Khaberni - "Epic Games," responsible for developing the popular multiplayer game "Fortnite," has provided a new tool for content creators in its game, allowing them now to create AI-driven characters inside the game that can speak and respond to players using generative artificial intelligence as reported by the American tech website “The Verge."
This feature gives the game-generated characters a new layer of realism that goes beyond mere movement inside the game from one place to another. Each character can actively and spontaneously respond to users and players without needing pre-programmed responses.
The new tool primarily comes in the form of a conversation tool that enables developers to integrate linguistic AI models into the characters they build within the game world, according to a separate report from the American tech site "The Tech Buzz."
"Epic Games" is betting with this tool that the future of technological development in games is not limited to graphical level and innovative gameplay methods, but also includes AI and building characters that are closer to reality.
Developers only need to determine the character's identity, preferences, and way of thinking within the game world, and then AI generates the texts and responses based on the data provided by the developers, giving non-playable characters in games greater freedom and a design that is closer to reality.
Stricter Restrictions
This is not the first time that "Fortnite" has had characters generated by AI, as last year saw the character "Darth Vader" who could respond to users with his famous voice.
However, the company soon removed this feature from the game due to its misuse and the generation of inappropriate responses. Therefore, this time around, the company has tried to implement stricter restrictions on the characters built within the game using the new conversation tool.
Developers will not be allowed to use the tool to engage characters in romantic, racist, or otherwise game-law violating conversations.
It should be noted that the multiplayer game "Fortnite" was one of the most prominent group games cared for by Generation Z in the past years, reaching a peak of 44 million concurrent active players in 2023, but this number has gradually decreased to less than 10 million players in recent months.
Perhaps this step will help revitalize the game and attract more new players to it, especially with the ability to introduce prominent and famous characters within its world without having to wait for the company to introduce these characters itself.
More Than Just a Game
The new tool introduced by "Fortnite" aligns with "Epic Games'" general directions in the gaming world. They have been trying from the beginning to present "Fortnite" not just as a traditional game, but rather as a platform that everyone can enjoy.
This is clearly reflected in the introduction of many famous characters from cinema and television inside "Fortnite" on various occasions, in addition to exclusive events held inside the game.
"Epic Games" can benefit from the data experience of the AI-enhanced dialogue tool in "Fortnite," especially since it owns the famous game development engine "Unreal Engine," which many globally famous games rely on.
We may see this technology used later with this engine so that the characters that can speak freely within the developed games come to life.
"Epic" is Not Alone
"Epic Games" is not the only company experimenting with the use of generative AI tools within its games, as several companies have attempted this in the past.
Among them is "Nvidia," which previously introduced a programming tool called "ACE," which allows developers to link characters to linguistic AI models and rely on them to generate responses and texts instantly.
However, the use of the tool was largely limited to technical experiments and trials only, without the existence of actual games that support it.
Some independent developers also attempted in the past to link linguistic AI models with AI tools, but their attempts remained limited due to the nature of independent games compared to the extended experience that "Epic" is currently undergoing.
