Clever Use Of AI Tools Could Be Meritorious For Game Development Cycles

It was the internet that once brought a world-encompassing tech revolution, and this time, it’s AI, for better or worse. You may have your reasons for hating this AI boom, and all of them might be valid, but it’s undeniable that it has transformed our daily lives. The conventional method of surfing the internet is slowly becoming tedious for today’s generation. Why conduct an in-depth search when you can just ask ChatGPT?

Some might say that this over-reliance on AI has killed all innovation and creative thinking, and I’ll 100% agree with them. But wait a moment, what if there’s a silver lining to these growing AI tools? What if they can be used as a means to complement conventional methods and create a hybrid, efficient system? Let’s discuss the impact of this AI craze on the gaming industry and explore its implications.

Promote Ingenious Use, Not A Shortcut

Before I begin, I should mention that this is a highly sensitive topic in the game development industry, and I’ll surely attract a lot of animosity, but I implore you to look at it objectively. I’m never saying AI stealing people’s jobs is a good thing, and that we should use it in place of human input. I’m simply trying to suggest its value as a tool and how it could be beneficial to speed things up.

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byu/KorunaCorgi from discussion
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Before we start bashing AI tools for creating soulless work and introducing people to shortcuts, I’ll just say that nothing is inherently evil; it’s the use that makes it so. It was the same for the internet when it first came along, and now AI.

When it comes to game development, I believe AI tools can be invaluable in shortening the development time. However, this strictly doesn’t mean getting everything from AI and calling it a day. Since AI art cannot adhere to a perfect script and consistently generates irregular content, games featuring AI art will often feel hollow and soulless. But that’s called misuse.

What about using these tools to hasten the tedious process? AI content can’t replace human talent, but it sure can help that human output their best by dropping some of their load. Instead of doing everything from scratch, AI tools can be used to quickly form a base, while the developers make sure it stays consistent and creative. An AI logo generator can be used alongside human input to help the marketing process; just an example.

The Sad State Of AAA Development Cycles

This discussion becomes even more relevant and a little less controversial when you look at the sorry state of affairs of AAA development times. In a time when budgets and scopes of games have expanded to infinity, accompanied by an equally ridiculous development time, people are desperate for any ray of hope to speed up the process.

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I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have a little AI content to get a game in 2 years than wait 5+ years for it. It’s still better than having nothing for years on end. You’re awfully aware how long Star Citizen is taking to become the form promised to us a decade ago. Where’s Sony’s long-awaited Marvel’s Wolverine? I am patiently waiting for that game ever since that one glimpse 5 years ago, and my patience is wearing thin now.

What if a company uses an AI image generator to get a general idea of what to create, and then dedicates time to perfecting it, rather than consuming that time on the brainstorming process? How about making enemies more intelligent and react differently to each player, on a larger scale than the Nemesis system? If a creative implementation of generative AI can cut development times, I’m all up for it.

A United Front With AI Tools

Before I conclude, I’ll again say that what I’m trying to promote is using AI to speed up human work and eliminate the tedious steps of the development procedure, not do it all with AI to create a soulless product. If the workload is relieved for the developers, their creativity will blossom more. Technological advancements like AI will keep coming in the future; we need to find a way to integrate and manipulate them to our advantage.

Instead of continuing to frown upon the use of AI, let’s separate creative use and misuse. AI is not to be used as a shortcut or a way to escape work — It can be a powerful tool in the right hands. Human input is not and will not be replaceable, that’s a given. But since a handy tool is available to speed things up, why not use it? If these lengthy game development cycles can be shortened even a little bit, I’d say it’s worth a try.