Vaudeville, a game made (almost) entirely with AI (plus a link to a demo)

[ZedClampet]

Was going to update the demo thread when I came across this, a game made almost entirely using AI. I played the demo, and it's kind of interesting but unpolished. It is a murder mystery, and you can talk to the characters in game using either your microphone or by typing. It does a very solid job, if not absolutely perfect, of having the characters carry on conversations. It had no problems recognizing what I was saying, either. I did not try to trick it. I stayed in character as a detective, but when I asked something the characters didn't know about, they did a good job of skirting around it.

There's no doubt this is the future of game development and character interaction, in which relevant dialogue is created on the fly. They still have a way to go, though, as this feels very unpolished, so far as gameplay goes. There is very little in the way of pointing you to a starting position, for instance, but it is fascinating nevertheless.

@mainer I'm tagging because he has previously expressed an interest in these kinds of character interactions.

Here's a link to the demo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2240920/Vaudeville/

 

[mainer]

@mainer I'm tagging because he has previously expressed an interest in these kinds of character interactions.

Thanks, I marked it to "follow" and put it on my wishlist so that I could keep track of it as it's interesting to see the early iterations of the AI use in games. I think will definitely see more attempts like this in the years to come, and the more game developers work with it, the more refined it will become.

 

[Brian Boru]

the future of game development and character interaction, in which relevant dialogue is created on the fly

Game dev as a whole, no, not soon—but dialog on the fly and other unscripted interaction, that should be interesting.

Nice find

 

[ZedClampet]

Game dev as a whole, no, not soon—but dialog on the fly and other unscripted interaction, that should be interesting.

Nice find

I never said that, but as far as AI can go, it will be used. It will be used for every aspect of game development within 5 years. I would bet my life on it and not lose a second of sleep about it. Will every game be 100 percent AI produced? Of course not. But non-AAA games (which are 99.99 plus percent of games) will use it for just about everything, and sometimes even everything. Games by AAA developers will have much more human involvement, but even those will see a continuous shift to using more and more AI.

This isn't really debatable. It's simply the way things are going to be. Saying otherwise is like saying that color television will never catch on because the shift is already under way.

 

[BumblebeeStudios]

Hi!
It's Simone from Bumblebee Studios. Thank you for your interest in our game!
The demo that is available and that you have played reflects a very early stage of the development, and its goal is mostly to show the interactions with the characters rather than the gameplay.
If you have any questions or suggestions about the game, please let us know. We really appreciate any kind of feedback.
Bye.

 

[Brian Boru]

It's Simone from Bumblebee Studios

Welcome to the forum

Thanks for the clarification. I must confess I haven't played your demo yet—I downloaded it after Zed's tip, but it's languished since. Soon…

 

[BumblebeeStudios]

Welcome to the forum

Thank you!

Thanks for the clarification. I must confess I haven't played your demo yet—I downloaded it after Zed's tip, but it's languished since. Soon…

No problem. If your game queue looks like mine, I know it's hard to find the time to test everything.
But I suggest checking this one out if you have some spare time because I am sure this is a game-changer and will set the trend for many others to come. There are also some videos of people testing it on Youtube and Twitch if you prefer.

The dialogues are generated on the fly, but the story must be established, and the characters have to be scripted meticulously to avoid that they just start telling made-up stories that have nothing to do with (or worse, contradict) the plot or that they give away the solution of the case directly when asked, so there's still a human core inside the machine-generated content

 

[BumblebeeStudios]

Hi again!
I just wanted to inform you that Vaudeville is soon hitting Early Access. On June 30th, we will release a completely playable version of the game on Steam.
Those who want to play the game on VR or on another platform than Windows will have to wait a bit more (it works pretty well on the Steam Deck though, as long as you use the microphone input and not the onscreen keyboard).
By the way, today marks the beginning of the Steam Next Fest and Vaudeville will be there with a couple of streamings and the latest demo version. Come and say hi!

 

[Frag Maniac]

Hi!
It's Simone from Bumblebee Studios. Thank you for your interest in our game!
The demo that is available and that you have played reflects a very early stage of the development, and its goal is mostly to show the interactions with the characters rather than the gameplay.
If you have any questions or suggestions about the game, please let us know. We really appreciate any kind of feedback.
Bye.

Is the AI development the reason for the somewhat stiff, almost robotic sounding voices? I had to stop watching the trailer because of that, just felt too fake.

 

[BumblebeeStudios]

Is the AI development the reason for the somewhat stiff, almost robotic sounding voices? I had to stop watching the trailer because of that, just felt too fake.

I understand why you might think the dialogues in the game sound fake, but that's because they are actually generated in real-time by a text-to-speech algorithm. Although it is quite advanced, it can still sound a bit robotic. However, the technology is improving rapidly, and we plan to upgrade it as soon as possible.

Just to clarify, there is no 'AI development' involved in this game. Vaudeville is entirely crafted by humans. We simply use AI and other technologies to achieve results that would not be possible otherwise.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Just to clarify, there is no 'AI development' involved in this game. Vaudeville is entirely crafted by humans. We simply use AI and other technologies to achieve results that would not be possible otherwise.

I meant AI development specifically in a humans using AI tools sense, nothing more.

 

[BumblebeeStudios]

Hi again! Vaudeville is now available on Steam and Epic Games Store.
The initial two days have yielded favourable results in terms of both sales and the reception from the players.
We have a Discord channel where we discuss the game. Join if you'd like to participate: https://discord.com/invite/2scPgBMkaq

 

[Pifanjr]

Are you worried about possible copyright issues with the use of AI? Especially now that Steam seems to have started cracking down on AI generated art:

Valve is scrutinizing games with AI assets on Steam, says avoiding copyright violation 'is the developer's responsibility'

There's no full, formal policy as of yet, but Steam's boundaries are starting to materialize.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[BumblebeeStudios]

I don't see why I should be worried. I don't use AI to create art or content, except for some images in the title sequence that will probably be replaced in a later version (and which, as far as I know, bear no resemblance to any existing work).
All the content in my game is original; the only thing that is entirely AI-driven are the dialogues, which are based on an original script I wrote, and then created in real time.
The article refers to some isolated cases in which the AI-generated content was blatantly (and probably purposefully) infringing copyrights. There is no official statement or guideline from Steam that forbids the use of AI in its entirety. Moreover, the game has already gone through their quality revision process with no remarks, and it would be a total foul play on their side to change that decision later after so much time, money, and effort have been put into the project.
I guess that if they happened to find something that they deemed inappropriate, they would contact me and ask me to fix it, and I would gladly comply. If that still would not work, there are many other ways to distribute games besides Steam. The game is already on Epic Games and Itch.io; GOG, Xbox and others are available, and we can also sell it on our website. From the feedback we have received so far, we know that people want to play Vaudeville; they like it and are buying it. We would just redirect them to the other distribution channels.

 

[Brian Boru]

Congrats on the final release, and best of luck with it

 

[BumblebeeStudios]

Congrats on the final release, and best of luck with it

Thank you!

 

[BumblebeeStudios]

Dropping some Steam keys for Vaudeville. First come, first served. Have fun!

QAVC4-3J8WF-V4G0P
8HDKE-I9TNC-YVW6V
0XICE-PHTWC-G9CD3

I'll be dropping another batch or two soon, to avoid people hoarding them.

 

[BumblebeeStudios]

97NQ7-H23EP-7YQQR
K95G6-8ITL8-3JK7Y
Q7LN8-D3M74-FQY9I

 

[Brian Boru]

Thank you, much appreciated

 

[BumblebeeStudios]

Thank you, much appreciated

No problem
And here is the third and final batch:

I8HFN-8HM4N-3M7BG
EVEBX-Z8Y9L-409XX
EQ528-XAXVF-V2TIL
XKAT4-T0M9R-HP6TM
08J8Q-IFNH5-4MQZQ

Don't forget to leave a review on Steam and join the Discord server to give feedback about the early access: https://discord.com/invite/2scPgBMkaq

 

[BumblebeeStudios]

Hello guys!
I just wanted to give you an update about the game, since you were one of the first communities to talk about it and give it your support: IT'S GOING GREAT, above all expectations, actually. More than 2000 copies sold and 8000 wishlists this week, a vibrant community of 380 users on our Discord server, and features from a multitude of world-famous streamers, most notably MoistCr1tikal, who has been playing, enjoying and recommending the game extensively.
Thanks again for your early support!

 

[Brian Boru]

IT'S GOING GREAT

Wonderful, that's great news!

And thanks for the update