Game development has come a long way since the first ever game created using an oscilloscope and an analog computer in 1958. From motion capturing to ray tracing, game development nowadays uses a variety of technologies to create more realistic and interactive games.
However, relying on technology alone cannot produce a good game as there should be immersion and entertainment in a game so that players will keep playing it. As an AI model, ChatGPT is going to add a huge advantage to the game development process as the latest realization in this never-ending thirst for an ultimate gaming experience.
ChatGPT is a language model that can understand the context and generate relevant responses. It can add more to game development by helping streamline the game development process and in just gameplay alone. It can reduce the time spent on coding and help generate new ideas and game designs. Listed below are just some of its usages in game development.
Creating character dialogue
NPCs (non-player characters) of a game are what gives a game a sense of traffic and crowd. While NPCs that players interact with to progress the game, are given life by voice actors and have many different dialogues, other NPCs that players don’t have to interact with to progress the game may not have as many dialogue options. ChatGPT can revolutionize games by simply enhancing player interactions with NPCs. This will enable the player to have more lengthy and meaningful conversations with NPCs rather than pre-programmed sentences. A perfect example of this is the modding community of the popular open-world game, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Soon after ChatGPT was released for the public, a mod was introduced to the game by modders that gives NPCs a memory and endless things to say, which enables players to have conversations with any NPC in the game. The mod uses ChatGPT with another text-to-speech tool that lets players use their own voice using a microphone to interact with NPCs. Players could then interact with NPCs in a way that was never seen before, giving them the opportunity to have unlimited interactions with even the most irrelevant NPCs.
Enhance game design
The overall design of the game is what makes players keep playing the game. The gameplay mechanisms, level design, character development, in-game achievements and many more aspects need to be considered when designing a unique and entertaining game. ChatGPT can be used to generate new game mechanics and levels consistent with the game’s overall aesthetics by training it on a collection of existing game mechanisms.
Develop NPCs
Usually in a large open world game, where there are sceneries with a lot of people like villages and towns, the same character models are used repeatedly because modelling different characters for each and every in-game character is difficult and costly. These character models usually have the same set of limited dialogue responses when interacted with, and in some cases, may even have the same attire and the same move sets. While in a large open world game players are less likely to notice the similarities, most players generally understand the reasoning behind the redundant usage of character model resources. But ChatGPT can be used to generate more realistic NPCs that have unique personalities and behaviors rather than using the same character models, giving them unique interactions with the players.
Write game lore
The story arc of a game is particularly important to keep players engaged in the game. It is what drives players to keep coming back. ChatGPT can be used to write the lore and backstory of the game and its characters, tie in quests and places, to create a more detailed and immersive gaming experience for players.
Personalize gaming experience
Games are created for a large group of players. While some games offer varied gameplay experiences through choice-based quests and outcomes, all these are pre-programmed instances. ChatGPT as an AI model can be used to analyze player characteristics, play styles, and behaviors to personalize gameplay for each individual player. It can even be in the means of quest outcomes, dialogue choices, and many other gameplay aspects.
Improve customer support
Many games are released on more than one platform and through numerous gaming clients and because of that, issues and bugs in games are not uncommon and it is inevitable that players encounter these. So, game developers can often receive a large volume of support requests. Since players can have different gaming setups and platforms, these issues can vary from simple software issues to serious hardware issues. In some cases, resolving such cases can take many days. And if the support request volume is large, simply addressing the issue can take up to several days. ChatGPT can be used to provide a more engaging method of dealing with these situations rather than the standard customer support procedure. Game developers can enable virtual assistants or simple chat bots that will understand each request and respond accordingly to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
In conclusion, it is safe to say that with the integration of ChatGPT, the gaming industry has opened up many exciting possibilities, which will surely transform the gaming landscape, especially as in the modern era of gaming with technologies such as AR and VR, gamers are always on the lookout for unique gaming experiences that they have not seen before and ChatGPT can provide exactly that. The immersion and engagement video games provide is surely about reach unprecedented levels.
SOURCE: Karunathilaka P. (2024,Mar14). ChatGpt: A Game-Changer In Game Development. IFS Blog. https://blog.ifs.com/2024/03/chatgpt-a-game-changer-in-game-development/
