AI in Gaming

The next incredible breakthrough in gaming is going to be a result of one of the most progressive technologies of today: artificial intelligence. This article talks about how AI is making changes in the video game industry and how AI will strongly influence the industry in the future. 

Augmented reality and mixed reality in gaming

In the past, gaming was on the analog device of a small hand-operated console with small dots representing players. Ten years later, today we have 3D game consoles and smartphones with technology to run augmented reality games and mobile apps. By tapping the screen a few times, we can change the way the world looks around us, creating an imaginary world an augmented world with a childlike glee through our advanced mobile devices. This has been a reality for quite a while; with the world-famous Pokemon Go being the first game to introduce augmented reality (AR) into the mainstream of gaming, allowing old and new fans to experience the imagination of being a pokemon master in reality. All of this has been a reality because of Artificial intelligence and computer vision.

Computer vision

Have you ever noticed the perfect placement of Snapchat filters according to your face and movement? Games like pokemon go also use computer vision to map out the area around you and visualize pokemon around the area. 

Computer vision is the subfield of AI that aims at giving machines the capacity to see the world the way humans see from their vision and react to that visual information gathered appropriately according to its programming. By using facial recognition, we have programmed into machines on how to recognize and tell the difference between different faces. With the help of computer vision, the device can scan our faces and use our features to design our gaming avatars accurately.  

Plane detection for placement

Computer vision is used to model augmented reality by detecting planes or flat surfaces in our living surroundings. By detecting these existing planes like the side of a building, walls, or the ground, the augmented reality platform will recognize the placement of digital objects according to the planes.  

Object recognition

Deploying the recently developed mixed reality technology, like the HoloLens, games are using techniques of object recognition in many fantastic ways. Young Conker, a popular mixed reality game uses object recognition to emulate the placement of the furniture in the room where the game is played. By successfully detecting furniture, the game creates a unique and challenging playing area for each room. The game then uses the detected furniture as a playing area for Conker to roam around and jump through.

From the massive success of Pokémon Go and Dragon Quest Walk, as well as the general public excitement for the launch of the upgraded Minecraft Earth, we can conclude that there will be a rise in the popularity of AR and MR games in the days to come.

Synthetic media in gaming

The biggest change and technological advancement that will come around the gaming scene is the use of Synthetic media. 

What is synthetic media?

Synthetic media encompasses media that has been created through artificial management. The synthetic media cuts down the need of employing middlemen in PR machinery and management. 

To employ synthetic media, deep fake technology an AI technology able to emulate the voice and the visage of a person with unmistakable accuracy. Using deep fake technology, you will be able to create the likeness of a person to high accuracy for various purposes.

The synthetic voice used in video games

Used in video game technology, this technology could be used to generate voice simulation for gaming dialogue. Companies are already using synthetic voice technology in games and can be used separately by gamers. The technology of synthetic voice, means game developers just type in the dialogue text, relating it to an emotion that matches the scene at play and creates a final audio clip vocalizing that piece of dialogue. In this way, synthetic voice can help in eliminating the time and cost involved in conventional voice over recording sessions. 

Also, the voice-over artists could potentially benefit from this technology. Through synthetic voice, voice-over artists can record and license their audio on a platform accessible to members. Even though studios mean less hiring opportunities for voice-over artists, the artists themselves will be able to make money by licensing their voices directly to many studios at the same time. 

If synthetic voice develops optimally over the next few years it will have the power to revolutionize the way voice overs are done in the gaming industry.

Generative neural network for natural text

Open AI’s GPT 2 release in recent times, has put the focus on generative neural networks and synthetic media technology ‘s progress., Using the power of natural language processing, Open AI’s GPT-2 can create natural-sounding text in seconds. The network has a significant capability to generate dialogues for games quickly while making it sound like natural human speech. 

The game AI dungeon is already using the GPT 2 text generating technology for an adventure game.

AI has been seen as a competitor against human intelligence for quite some while, but artificial intelligence should be seen as a close aide for humans who can make many convenient and amazing changes in how technology and media are approached. If AI and its branches are implemented properly in the sector of gaming, it can transform the way gamers play with augmented reality and virtual reality as well as other technologies.