Imagine a world where game creation is accessible to everyone, where complex programming gives way to simple descriptions. Does it sound like fantasy? Perhaps, but the future of game development is increasingly aligned with this concept thanks to the advancement of artificial intelligence. We are standing on the cusp of a revolution, where routine coding is replaced by “description-driven games,” and inspiration comes from… a meme.
Specifically, this very meme that embodies the dream of many gamers:
Hello. I, Kirill. I would like you to make a game, a 3D action game, the essence of which is this… The user can play as forest elves, palace guards, and a villain. And if the user plays as elves, then the elves are in the forest, wooden houses are raiding and bending palace soldiers and villains. You can rob caravans… And since the elf is a forest one, make the forest dense… And the engine can be set up so that the trees in the distance are pictures, when you approach, they are transformed into 3D trees[1]. You can buy and so on, like in Daggerfall. And the enemies are 3D too, and the corpse is also 3D. You can jump, etc. If you play as the palace guard, you must obey the commander, and defend the palace from the evil (name I have not come up with) and spies, partisan elves, and go on raids on one of these (elves, the evil one…). Well, if you are the evil one… then spies or partisan elves sometimes attack, the user himself is the commander, he can do whatever he wants, order his troops with himself to attack the palace and go on the attack. There are 4 zones in the game. That is, there is a map and there are 4 zones on it, 1 - the zone of people (neutral), 2 - the zone of the emperor (where the palace is), 3 - the zone of elves, 4 - the zone of the evil one… (in the mountains, there is an old fort…)
Also, in the game you can not only kill, but also cut off a hand and if the user is not cured, he will die, also gouge out an eye, but the user may not die, but just not see half the screen, or get or buy a prosthesis, if the leg is also either you die or you will crawl or ride in a wheelchair, or the best thing… put on a prosthesis. You can save…
P.S. I have been waiting two years for such a game.
This request, full of childlike spontaneity and desire, seems like a daunting task for current technologies. However, what if I told you that Kirill’s “two years waiting” dream can be realized much faster and easier thanks to AI?
From Coding to Management: Shifting Roles
Traditionally, game development is a painstaking process that requires the programmer to have in-depth knowledge of the language, such as C++, for example, in the code for dealing cards:
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <random>
#include <ctime>
// ... (Code for dealing cards that scares newbies) ...
Use code with caution.C++
But what if we change the paradigm? Instead of forcing developers to cram complex language constructs, let them describe what they want to see in the game, and let AI take care of how to implement it.
The Game Engine of the Future: Intuitive Embodiment of Ideas
For this, we need a new type of game engine - an Intent-Driven Engine. Its key features:
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Natural Language Understanding: The ability to understand and analyze descriptions, similar to Kirill’s description, extracting key elements and requirements.
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Automatic Code Generation: Using AI to transform these descriptions into working code, optimized for a specific platform.
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Library of Ready-Made Components: Providing ready-made elements, such as “AI Enemy”, “Physics Object”, “Dialogue System”, allowing you to quickly create prototypes.
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Simple Visual Interface: The ability to customize and modify AI-created elements using an intuitive interface that does not require coding knowledge.
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Automatic Optimization and Testing: The engine itself optimizes resources and checks the code for errors, ensuring stable operation of the game.
Tools That Make the Future a Reality:
Many of the necessary tools already exist:
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AI-Powered Level Generators: Creating game locations from text descriptions, such as “a dense forest with elf houses” or “a grim mountain fort.”
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Creating 3D Models from 2D Images: Converting drawings and photos into game 3D objects, making it easy to create a unique visual style.
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Automatic Music Generation: Creating atmospheric soundtracks based on a text description of the mood and genre.
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AI-Powered Code Generation: Transforming a description of desired behavior into working code, allowing you to create game mechanics without programming knowledge.
Back to Kirill’s Dream: “Waiting Two Years” No Longer Needed?
Thanks to these technologies, Kirill’s description no longer seems like an impossible task. Imagine how a new engine can transform his dream into reality:
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Description Analysis: The engine extracts key elements: elves, soldiers, the villain, forests, caravans, prostheses.
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Game World Generation: Automatically creating locations, such as forests with three-dimensional trees and a mountain fort, with graphics optimization for various devices.
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Creating Characters and Mechanics: Generating character models and AI for elves, soldiers, and the villain, as well as mechanics for robbing caravans and limb prosthetics.
The Future of Game Development: Accessible to Everyone!
The concept of “games by description” is not just a dream, but a real prospect that opens the door to the world of development for everyone, regardless of their technical skills. Instead of spending years learning programming, it will be enough to simply clearly formulate your idea, and the AI engine will bring it to life.
And who knows? Perhaps, thanks to the new generation of game engines, Kirill’s dream will finally come true, and he will no longer have to “wait two years” for the game of his dreams. Instead, he will be able to create it himself!
Saving Time - the Key to Creativity: A Timer Example
To demonstrate how quickly AI can help in development, let’s look at a simple example. Imagine we need a timer for the game that shows the time remaining. In the past, this would have required writing code in C++ or C#, working with time functions and the interface.
Now, using an AI assistant, we can simply describe what we need: “Create a timer in Unity in C#, which counts down 60 seconds and displays the time remaining on the screen.”
And in less than 20 seconds, we get ready-made code:
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.UI;
using System;
public class Timer : MonoBehaviour
{
public float timeLeft = 60.0f;
public Text timerText;
void Update()
{
timeLeft -= Time.deltaTime;
if (timeLeft < 0)
{
timeLeft = 0;
// Здесь можно добавить код для завершения игры
Debug.Log("Время вышло!");
}
TimeSpan timeSpan = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(timeLeft);
timerText.text = string.Format("{0:D2}:{1:D2}", timeSpan.Minutes, timeSpan.Seconds);
}
}
Use code with caution.C#
This code can be simply copied into Unity, attached to a Text UI element, and the timer is ready to work!
And in conclusion: it is worth noting that even this article was created using AI from Google. Describing the task, making adjustments, and translations all took just a few minutes. This saves an incredible amount of time and allows you to focus on the most important thing - creativity and bringing ideas to life! This is the future that has already arrived.