Artificial intelligence and its use in games remained a hot topic in the industry at the March Game Developers Conference.Some studios Promote AI-generated NPCs or AI-driven level creationWarcraft franchise director John Hite was a little more conservative.
We spoke to Hight after he spoke at GDC about the past 30 years of Warcraft. He was the one who brought this up. We asked him what he thinks is the most exciting thing happening in the industry right now outside of Blizzard. The answer is he was an AI. But specifically, it’s the kind of AI that game developers have already been using for years, and that is gradually improving and becoming more effective at freeing up developers for creative work. .
“We’ve been using machine learning to help us do things that humans can’t do or are very tedious to do,” he said. “When you put armor on a character, you see how many different characters there are. Our artists build it to fit the human shape, and then we create different body shapes, horns, big noses and tails. That’s not a particularly fun job for them to do. A few years ago, we started using machine learning to do at least 90% of the work for them, and then fine-tune it. I thought, “Can we support machine learning until we can do this?” And we did it. It actually worked really well. This allows you to create more different armor pieces. Artists love it. Because it’s like, “Oh, thank God, he took away the dirty parts of what we were doing.” ”
Of course, that’s not all. Hite talks about how improved NPC AI has allowed WoW to support features like Exile’s Reach. The tutorial zone allows new players who are not familiar with WoW dungeon mechanics to try out dungeons with his NPC support. Blizzard is also working on a new feature called “Delves for The War Within” using similar technology. But critically, Haidt says Blizzard avoids anything generative.
“I am the son of an aeronautical engineer and an artist. My mother was an aeronautical engineer and my father was an artist, so I developed an appreciation for the creative process, for what artists go through in their imaginations. I think the artists on my team are scared that AI will be introduced and take their jobs away, and that their work will be used without permission or credit. We definitely don’t want that. Everyone is sorting it out. It’s a question of rights, a question of how far to use this technology, and we’re not using it. We’re not using WoW. We do not use generation AI within.
Generative AI remains a hot topic in gaming, and Hight’s attention is warranted. Until now, generative AI has been attracted criticism from the players and creator This is due to a mix of ethical issues, rights issues, and AI’s struggle to create content that viewers actually enjoy. For example, Keywords Studios sought to create an experimental game in-house using entirely AI. game failedKeyword tells investors that AI “cannot replace talent.”
We also spoke to Hite about the overall stage of the Warcraft series, including potential plans for future Warcraft movies. My conversation with Hite came after a talk at GDC in which he explained that his current expansion, Dragonflight, is seeing a surge in subscribers after a somewhat modest launch. I made it clear that.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter at IGN. Do you have any story tips? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
