Candy Shop Slaughter is a video game concept created by AI

It is possible for artificial intelligence to create a video game. Contrary to popular opinion and the hopes for mankind, an AI came up with the basic design of a video game called Candy Shop Slaughter.

The game has all the necessary elements for success in the competitive mobile gaming industry. OnlineRoulette.com commissioned the project, which was created by Fractl, a South Florida growth marketing agency.

Games are thriving despite the pandemic, and video game jobs are growing despite competition from automation. Video games are a creative art, and it’s hard to believe that a machine can deliver the kind of creativity needed to do such a job. But we shouldn’t be too complacent about human ingenuity versus continuous improvement in AI.

That was part of the goal of the project, said Kristin Tynski, co-founder of Fractl, in an interview with GamesBeat. The art of the game was created by the artists of Fractl. GPT-3 generated the text. Along with other AI projects, like JetPlay’s Ludo, AI is used to generate everything from game art to in-game characters and gameplay. This is no longer the case as only humans can create games.

Joe Mercurio, head of creative strategy at Fractl, said in an interview with GamesBeat that he developed the idea and development for the project, and Tynski worked on the AI ​​releases. Their company is an agency that works on growth campaigns for businesses.

“A year or two ago we had access to Open AI technology, GPT-2, and then we had access to GPT-3,” Mercurio said. “We started laughing about it. Kristin has actually developed a full website with a bunch of fully AI-generated blog content. We were just inspired to put together a bunch of different ideas. And for online roulette, we decided to explore a video game.

Fractl’s creative team has always been interested in generative AI, and they viewed GPT-2 and GPT-3 as a big step forward, Tynski said.

The agency created the game to see if people were interested in the characters and gameplay created by the OpenAI program known as GPT-3, a text generator. Fractl used GPT-3 to create a hero character, bosses to fight, and friends to meet along the way in the story and arcade modes of Candy Shop Slaughter.

With the characters and gameplay created by GPT-3, OnlineRoulette then surveyed 1,000 players to find out if they would be willing to play it, how well they found the various aspects of the game to be original, and if they would be willing to pay. for it. .

AI-powered story and arcade modes

Using the OpenAI GTP-3 text generator, Fractl created a story, arcade, and multiplayer mode for the fictional video game.

In the synopsis, the AI ​​created the main character Freddy Skittle and his best friend Ted. In story mode, the game uses a karma system where players can accumulate experience points for any good deeds they do along the way and lose experience points for making bad choices. The more they progress, the more players can unlock additional characters with different strengths that appear in the game world and that can help in boss fights that players will encounter.

In arcade mode, Candy Shop Slaughter transforms into a classic 3D fighting game, where blood and guts are turned into candies and treats and players can experience plenty of puns and jokes along the way. Players start by creating characters from a model and have the option to unlock new costumes and weapons as they play.

AI-Created Video Game Characters

Above: The Fractl team

Image Credit: Fractl

The AI ​​also imagined 12 unique characters, bosses, and companions that players could encounter in Candy Shop Slaughter.

Main protagonist Freddy Skittle throws knives and uses a retractable pocket knife in close combat. Bosses to fight at different levels include Pie Cake, which throws slices of spiked pie in battle; Honey Bun, who evolves into a huge honey monster; and M & M’s Candy, the final boss who uses bottles of sweet soda and candy worms in battle.

“The capabilities of GPT-3 are quite amazing. And that shows a pretty fundamental change and what generative AI is capable of, ”Tynski said. “We had a lot of fun doing this project and testing the creative capabilities of GPT-3 in the context of a specific idea. “

Will game developers lose their jobs to AI? Probably not very soon.

“AI is going to take a lot of jobs. And I think it’s going to transform all the other jobs, ”Tynski said. “I think you will always have to have a human who is part of the creative process because I think other humans care who created it. The great thing about these technologies is that they have democratized creativity in an incredible way. I think that as a creator you can find something mutually beneficial in this technology.

She added, “There are and there will be a lot more companies that are basically conditioning GPT-3 releases of specific styles or types of play, or use cases, and then they use and use them to create. some kind of service. “

Player impressions

Above: Player reactions to Candy Shop Slaughter.

Image Credit: Fractl

Seventy-seven percent of players said they would play Candy Shop Slaughter, and 65% of players would be willing to pay for the game.

When asked about its uniqueness, only 10% of gamers found it to be little or very unoriginal, while 54% said Candy Shop Slaughter was original and 20% of gamers found it very original.

The most impressive part of Candy Shop Slaughter were the characters, which 67% of gamers rated as high quality. After characters, over half of gamers rated the game as a whole (58%), storyline (55%), and game title (53%) to be of high quality.

Fifty-seven percent of gamers said Candy Shop Slaughter was more like a mobile game, while 43% thought it would be a console game. With gameplay descriptions in mind, 73% also said the game’s story mode looked more engaging, compared to just 28% who felt more intrigued by the arcade mode.

With descriptions and details of 12 different characters, 48% of players rated Freddy Skittle (the main character) as the most fun to play, followed by Cookie Sandwich (33%), Pie Cake (30%) and Honey Bun. (30 %).

Respondents were not told that the video game, storylines, and characters were AI-generated.

“It wasn’t like we picked the results here,” Tynski said. “There were a lot of others that we usually ended up generating later that were just as good. It draws from well-known tropes. It is quite difficult for humans to differentiate the text generated by the AI. “

OnlineRoulette.com received responses from 1,000 players. The survey was designed for the purpose of asking them to rate the plots and characters presented to them.

“As an agency, we see AI becoming a much more integrated element of content generation and part of the creative process,” Tynski said. “I think we’re just starting to scratch the surface. And it is also at the same time that it is moving very, very quickly. So we just want to keep exploring what’s possible and help our customers create cool things by incorporating these new technologies.