The present and future of Artificial Intelligence in Game Development

Before we get onto the future of game development, it is important that we have a good understanding of its past and the present. The journey of game design and development began way back in October 1958 when Physicist William Higinbotham created the first video game ever. It was a primitive tennis game called Pong, which was quite a hit during its time. Ever since then, there has been an impressive rise in the number of games, video game stations, and different gaming genres. That being so, more people showed interest in playing them, and many got strung out on them. Improvements were observed in hardware capacity and the design and development techniques, as a result the game industry has risen with a piecemeal approach. The innovative technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, etc. have contributed to its growth improving the player’s overall video gaming experience. It gives the gamers reasons to develop interest by fulfilling their expectations that they have from a game. By and large, AI software optimizes the development processes involved in game development like animation generation, adding intelligence to non-player characters (NPC), crafting storylines and scenarios for a game, enhancing graphical realism, character customizations, and others.

The present and future of it

Well, speaking of Artificial Intelligence, it is the emulation of human intelligence in machines. And, in the case of game development, its underlying objective is to make video games intelligent. Speaking of the specifics, it provides the games with the ecosystem that supports intelligent game behaviors for non-player characters, and provides smart game control to make the interaction and movement between the game character smarter, and close to reality.

In the coming times, it is predicted that the benefits of Artificial Intelligence on games will continue to grow and will be more positive than not, making games more immersive, realistic, and life-like. Intelligent game behavior will provide attractive features in terms of realistic movement and interactions between game characters and game players.

The avatar or character in a game can communicate with its environment using sensors and actuators and then reacts according to the situation. The coder programs this behavior of the character, and then it further learns on itself by observation and interaction. All of this is possible due to the existence and convergence of IoT and AI. It is Artificial Intelligence that is building a future that is more about personalized gaming. 

You will all agree that every game has a specific set of rules, and it eventually comes down to completing the missions and winning the game. AI in game development will give us a prospective that will be technology-ready as it works with other trending technologies, including Internet of Things, Machine Learning, Big Data, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, and others. 

AI and non-player characters - the duo

Artificial Intelligence is most prominently observed in NPCs. It provides an opportunity to implement intelligent, responsive, and adaptive behavior of independent computer-operated characters called NPC agents (non-player characters) in video games. Pathfinding and behavior & decision trees in modern games steer the actions of NPCs.

Zynga has spent a lot of money on acquisitions until now. It bought 80% of Small Giant Games for $560 million. It acquired Gram Games for $250 million. It bought most of Peak Games for $100 million. And years ago, it bought NaturalMotion for $527 million. All of that activity burned up a lot of the money that Zynga had from its initial public offering in 2011.

Source: VentureBeat - How Zynga looks for the right game companies to acquire

Game development is already a big thing, and big companies are all set to get into this industry considering the future returns it will bring. With AI creating a virtual world that is marvelous for a gaming experience. There are a whole bunch of benefits of artificial intelligence that come along AI game development. At the same time, it reduces the workload of employees by effectively handling developer’s and designer’s tasks by choosing and using the ideal tools for every job. It reduces the game development time and also the time used for content generation. It allows game app developers to construct games like FPS shooting games, racing car games, or strategy games in a shorter period, at a lower budget and reduces the chances of errors. And, AI game development only gets better in the future. For the same reason, Small-scale and Indie game development companies are ready to become bigger players on the mobile game development front soon. There will be challenges too, but technology will be strong enough to address them. 

AI controls the actions of the NPCs (Non-player characters), the characters on the  screen and contributes enormously to give the player an immersive and responsive gaming experience. An adaptive AI can either up the difficulty level or reduce it to make the game challenging or adaptive to the gamer’s playing style. It majorly improves the look and feel of the game.

Game engineers use data analytics to make informed decisions by noting details like how often a player lands in a particular area, what character is being used the most, or what weapons and other items are being used frequently. It is certain that the AI developer’s decision depends majorly on the data analytics of a player’s behavior, game assets, and the environment.

The future is unpredictable, but the games that adopt new technology and create next-level competition make gamers stay. What the human development team could not do alone; AI has made that possible. The future has AI developers for games create video games using the present-day AI techniques at advanced levels to plan strong frameworks inside games. The characters that are now able to self-learn from their actions and evolve thereon. There will exist a game that can interpret and react to your in-game activities, foresee your next move, and act accordingly. AI learns from a player’s wins and losses by identifying where these happen and how they happen. That’s evolution next-level.

The Gaming industry has changed the most with the rise in modern technology, all thanks to Artificial intelligence. There are advanced tools that exist and provide access to in-depth analysis and predictions for a game with the help of AI algorithms that also help with decision-making processes taken for the NPCs in games like Skyrim, Grand Theft Auto, etc., gameplay mechanics, and level design. This, in-turn can change the state of the AI-enabled games in the market. 

Gaming AI is improvising with time using the data and AI techniques provided. It goes without saying that in the coming 10 to 20 years, game app developers and experts will be able to create virtual worlds. It will present the gamers with difficult situations to test their mental capabilities, and they will be able to perform any action in the virtual world that they could perform in the real world. 

To the best of my knowledge, Artificial Intelligence technology is giving players an immense scope to build and experiment with artificial intelligence robots, vehicles, weapons, ammunition, and extraordinary free-form crafting tools. AI will have the most impact on gaming that others. There lies the great scope for enhancing the virtual characters in the gaming world. Making the characters more immersive, the character’s behavior more realistic are the possibilities of advancement.

Logic Simplified is one such company in Dehradun that is a leading Artificial Intelligence game design company with knowledge, skills, and expertise to craft games that are made to stay in the market. Their high-octane and brilliant game developers employ technologies in unique and exciting ways to personalize a player’s gaming experience and provide interactive entertainment.