(Opinion) Game development is about to change dramatically, get much cheaper and faster...

(And I have to point out that this is happening exactly when publishers are raising their prices)

So what got me thinking about this is that I subscribed to Photoshop. Photoshop has a lot of new AI features; for instance, it has neural filters that allow it to completely change a portrait or really any picture with a person in it. You can adjust that person's happiness, and it changes their expression. You can set levels of surprise and anger. You can mix and match all three to create any expression you can think of. You can change where the person is looking, both by changing the direction the head is facing and by moving their eyes. This isn't perfect. It's a first step. Every now and then the AI produces a monstrosity and you have to undo it, reset the AI, etc. But you can use this to animate faces if you are dedicated enough.

Another feature that is in beta is simply the AI as artist. You can type in a phrase stating what kind of a picture you want, and the AI produces a photo-realistic image that matches your description. Want a handgliding brown bear crossing over an active volcano on Mars? Seconds later it will give you that picture, and it will look amazing. Also, the AI can handle art direction, using a matching theme for any new art creations. This is only one step away from producing a 3d work with 3d models.

I also found a recent article about an AI that had been taught to code, but let's stick to the art for now.

Who thinks developers and publishers won't use this? Surely no one. They are already pumping out remasters and even a remake that was almost entirely done by AI. If it were available to you and you could type in "massive cyberpunk city with an emphasis on verticality and people movers" and then have this city created right before your eyes, you'd probably use it. The alternative would be 100 artists, constantly supervised, working for months or even years.

There's simply no doubt that this is coming and will be in place within a few years. What will some of the consequences of this be? Vastly reduced development time and cost. Decentralization of AAA gaming (anyone with access to this technology will be able to make a AAA quality game). Huge amounts of jobs lost at AAA companies, but huge growth of the indie development scene, Unseemly, historical profits at AAA companies. Possibly better games, as developers can concentrate on high level ideas and planning and indie developers are given the keys to phenomenal tech. The potential to put game development into the hands of players.

Obviously, that's not a comprehensive list. New tech tends to have unimagined consequences.

So what are your thoughts on this? We're at the door that leads to some very exciting times for gamers and developers, but there could be a lot of growing pains along the way (see some of these AI remasters as an example).
 
While you are 100% correct about the technology existing and improving, we've been hearing about robots/AI taking over 'our' jobs for decades now. Is it actually going to happen? Maybe so. In my lifetime (I'm 30)? I doubt it. Will this technology and future iterations of it be implemented into our hobbies? Inevitably. But I don't think there's cause for alarm on the front of losing human jobs in the industry, at least on a mass scale, just yet.

I will say that I see $70 becoming the new norm for AAA releases within the next year, mainly because some publishers have seen that people are definitely willing to fork out that kind of money.
 
I can see rapid progress in art and music AI, but not in coding. We've had AI coding for over 20 years, and while it's improved in that timeframe, it'll be a long time before it can approach complex problem solving.

Re the indie revolution, what will the cost of such AI be? I doubt it'll be cheap enough for most indies, apart from the art & music side of it.

AAAs are due to consolidate in the next 2-3 years. Those which are left will probably shift any cost savings into heavier marketing—they will need to if you're right about indies having a lower barrier to entry.

There will be room for all to grow tho, there's still oodles of room for the market to continue growing—perhaps after an imminent plateau while the Covid-induced surge subsides.
 
I think it's awesome. I used to be a hobbyist programmer. Haven't done it for a few years, but I really enjoyed programming and making simple games. My biggest problem was that I had no interest in doing the artwork. I just wanted to code. So if I had AI to do some quality artwork for me, that would be a dream.

The biggest problem with what you're talking about is probably the price hurdle. I'm sure it would cost a fortune to pay for the AI software to do this stuff for you. So unfortunately, the people who would benefit the most from this are probably the least likely to be able to use it.
 
with all of the A.I advancement stuff going on in the past 2 years it's honestly amazing. 😁

But I don't think tons of jobs will be lost just yet, if anything production can be maybe more streamlined, but what probably worries people recently are artists, because of DallE2 and similar AIs

anyway, I get myregular A.I news fix from the channel TwoMinutePapers... check the dude out. 😉

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Pf9lCFi4E
 
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we've been hearing about robots/AI taking over 'our' jobs for decades now. Is it actually going to happen? Maybe so. In my lifetime (I'm 30)? I doubt it.
The thing is that it will eventually happen, 100 percent chance, and I think it's finally here. That thing you've been hearing about for decades? The reason it never happened is because the tech wasn't advanced enough. Very, very soon it will be. AI advancement right now is astronomically fast because the AI is teaching itself. That's what everyone in this thread is overlooking. The AI of 6 months from now will be vastly superior to today's AI because it is learning at supercomputer speeds.
 
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if i recall, GTA remastered used AI to process some of the textures etc. Unfortunately the results were a bit lackluster in places. But in theory its potentially an effective method of processing textures ( Machines operate 24/7 and programmed properly, remove the human factor- people can be falliable etc).

of course... it all depends on the coding etc. its still early days. But its becoming more prevalent in work. Machine learning is a double edged sword, for example if you have 100s of CVs you could just make the machine search for key words and just make it return the cvs that match the search criteria. AWS Comprehend makes AI scan photos for faces in a crowd, other tools allow you to transcribe/translate/dictate voice/texts. For questionnaires, you could use it to tally results based on key words.
 
The thing is that it will eventually happen, 100 percent chance, and I think it's finally here. That thing you've been hearing about for decades? The reason it never happened is because the tech wasn't advanced enough. Very, very soon it will be. AI advancement right now is astronomically fast because the AI is teaching itself. That's what everyone in this thread is overlooking. The AI of 6 months from now will be vastly superior to today's AI because it is learning at supercomputer speeds.
But my question still applies. Will it be available for normal people like me to use at a low price?
 
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The thing is that it will eventually happen, 100 percent chance, and I think it's finally here. That thing you've been hearing about for decades? The reason it never happened is because the tech wasn't advanced enough. Very, very soon it will be. AI advancement right now is astronomically fast because the AI is teaching itself. That's what everyone in this thread is overlooking. The AI of 6 months from now will be vastly superior to today's AI because it is learning at supercomputer speeds.
Exactly, just like the YouTuber that reports on AI tech: Two Minute Papers always says, "its just two more papers down the line" 😉
Also, I tend to believe that each AI nowadays is a baby, but is also hundreds to thousands of years old at the same time...
Like this video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kV-rZZw50Q



I do technical drawings on AutoCAD as my job. AI hasn't replaced me yet but I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 years it was all done by AI with a junior role used to check all the drawings.
Indeed, just like how GitHub has a coding assistant AI, a checker AI for things like AutoCAD drawings would be beneficial for efficiency...

But my question still applies. Will it be available for normal people like me to use at a low price?
It would be probably later when tech, or hardware would be cheaper, just like how old computers used to cost a small fortune and grow cheaper over time, the market just needs to mature enough with enough AI companies competing. 😎
 
if i recall, GTA remastered used AI to process some of the textures etc. Unfortunately the results were a bit lackluster in places. But in theory its potentially an effective method of processing textures ( Machines operate 24/7 and programmed properly, remove the human factor- people can be falliable etc).
When I read topic I thought of that game. The tech needs more attention, not just used as a way to reduce costs. GTA remasters have so many other flaws that the AI art was easily overlooked in it. If it was impossible to tell apart from an actual artist then it will make things better.
 
if i recall, GTA remastered used AI to process some of the textures etc. Unfortunately the results were a bit lackluster in places. But in theory its potentially an effective method of processing textures ( Machines operate 24/7 and programmed properly, remove the human factor- people can be falliable etc).

of course... it all depends on the coding etc. its still early days. But its becoming more prevalent in work. Machine learning is a double edged sword, for example if you have 100s of CVs you could just make the machine search for key words and just make it return the cvs that match the search criteria. AWS Comprehend makes AI scan photos for faces in a crowd, other tools allow you to transcribe/translate/dictate voice/texts. For questionnaires, you could use it to tally results based on key words.
When I read topic I thought of that game. The tech needs more attention, not just used as a way to reduce costs. GTA remasters have so many other flaws that the AI art was easily overlooked in it. If it was impossible to tell apart from an actual artist then it will make things better.
huh, I suddenly remembered this "High Polygon Remaster" post in r/gaming with 160k+ upvotes of the GTA remaster being lazy with AI and whatnot.



View: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/quszkv/increasing_poly_count_doesnt_always_make_sense/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

and then, even after that, as usal modders were the one's that just had to save the day with "unofficial bugfixes" 🤣
986069-TuffNutFix-GTA-SA-DE-1.jpg
 

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