AI is everywhere. It wasn’t too long ago that we heard tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney paved their way across different creative practices, and now we are surrounded by tools that are capable of building in-game bots, game mechanics, assets and so on. That’s right, the gaming community too is a part of this overhaul.
Bungie, the makers of Halo and Destiny, have been vocal about their AI practices. According to a recent Reddit post, the studio has been making use of Generative AI to craft newer experiences for its players. This comes directly from Bungie’s job openings page.
Bungie Is Hiring ‘AI Designers’ To Create Better AI Prompts
According to the website:
“As an AI Designer, you will be responsible for taking the initial ideas for a combatant and converting them into fully-realized behaviors in the game. AI Designers are tasked with writing all of the scripts that will handle the behavior structure for the combatants. You will balance combatant strength against player weapons and difficulty levels, and then working closely with the World Designers to craft specific experiences for many of the moments in the game.”
Based on this description, a little bit of an, ‘ouch!’ and a bit of, ‘alright’, can be expected from experienced game designers. The process of game design in itself is an authentic journey of coming up with rules, mechanics, structures and behaviour prediction of how the game world reacts to a player. Moreover, the game evolves over time.
If you read on, you’ll come across Bungie’s required skills/responsibilities that are outlined for the candidate. If you’re applying for this position, you’ll be asked to collaborate with artists, designers and engineers in order to build prompts that improve existing systems and workflows. Additionally, experience with game dev tools counts too.
Also Read: PlayStation Boss Jim Ryan Says Bungie Offers ‘Way More’ Value Than Activision Does for Xbox
At the moment, this opening seems to be for the future content for Destiny. Or maybe, a new Destiny game? We won’t be surprised if Bungie chooses to hire more such people for all their games going forward.
AI Is Shaping the Future of Game Development. Is It a Good Thing?
The emphasis on AI tools is of no surprise, regardless of your field of work. Whatever you do, a collaboration with well-written prompts is something you’ll have to get along with. However, this leads to the debate between artificial intelligence taking over jobs and tools like these helping people get jobs. Let’s take another look at Bungie’s job listing:
“Are you looking for the challenge of creating great gameplay and player experiences? Can you imagine bringing to life characters that react, respond, and adapt to player’s actions? Do you relish the idea that combat encounters can play out differently each time the player takes on the same mission? Do you believe AI-driven characters should rely on their senses, just like the player does? If so, you just might be the ideal candidate to become Bungie’s next AI Designer.”
Also read: How AI Is About To Change Video Game Development Forever
In the context of this position, it makes sense to be someone who is familiar with such tools. Especially Generative AI. This helps the person in charge make clever use of structuring out prompts that can be of use to all creative teams – be it artwork like assets and environments, along with game art that helps marketing.
It’s not official at the moment how Bungie will make complete use of this role, but it’s safe to assume that future updates and projects will have AI-led game design. In the past, tools like GameGAN and modl.ai have helped create game mechanics within the context of Unreal Engine 5 and familiar engines. Going ahead, we can expect to see game devs and designers use more such tools in a more efficient fashion, bringing us interactive experiences that feel genuine and far from mediocrity.
However, in the grand scheme of things, it’s roles like these that ensure positivity among experienced game developers and designers. Instead of ‘replacing’ these roles, people who are in charge of artificial intelligence are the ones who empower existing roles.
What are your thoughts on this new job opening by Bungie? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Reddit
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