Experts believe that OpenAI innovation will make the play-to-earn genre better than it has ever been. During the dawn of cryptocurrencies and the subsequent crash of this market in 2022, many games in this niche have experienced ups and downs in terms of player numbers and transaction volume.

Enhancing the visual component with AI

Alex Connolly is the CTO of Immutable, developer of the digital collectable card game Gods Unchained and the Immutable X NFT platform. He told Cointelegraph that the software from OpenAI, a US-based AI-focused research lab, will open up new possibilities for Web3 games, allowing developers to create better visuals and superior storytelling, leading to a whole new experience for players.

James and Robbie Ferguson, Alex Connolly are the founders of Immutable X

In the past, video game artists often had to create multiple versions of the same images. For example, they frequently needed several sizes of the same images or several versions. This sometimes resulted in a lack of efficiency. But with OpenAI software, artists can now experiment, allowing the AI to create different versions of a given visual.

A side note: The blockchain gaming industry will be valued at $65.7 billion by 2027

A challenge for players?

Beyond the immediate benefits of creating better art, there are other areas in which OpenAI can improve games in the future. One topic of discussion among developers is the creation of AI that can dynamically adjust to players’ skill levels.

We are really excited about the potential for this technology to create more meaningful counter-play for opponents, so one challenging thing in things like trading card games or things like RPGs is building an AI that is the right degree of difficulty for and is tailored somewhat to the needs of the players. I think, we can create really deep and engaging, constant learning curves for players that match where they are in the game.

Alex Connolly, Chief Technical Officer of Immutable

Of course, video game developers have always tried to create AI programs for computer opponents that provide the right complexity for players. But the head of Immutable says that OpenAI offers a better approach than the strategies developers have used in the past.

I think a lot of what’s been built previously in games has been what I call ‘manually written’ AI where the opponent in the game is basing their decisions on a bunch of programmed rules that a programmer has introduced there.

Alex Connolly, Chief Technical Officer of Immutable

It’s likely that this new technology will not only make it easier to create AI for computer-controlled opponents; it will also lead to more individualised, personalised content, a full single-player experience.

ChatGPT and GPT-3 narrative

One of the newest pieces of OpenAI software is the Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer, also known as ChatGPT, which has already been used to create trading bots and blogs.

Gods Unchained

Immutable plans to use ChatGPT, but is only in the very early stages of considering it, given that it is new software. However, the team is using a previous incarnation in the form of GPT-3 to experiment with creating a narrator that will tell stories based on what happens in the card game.

We think there are very cool storytelling opportunities with this technology. We’ve explored ideas such as, let’s say, you’re in a card game and you’re playing cards getting GPT-3 to stitch that together into a story. No human could ever go along and write down a story that ties together the input for a whole game. It would just be impossible when we’re talking about millions of games here, right?

Alex Connolly, Chief Technical Officer of Immutable

A side note: Application of ChatGPT in game scenario development

Despite such optimism, Connolly warned that the team has encountered some difficulties in trying to implement this narrator’s idea. Initial tests have resulted in a “spammy” narrative that detracts from the game rather than complements it, so the team is still trying to figure out how to fit the right amount of narrative into the card game.

Using AI in game design

At the moment, it’s not just Immutable looking to use this technology to improve games. Partner developers releasing content on Immutable X are also becoming more and more interested in experimenting with OpenAI.

Web3 studios are the most enthusiastic about using this new technology compared to other studios. While all developers want to use OpenAI to improve their games, large studios are faced with an “innovation dilemma” that makes it more expensive for them to take the risk of implementing OpenAI features. For this reason, Web3 and NFT games will take the lead in using these technologies in the future.

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