AI-generated Games Started Appearing on Steam

The rapid development of artificial intelligence has completely baffled not only the artists and scientists who work on it, but also millions of people around the world. Large corporations and ordinary users are already using the new technology for both artistic and profit-making purposes. Slowly, attempts to use AI to increase productivity are also emerging in other industries. An example of this is the a game recently release on Steam, This Girl Does Not Exist, which was created entirely by an AI.

According to the author of the project, when advertising the game he hoped that players would be interested in such a "demonstration of new technologies." Unfortunately, it turned out to be the complete opposite. Source: Steam.

If you haven't heard of the game in question so far, it's no wonder, since it was made by studio run by a married couple - Cute Pen Games, known so far for making low-budget adult games. In addition, This Girl Does Not Exist has not won any recognition from gamers, as indicated by having only a single and, to add insult to injury, negative review on Steam. However, according to one of the developers, hiding under the pseudonym "Mrspotatoes," in an interview with Kotaku, they expected such a reception for the game, although they hoped for more interest.

The game in itself is not particularly revolutionary as it is a combination of a puzzle game and a dating sim, in which by solving puzzles we complete photos of available girls. What is surprising, however, is the assumption made by the developers of the game. Here's the thing, each of its elements had to be created using artificial intelligence. As it turned out, this approach gave rise to many unexpected difficulties.

In addition to graphics, artificial intelligence is responsible for the story, music and even the voices of the game's characters. Source: Steam.

As one of the developers of the project recalls, during the development, the biggest challenge was to force the artificial intelligence to create elements that could be used in the game. This is due to the fact that it is quite difficult to predict how changes in the prompts given to the AI would affect the final result. Thus, it was necessary to use the trial and error method to get the game elements in line with the developer's vision. However, it is worth noting that such a method, despite its drawbacks, saved many hours of work, for example, compared to creating graphics from scratch. As Mrspotatoes, the project's programmer, describes it:

When the developers finally overcame all the odds and released their game, they were faced with a disappointment. The game recorded one of the worst launches in the studio's history, which is quite surprising, considering that the couple's portfolio includes games that aren't even displayed by Steam without logging in first.

The author of the only review on Steam points out that while the character designs were quite good, unfortunately the gameplay was very monotonous. Source: Steam.

Even youtubers who received free keys to the game were not willing to advertise it on their channels. And when one of them decided to carry out a live broadcast of the gameplay, viewers in the comments began to complain surprisingly not about the game itself, but about the fact that it was created through artificial intelligence. As one developer recalls it:

Nevertheless the emergence of such an unusual game shows us one of the paths that the video game industry can take. Soon we can expect more titles created by artificial intelligence. This is confirmed by the authors of the game, who also do not want to give up the use of innovative technologies, but as they themselves indicate - they may need to change their approach to advertising their productions: