TECHNOLOGY // AI | BUILD AUTOMATIC GAME DESIGN
AI ISN’T JUST being used to develop realistic characters and challenging foes, it’s also making games. At least that’s what computer scientist Mike Cook is experimenting with, and he’s developed an AI system known as Angelina. Originally developed to solve specific technical problems, Cook later moved his focus to the world of video games designer. “Over time I’ve moved much more into computational creativity, and now Angelina’s primary focus is becoming more like a designer – owning its ideas, relating them to the real world, interacting with the games community,” he says. “It’s been quite a shift but I’m very happy with where the project is going.”
But how could such technology be useful to developers? Cook hopes such an AI system can help designers create levels in future, as well as teach new programmers how to craft richly details game worlds.
showing the way and they didn’t need next-gen hardware to do it.”
Mazars believes the new generation of games consoles offer an opportunity to develop more engaging enemies that can be used by developers in more interesting and unique ways. He explains that an AI designer’s job is not to create NPCs smarter than the player – similar to Zielinski’s earlier assertions about hitting a peak in AI – but to offer a more exciting way to engage with game characters and friends. Experiencing the seemingly serendipitous string of quests in Skyrim or the early Fable titles could be one indication. “What you will notice is not harder-to-beat enemies but a more progressive level of difficulty throughout the game, with NPCs adapted to your learning curve,” says Mazars. “This improvement of AI will be a significant step forward for the player, offering a more progressive gameplay without those typical demotivating stages in the games when starting a new level. “For sure, with a new hardware performance boost, and the distributed computing architecture of online games, AI will be more powerful, and we will be able to run more NPCs simultaneously. This will undoubtedly open up new game opportunities. But, to make sense for the player, we think this trend has to be continued, and conducted simultaneously with a better integration of AI in the creative process and the huge contribution of game designers to AI development. And this change has already begun.” Klein believes AI is becoming one of the most important aspects of any game, and says being better integrated into that creative process and becoming a central part of the emergent experience is the next step for AI. “The biggest challenge for AI in games is adapting how we think of it and how we use it to drive user experience,” he says. “The traditional view is that AI fills in the gaps of our virtual worlds characters and creatures that we interact with through pretty simple mechanisms. Rival Theory’s perspective is that characters in games are at least as important as the games themselves, and that we should be doing more to enhance interaction and gameplay through them.”
“Angelina can look at a task without the same kinds of presuppositions that human designers often have, which I think could become a really valuable tool one day,” he states. “I also think Angelina might be a good companion for new designers one day, to help them learn the basics of programming, level design, event triggers and so on, by offering a guiding hand.”
Cook adds that after years of development, the next step for Angelina is more creativity and independence, needing less hand-holding when making its own games, like its platforming title A Puzzling Present.
Soon it won’t be acceptable to wait
a year or two while AI programmers build all the systems.
Matthew Jack, Moon Collider
One of the biggest new challenges facing the development of smart AI, says Jack, is the changing nature of how some titles are made. Games on Steam Early Access, for example, will require at least some form of clever AI opponents and companions early on in alpha stage to keep players entertained and happy, even when on the understanding that the game is yet to be finished.
INTELLIGENT FUTURE Developers are building increasingly bigger worlds too, with sprawling MMOs such as Star Wars: The Old Republic and the Cloud Imperium’s upcoming space sim Star Citizen, which features mile-long ships and spans dozens of solar systems. “It’s always been fast-paced and iterative, but there’s a push towards involves players earlier and earlier in the process, shorter development cycles and responding to feedback quickly. At the same time, ambitions for game design are only growing,” he explains.
“Soon it won’t be acceptable for a designer to wait a year or two while AI programmers build all the systems to support their vision, before he can try out his ideas. But that’s generally how it’s done. AI programmers have few existing libraries or tools to draw upon, apart from what can be re-used from previous projects.
“More creativity and independence,” he says. “I hope Angelina will soon be generating game mechanics again inside Unity, and maybe taking steps to being less dependent on me for inspiration and direction. I’m also hoping to give Angelina the ability to commission other people for art and music. That’s a secret project in the planning stages for now though.”
“That’s part of how we see Kythera – developers benefiting from the features developed for other games. AI programmers have to ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’ to keep up with design and build towards those grand visions.”
But despite the challenge, Jack sees these changes as an opportunity for developers to offer new experiences, and offers leading examples from indies and triple-A studios who are bringing the focus back to gameplay innovation, rather than simply trying to dazzle with stunning visuals. “We’re seeing more games where innovative AI techniques are fundamental to the design, like The Last of Us and the Assassin’s Creed series,” he says. “It will be the interactive crowds, the playful wildlife, the companion characters that will wow future players. “And after that, it’s taking a much more active involvement in the complex and ever evolving worlds of MMOs, such as Star Citizen. Making AI fully-fledged citizens of these worlds is going to be the next frontier.”
JUNE 2014 | 45
The Last of Us and BioShock Infinite (far left) both exhibited stand AI companion’s that generated strong reactions from players
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