In the credits of Myst developer Cyan Worlds’ latest puzzle game Firmament, a simple paragraph of text reveals that many aspects of the game, including written lore and voice acting, were created with the help of AI. I’m here. Some people noticed the “AI-assisted content” message shortly after Firmament was released in May, while others (like me, via Kotaku) are learning about it now. For some players, this explains a lot.
Here’s the full list of things generative AI has been involved in, if you take a deep breath: “Diaries, logs, checklists, newspapers, stories, songs, poems, letters, scattered papers, portraits of all supporters, portraits of all founders, paintings of ‘Sunset’, and all founders Portrait. Art Nouveau wallpaper in the Swann Dormitory hallway, propaganda banners, coastal runoff decal kit, all voiced mentors, announcers, founders, and other speeches, and backer-only content.
Cyan Worlds told Kotaku that these aspects of Firmament were “assisted, not entirely created” by the AI tools used by Cyan staff. As an example, the developer stated that “all voice acting content is 100% performed by real humans”, but “timbre, pitch and tone” were modified with AI tools with the consent of the performers. said there is. (Strangely no one is credited). The voice acting was something we praised in our review.
Cyan didn’t explain how elements such as magazines would be “assisted” by AI. My interpretation is that a large language model like ChatGPT was used to generate rough copy, which was then modified by a human writer (this is what I personally call “human-assisted” writing). ), but it is also possible that AI was used in other ways. It is also not clear how the work mentioned was made. Was it generated by a service such as OpenAI’s Dall-E and then edited by a human artist, or did the artist conceive and produce the work using AI tools in a more subordinate role? .
Firmament was funded on Kickstarter, with backers pledging over $1.4 million in 2019 to see the game in production. Many backers have now returned to the Kickstarter comments, expressing their dissatisfaction with Cyan’s use of AI. A recurring sentiment is that using AI for creative work is unethical and has resulted in inferior games, and Cyan has made such controversial decisions in the games he funded. Instead of including a disclaimer in the game rules, they should have informed them in advance that they were using new technology. credit.
“I don’t want to spend money on projects that make heavy use of AI-generated content, especially when the art and writing HUMANS creates is what keeps me coming back to these games,” says backer Ryusui. wrote Mr. “How dare you alienate a long-time fan, Cyan!”
“If you want AI to make games for you, why should you pay a company to make them instead of making them yourself?” wrote E Color. “Unfortunately, going forward he will not endorse or buy the Cyan project.”
Our reviews, though positive, offer a bright spot for Firmament, with nearly 500 positive Steam user reviews. However, other players are not satisfied with this adventure game. Too many bugs, boring or overly simple puzzles are recurring complaints, and players also say that the picturesque environments are lifeless and the story is boring, owing to the use of AI. Some people think it is.
“The realms feel very shallow as there are only a few written in each realm (probably around 10 if you read the whole game),” wrote a Steam reviewer in May. “Then, to add salt to the wound, they used AI to help with this game, including diaries and newspapers. It’s completely disappointing that I used AI to write the ‘burned’ journal entry. ”
“I wouldn’t have paid for it if I knew it was going to be used by AI, but in retrospect it certainly explains why I felt that despite how beautiful the world was, it was just as lifeless,” says Kickstarter. supporter Io Otter said. recently.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of questions and criticisms about “AI-assisted” game development, and all things “AI-assisted”. Generative AI is used in everything from creating artwork to summarizing staff meetings, and is already integrated into leading applications like Photoshop. In his GDC talk that I attended, a game developer explained the many ways he incorporates AI tools into his day-to-day work, including debugging code and creating social his media posts. rice field. We recently had a discussion with Hardspace Shipbreak studio Blackbird Interactive on exactly this topic. You can listen to it here.
I asked Cyan Worlds if they could elaborate on how they used AI in the development of Firmament, and if they have any response for Kickstarter backers who feel misled by their omissions. .
