Imagine the year is 2052…
Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2022 5:25 am
2052, or 30 years from now as of this writing. Imagine there is this big open world fantasy game that uses AI. Imagine something like the modern AIs that make artwork but they make 3D models, and there’s another AI that develops a fantasy lore and the game uses internet connection to connect with an AI that generates quests and random events. The game world is as big as Daggerfall but the AI generates all sorts of unique areas and depth. From creative and unique dungeons to a random person you talk to in an inn that also has an entire unique life story they can tell you, the game has some areas that feel handcrafted and some NPCs that feel as though a person wrote a story for them, but it’s generated by the AI. Thousands of dungeons that all feel different, thousands of NPCs each with their own story. With voice recognition surely better in 2052 then now, imagine in your virtual reality headset with human eye retinal (indistinguishable from real life and apparently there already are $10,000 VR sets that have retinal screens) screen quality you actually talk to the NPCs and they dynamically react to whatever you say in line with their complex personalities.
So you play and the AI that generates quests is able to make quests with grand plots and twists, almost like a human would make. You uncover plots and betrayals and wonders and hopes. A war is occurring, you pick a side, but your side loses the war and you flee for safety. You settle in a small town far away only for an NPC to become your best friend, full of optimism and hope. She is very nice and always has wonderful poems to recite. But then she starts to talk about life and death, and then she tells you about this cult she’s a part of, a cult that seeks an afterlife in mysterious realms that mortals fear. You decide to join the cult and end up speaking with it’s deity once you become a high-ranking member. It transports you into a dimension both terrifying and wonderful, filled with glorious nature and castles made of otherworldly and beautiful ores but also massive monsters. You explore this bizarre dimension of both beauty and horror. And the entire NPC you befriended, the cult, the deity, and the dimension, were all generated by AI, a combination of a story and lore AI and an AI that creates 3D models and game areas.
This sounds totally trippy, but while I myself have doubts about innovation in the gaming industry, surely by 2052 there will be AIs that can generate 3D models, game worlds, and stories? I don’t know how much longer computers can get more powerful before we reach the physical limit, but surely, surely in 2052 with maybe data servers we could have some pretty good AIs? The point I’m trying to make is AI could have huge implications for gaming once it becomes a thing in games. It’s already becoming a thing in art and while it could be a decade plus before there is even a semi-competent AI for game design, it could shake things up a lot.
Why Daggerfall? Because in my view AI would be the natural evolution of Daggerfall’s concept. AIs of 2052 that can expertly imitate human game design, writing, and 3D modeling being combined to create a massive fantasy world with endless possibilities and that is a living world would be able to truly live up to Daggerfall’s potential. Even modded Daggerfall Unity is nowhere close to what Daggerfall was intended to be. Daggerfall is without exaggeration one of the most ambitious games (in the original intent) ever made. Daggerfall is simply too ambitious to properly be done by humans, as humans can’t keep writing new storylines forever. An AI would be able to just keep generating new, interconnected quests, plots, and developments in the game world.
Maybe if AI ever becomes a thing in video games in the 2050s, then in the future Daggerfall will be remembered not as that Elder Scrolls game even more complex then Morrowind and with a really big map, but rather the 20th century predecessor to the AI-powered procedural fantasy game of the future that you could play for a decade and still not uncover 1% of the generated content.
I consider this speculated future of AI-powered games somewhat far-fetched but not impossible. I guess it depends on how AI goes and how much more powerful processors can get. Who knows, maybe in 2052 games won’t use AI but what about 2062 or 2072?
So you play and the AI that generates quests is able to make quests with grand plots and twists, almost like a human would make. You uncover plots and betrayals and wonders and hopes. A war is occurring, you pick a side, but your side loses the war and you flee for safety. You settle in a small town far away only for an NPC to become your best friend, full of optimism and hope. She is very nice and always has wonderful poems to recite. But then she starts to talk about life and death, and then she tells you about this cult she’s a part of, a cult that seeks an afterlife in mysterious realms that mortals fear. You decide to join the cult and end up speaking with it’s deity once you become a high-ranking member. It transports you into a dimension both terrifying and wonderful, filled with glorious nature and castles made of otherworldly and beautiful ores but also massive monsters. You explore this bizarre dimension of both beauty and horror. And the entire NPC you befriended, the cult, the deity, and the dimension, were all generated by AI, a combination of a story and lore AI and an AI that creates 3D models and game areas.
This sounds totally trippy, but while I myself have doubts about innovation in the gaming industry, surely by 2052 there will be AIs that can generate 3D models, game worlds, and stories? I don’t know how much longer computers can get more powerful before we reach the physical limit, but surely, surely in 2052 with maybe data servers we could have some pretty good AIs? The point I’m trying to make is AI could have huge implications for gaming once it becomes a thing in games. It’s already becoming a thing in art and while it could be a decade plus before there is even a semi-competent AI for game design, it could shake things up a lot.
Why Daggerfall? Because in my view AI would be the natural evolution of Daggerfall’s concept. AIs of 2052 that can expertly imitate human game design, writing, and 3D modeling being combined to create a massive fantasy world with endless possibilities and that is a living world would be able to truly live up to Daggerfall’s potential. Even modded Daggerfall Unity is nowhere close to what Daggerfall was intended to be. Daggerfall is without exaggeration one of the most ambitious games (in the original intent) ever made. Daggerfall is simply too ambitious to properly be done by humans, as humans can’t keep writing new storylines forever. An AI would be able to just keep generating new, interconnected quests, plots, and developments in the game world.
Maybe if AI ever becomes a thing in video games in the 2050s, then in the future Daggerfall will be remembered not as that Elder Scrolls game even more complex then Morrowind and with a really big map, but rather the 20th century predecessor to the AI-powered procedural fantasy game of the future that you could play for a decade and still not uncover 1% of the generated content.
I consider this speculated future of AI-powered games somewhat far-fetched but not impossible. I guess it depends on how AI goes and how much more powerful processors can get. Who knows, maybe in 2052 games won’t use AI but what about 2062 or 2072?