The world of text-based role-playing games (RPGs) is experiencing a renaissance, thanks to the power of artificial intelligence (AI). While players have been making choices in text-based games for decades, AI-generated RPGs offer something truly unique: limitless possibilities. AI-powered games like AI Dungeon are becoming increasingly popular, thanks to recent advancements in accessible AI tools like ChatGPT and GPT-4.
According to Nick Walton, the creator of AI Dungeon, traditional gaming often gives the illusion of choice but offers little in the way of true agency. In AI-generated RPGs, however, players can take the story in entirely new directions, as Walton discovered when he befriended a group of goblins in one game and ended up forming a band with them. Thanks to the technology Nick was able to choose his own way how to cope with goblins. The game's AI allowed him to create a storyline that would have been impossible in a traditional RPG.
Text-based RPGs first rose to prominence around the same time as home console video games were becoming popular. Players would read the scenario and make choices, much like the Choose Your Own Adventure books of the time. While the genre has evolved over the years, the simplicity of making choices based solely on text on a screen has largely disappeared. AI-driven games are seeking to recapture that magic.
AI text adventures have been around in some form for a few years, but the recent explosion of more advanced, accessible AI tools has led to a surge in interest. AI Dungeon, for example, began on GPT-2 but has since moved on to GPT-4.
Other users have tried to create their own games with Artificial Intelligence. Filmmaker Rian Johnson is teaching GPT-4 to create a mystery for him to solve. He also made a post on Twitter about his tinkering with GPT-4.
I know it can simulate human fragility and explore the depths of its own id, but tbh the fact that this even kinda worked was my first “whoa” moment with this thing pic.twitter.com/XuOu4s3slV
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) April 1, 2023
Meanwhile, software engineer Dan Dangond is attempting to recreate Pokémon Emerald entirely within GPT-4, also he tweeted:
So it turns out, GPT-4 knows enough about Pokemon Emerald that you can ask it to pretend to be a text-based interface for it and it just... works? A thread. (Shoutout to @Bulbapedia for being my fact-checking source for this!) #gpt4 #ChatGPT
— Dan Dangond (@DanDangond) March 15, 2023
He says, "It is even more impressive to me when something like GPT can do unexpected things it wasn't explicitly told how to do, since that is the opposite of how most software works".
Summing up, while the rise of AI-powered RPGs is exciting, can AI eventually replace human games writers entirely? Only time will tell.
We suggest you read our previous report where we wrote about Ada’s announcement of a new generative AI-driven suite of tools.
Also, you can take a closer look at Wolverine AI program for Python Scripts self-repair.
Besides, we wrote about AI technology that now causes great energy consumption according to a researcher, so you can read and be more informed about the digital world.
