In the ever-evolving landscape of modern video gaming, AI-powered technologies continue to revolutionize the ways in which games are developed and experienced.
The presence and power of AI completely reshaped the entire video game industry in the last decade or so, providing new solutions that streamline the process of video game creation.
Additionally, AI continues to elevate the experience and enjoyment of these games by creating immersive worlds with dynamic environments and lifelike characters.
With all of these remarkable qualities and many others, artificial intelligence emerges as a cornerstone of video game development, making its future impact an interesting point of discussion.
AI helpers and assistance
Third-party assistance
The evolution of AI prompted the creation of numerous apps whose goal is to provide players with a strategic advantage over the opposition.
These applications are primarily used in high-intensity multiplayer games with competitive ranked ladders, where players must constantly elevate their gameplay to stay on top.
AI will greatly help in this field as the development of AI-powered language models enables the creation of responsive in-game helper apps. These AI assistants are designed to help players by providing them with personalized advice that’s tailored to individual player preferences.
Personalized storytelling and gameplay
Dynamic narrative
Implementing AI in video games allows the developers to create dynamic experiences that adapt to your in-game choices and actions in real-time.
Based on the player’s decisions and interactions within the game, AI-driven systems can dynamically adjust the storyline and challenges you encounter.
This allows the future design of unique and rich gameplay experiences that dynamically alter with every playthrough, making these games much more replayable and enjoyable in the long run.
Immersive world
Because of the usage of AI-driven systems, immersive environments in video games can dynamically shape in-game events and quests based on the player’s actions.
A perfect example of such a game would be RDR2 or Witcher 3 in which the entire dynamic of the world surrounding you constantly shifts.
By adding small NPC encounters and side quests that depend on the player’s playthrough, masterpiece video games like these create an ever-engaging in-game experience.
Furthermore, modern releases often have dynamic endings that depend on your decisions and moral standpoints throughout the game, further adding to the existing layer of immersion.
The future is destined to introduce us to even more captivating gameplay with recent releases such as Elden Ring pushing the boundaries of player agency and immersion.
Analytics
In-depth AI analysis
AI algorithms can perform advanced statistical analysis, especially compared to traditional statistical methods.
As a result, artificial intelligence can analyse vast amounts of game-related data, providing in-depth analysis of the best strategies currently accessible.
This led to the creation of numerous third-party apps that aim to improve player performance by leveraging analyzed data.
The benefit of using these apps is knowing what the current optimal meta picks and strategies are, maximizing the statistical likelihood of victory.
NPC behavior
Lifelike NPCs
Saying that AI’s presence and impact are most felt when it comes to the development of NPCs in video games wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
In about a decade, NPCs evolved from being bystanders with a few dialogue options, to meticulously designed in-game characters that are able to dynamically respond to in-game occurrences.
These advanced, human-like NPCs massively contribute to the quality of modern video game immersion, allowing you to breach the gap between your chair and the fantasy world you’re playing in.
Enemy AI
Given that NPCs went through a phase of significant development to become more responsive and lifelike, enemy AI has similarly evolved as well.
When it comes to most games in the early 2000s, the enemies you would face could mostly respond to basic patterns such as movement or targeting, making the enemies somewhat predictable and boring.
Modern video games have revolutionized these adversaries by implementing advanced AI able to respond to dynamic events, with a focus on creating nuanced opponents capable of adapting to player behavior.
Nowadays, modern releases often include some extremely challenging boss fights that test the player’s skills to overcome AI that is designed to adapt and react dynamically.
Graphics
AI-generated art
When it comes to creating breathtaking visual content, AI has proven itself as one of the most powerful tools available to artists and designers, which also applies to the video game industry.
By using AI, video game artists can streamline and dynamically generate content such as textures and character models which speeds up the process of video game creation.
The future promises more usage of AI-generated art techniques such as procedural generation and photorealistic rendering, ensuring that upcoming video game releases continue to blur the line between the game and reality.
Upscaling
In terms of advancing the video game development and their quality, AI largely contributes to the visual department by enhancing the resolution and clarity of graphics in games.
Because of AI upscaling techniques, in-game graphical elements such as character models and the general environment appear sharper and more detailed.
Furthermore, AI upscaling allows developers to breathe life into older video game classics, making the graphics up-to-date with modern standards.
Rendering
By using the power of artificial intelligence, video game designers can use methods such as upscaling techniques to enhance the rendering of images and the overall visual quality.
AI-powered anti-aliasing also contributes to the creation of a less jagged transition, resulting in a smooth visual experience even when a lot is going on the screen.
Additionally, AI can improve the future of real-time optimization by dynamically adjusting the rendering settings based on the user’s hardware capabilities.
Development process
In-game world creation
By harnessing the power of procedural generation, AI algorithms can be used to create entire levels and stages of video games without any human labor.
These systems use mathematical algorithms rather than human design to create diverse game worlds which is extremely time and cost-efficient for game development studios.
AI algorithms that use generative adversarial networks (GANs) can also generate realistic textures and visual models for game environments. This results in less workload for artists and designers while preserving the visual quality of the content.
All of this results in a more streamlined process of video game creation where smaller development teams have the opportunity to create AAA-quality games with the help of AI-generated assets
