"Naavik Gaming Podcast" features Joe Schaeppi, CEO of Solsten, and Kishen Patel, author of 'The Infinite Power of Play'. They discuss the use cases of AI in games, understanding player behavior and psychographics, the impact of AI NPCs, cost-effectiveness of GAN and diffusion models, and gaming companies' moral obligation to players' well-being. They also explore curiosity, human behavior, traits of gamers, and the benefits of play. A fascinating conversation on AI and player psychology in gaming!
AI in games offers cost and time reduction, enabling faster and cheaper game creation.
AI can personalize games based on player psychographics and preferences, enhancing the gaming experience.
AI-powered NPCs provide intelligent interactions, creating a more immersive gameplay experience.
Deep dives
The rise of AI in game development
AI is poised to revolutionize the game development industry, offering new possibilities for faster, cheaper, and more personalized game creation.
Personalized gaming experiences
AI enables game developers to tailor games to individual players based on their psychographics, preferences, and play styles, enhancing the gaming experience.
Innovations in NPC design and interaction
AI-powered NPCs bring new life and depth to games, providing intelligent and emotionally engaging interactions with players, creating a more immersive and dynamic gameplay experience.
The Importance of Optimizing Game Engines for Third-Party Integration
The speaker highlights the need for game developers to optimize game engines to better integrate with third-party SDKs. They emphasize that SDKs can often slow down games and hinder customization options for developers. By focusing on engine optimization and infrastructure development, game developers can create a more efficient and seamless integration process for third-party products. The speaker mentions partnerships with companies like Excelbyte to deploy products through the backend, indicating the importance of finding solutions that work within existing infrastructure.
The Power of Play as a Reflective and Authentic Expression of Self
The podcast delves into the power of play in gaming and its ability to bring out different aspects of a person's personality. Playing games provides a unique opportunity for individuals to experiment with different personas and explore different parts of themselves. The speaker discusses how Solston uses play behavior to predict psychological traits and gather important data about players. They highlight the significance of understanding and nurturing player well-being by addressing mental health issues and creating healthy gaming communities. The podcast concludes by stressing the responsibility of game developers to provide resources and support for players, referring to Google's approach of providing mental health resources in search results.
“Show me how you play, and then I’ll tell you who you are”, says Joe Schaeppi, CEO and Co-Founder of AI powered studio Solsten. Today, Joe, Alex, and Kishen Patel, the author of “The Infinite Power of Play” in collaboration with our partners at Lightspeed, talk about the use cases of AI in games (#1: Cost and Time Reduction, #2: New Genres of AI Powered Games), what it means to understand not only player behavior but the psychographics of your player demo, and where we actually are in any of this becoming a day to day reality.
Are AI NPCs really a game changer? Are using GAN and diffusion models actually more cost effective? What moral obligation do gaming companies have to diagnose and alert players about their well being? That and more when you hit play! *As a bonus, learn what going for the military victory in Civilization really says about you.*
This episode is brought to you by Overwolf. Whether you're a gamer, creator, or game studio, Overwolf is the ultimate destination for integrating UGC in games! You can check out all Overwolf has to offer at overwolf.com.
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