Will AI Take Over Game Development?

There's a new player in the job market for game developers. AI tools are becoming more common in several aspects of software development, and games aren't exceptions. However, while some professionals see AI tools with optimism, others fear those tools can steal their jobs. Will AI ever be that good, though?

Fast Learners

Artificial intelligence and natural talent have been working in the gaming industry for a while. The first video games already used AI to control NPC (non-playable characters), such as the ghosts in Pac-Man. A few decades later, this technology is threatening the jobs artists, writers, and game developers might very well be on the way, with automated management and development of online casino games, for instance.

Artificial intelligence has taken great strides recently and is much more refined, often delivering astonishing results. Generative AI can create a painting, write a poem, and create the plot for a new movie; the possibilities are limitless. This kind of artificial intelligence can analyse complex situations, react accordingly, and create new things from scratch, and the results are getting very convincing.

This Girl Doesn't Exist

If you're wondering when an AI will ever be able to create a game on its own, don't worry: it's already happening. The game "This Girl Doesn't Exist", released by Steam, was completely created and developed from machine learning AI, including graphics, plotlines, and voices.

It's a puzzle game where you collect different characters while solving problems. Each character you unlock has additional features that affect the gameplay. It might not be a masterpiece, but it's amazing that software can handle the creation of an entire game alone. Or can it?

There was a lot of human intervention in the software that created the game. There are algorithms to develop different parts of a game automatically. Meanwhile, human developers manage the whole project. It doesn't mean this technology isn't evolving fast, though. Indeed, it's already performing creative tasks once exclusive to human professionals.

Fast Creators

Mike Cook, a researcher and game designer at King's College in London, has created an artificial intelligence named ANGELINA. According to Cook, ANGELINA can create games with little to no human intervention.

ANGELINA uses a process called "evolutionary computation", which allows the software to learn from previous tasks. It creates games randomly at first. However, it tests the game repeatedly and creates new ones based on the experience of the first attempt.

ANGELINA even participated in a game development competition. Every participant should submit a new game; ANGELINA created two. One of the games was presented as made only by AI, while a human developer signed the other to compare how both would perform.

The game "To The Sect" was "signed" by ANGELINA and impressed everybody with its capabilities. The game signed by a human developer was much more harshly rated, ending in 551st place. It seems that players and judges expected much more from a human developer since the same AI developed both games.

Working Along

Indeed, artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms have unprecedented refinement in content creation. However, they're unable to create compelling games yet; we still need human creators. Instead of having computers doing all the work, gaming studios might use those tools to aid human developers in the creative process.

Fully automation of game development is already possible, but it's not desirable. The final results still lack realistic human interactions between characters, for instance. So, big names in this industry are more likely to invest top dollar in AI and machine learning tools to help their teams than replacing all humans in the game development department.