Online games have taken an entirely new dimension; they are now more realistic, intelligent, and more responsive – thanks to Artificial Intelligence.
The gaming industry is expected to reach $300 billion by 2025. For this reason, leading providers in the gaming industry are looking for more innovative ways to make their games more interesting and expand their brands.
Although terms like Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality are common in the gaming industry, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made games more interactive and as close to reality as possible.
In this article, we’ll be discussing the different ways Artificial Intelligence is transforming the online gaming sector.
Smarter Games
Although scripting is still being used in the control of Non-playable character (NPCs) in most games, AI is also being integrated into controlling of NCPs. In addition, the characters learn from what the player does and emulate their actions. AI has been used in Nintendogs, a dog simulation video game produced by Nintendo.
The goal of the developers is to create games in the future that can comprehend speech, and other sounds in a game and make the necessary adjustments based on the scenario. This requires modern knowledge-based techniques such as reinforcement learning and pattern recognition. This enables the characters in the field to learn from experience.
Although the implementation of AI techniques in gaming is not popular yet, they’ll probably be applied soon, and this has got the entire industry exciting.
More Realistic Games
The gaming industry has seen significant growth in this area over the last decade. Some of the technologies that have been introduced include 3D visualization, physics-based simulations, Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality. This technology will particularly come in handy in making live casinos more realistic.
With these tools, game developers are able to create visually appealing games that you could never have thought before. Gamers have evolved as well; they want to create more realistic games.
For game developers, this is a huge challenge, and AI will be vital in helping them to achieve this goal. Imagine playing a game that can anticipate your next move and respond to your in-game actions; not the regular scripts where press Y gives a Z response. AI picks the right alternative to what you want to do in real-time, making the game more fun and realistic.
Improves the Overall Gaming Experience
If you have played FIFA 17 from EA sports, then you are familiar with Ultimate Team mode. For those who don’t know what this is, it is more like a fantasy draft where you get to choose one player out of the five options provided for each position in the team. Then the AI will automatically create the best team possible based on your choices, also known as team chemistry.
Team chemistry is very important as it plays a critical role in how well a team plays. In-game AI also improves the playing experience, making the game more interactive. For example, if your team is losing a match, AI will come in and try to boost your team’s morale by increasing fan chants.
Game developers these days want to create nothing other than top quality games by incorporating features such as high-quality graphics, visual appearance, and an immersive game-play. AI makes it possible customized in real-time scenarios in real-time. This improves the overall experience of the games and takes it to an entirely new level.
Hones Developer Skills
Game developers have always been keen to adopt the most advanced technology to improve their creativity and skills. Reinforcement Learning, a subfield of Machine Learning, and AlphaGo, the algorithm that was used to create the renowned AI program that defeated the best GO player in the world, are just a few examples.
The increasing adoption of AI in game development means that even the traditional developer will have to adapt to new ways.
The idea of Game AI has changed drastically. Many developers today are incorporating concepts such as pathfinding, smarter function-based movements, rule-based AI, and inclusion of genetic algorithms.
Although there are few challenges currently as to how theoretical AI techniques can be incorporated into games, with time, the AI techniques will be absorbed seamlessly with traditional game development skills. So, aside from using tradition game development techniques and tools, game developers have to learn AI techniques in order to developer more realistic and interactive games that the modern gamer is looking for.
Conclusion
In today’s technologically advanced world, the goal of any developer is not just to create games for purposes of entertainment and time passing. AI is a new field in technology that is expected to revolutionize the gaming industry by making the games more realistic, smatter, and interactive. The rate at which AI algorithms are being developed today is a source of hope that future games will indeed meet the demands of the modern player.