For a long time, and until recently, game design was restricted to coding experts and studios with sprawling development teams. Now, the gaming world is witnessing a shift in this paradigm. Thanks to the emergence of AI and its ability to write code, the entry level to game creation just got a lot lower.
There’s a chance that there could soon be a time in which people are simply able to think of ideas for games and then use AI to come up with the code and take care of the building.
The Rise of Prompt-Driven Game Design
In the past, you not only needed to have a good idea for a game, but you also had to know how to code it and bring it to life. Now, AI can help budding developers come up with games from scratch, all with a few prompts. Indeed, you only need to have a vague idea of what you want to create to get the ball rolling, with AI platforms like GPT-4 now capable of writing scripts or coming up with dialog for characters.
Even though it’s still rudimentary and has a long way to go, the current AI systems can come up with scripts in languages such as Python and JavaScript, meaning that they are ready to plug into game engines. This is the part that still requires some expertise, as the game creator still needs to know how to use platforms like Unity and Unreal. There’s a lot of manual work involved, but this could be a stepping stone towards greater accessibility to game creation.
Could Lead to Rapid Evolution in Popular Game Genres
The most popular game genres have evolved rapidly since the advent of the internet, thanks to the greater competition this brought about but also due to shared ideas and game engines. Now, with AI stepping in to assist in gaming, there could be even faster progress. This will be especially true with games that don’t require such complex programming. For instance, mobile games are generally designed to be simple and easy to play. AI could easily help more people get a basic app off the ground, potentially allowing for faster innovation in mobile game design.
The same could be said for the iGaming industry. There have been various advancements in recent years, with Megaways casino games arguably the greatest development in slot game mechanics. These come in a range of genres and themes now, with Wheel of Fortune Megaways and Destiny Joker Megaways among the top games. Players enjoy them for the innovative game mechanic, which introduces a myriad more paylines than traditional slots.
However, perhaps in the future with AI helping, inventive players could come up with new mechanics to test out in the slots market, as players are clearly open to discovering new ways to play these games
AI could be set to empower the next generation of game designers, many of whom won’t even need to know anything about coding. That means that anyone with a great idea will have the power to make their game come to life and give it a chance of finding success.