budget games as a "start" for some companies, and to prove some projects cost more than they're worth. To try to make 'AA' games instead of AAA just means to make games the fans want to play instead of flooding the market with trash just to 'get it out there.'
There's a lot of lower budget games I had more fun playing because they were made by gamers, for gamers; not games made by businessmen with dollar signs in their eyes. Some games you can tell were made for the sole purpose of getting sales, while some you can tell were made by people who actually know how to make a good game with a limited budget. I'd rather support a lower end company who knows how to make good games over a high profile company who "used" to make good games.
If companies want to make money off gaming, hire gamers, we know what works and doesn't work; not people with high grades in college and think with their pockets.