Will AI Generated Art Destroy Jobs for Game Concept Artists? The digital revolution is changing the way we work and the kind of jobs will be created to meet the demand. With the adoption of artificial intelligence by game companies, job opportunities for concept artists have also increased. But will this lead to job losses for artisans who create game assets using paint, illustration software or 3D modelling programs?
The short answer is: probably not. Imperfect human communication has always been one of the most important factor in maintaining a creative team together. Sometimes basic miss communications can give birth to the most amazing of accidental concept designs and new ideas. In an era where everything is digitised, communication between people becomes even more essential. Internet forums, social media sites and chat applications like Discord or Discord Chat are popular ways for teams to keep track of each other’s progress in real time. Artificial intelligence can also be used as a creative resource to provide insight into how a level or environment should be interpreted, while enabling actual human artists to focus on more challenging aspects of production without distracting from initial design convocations.
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that can mimic the behaviour and decision-making processes of humans in order to solve specific tasks. The field of AI aims to design computers that can outperform humans on specific tasks by leveraging deep learning and machine learning algorithms. Artificial intelligence has been around for decades, with the first examples being used in speech recognition and natural language processing in the 1960s. It was only in the 1980s that the first practical AI program was created, which allowed a programmer to teach a computer to play popular board games such as Go and Chess.
Game Developing & Artistic Processes that Can Benefit from AI
Artificial intelligence has become a hot topic in the game development community due to the wide adoption of 3D printing and other rapid prototyping technologies by game companies. Faced with the need to quickly create unique assets for various projects or simply to reduce the cost of production, many game companies are using 3D printing to generate many of their assets.
This trend can definitely be used as a positive change for game concept artists, who can now focus more on creating art than on managing a team. However, this can also have a significant impact on the game concept art community as a whole. The use of additive technologies has led to an increase in the demand for freelancers with experience in 3D modelling, additive modelling, or animation. Meanwhile, experienced concept artists who specialised in story boarding or level design have been replaced by Ai algorithms for rapid prototyping. Though this might seem like a negative, a growing belief that this allows artists to focus on very specific projects to get the final result the gaming company actually want.
Benefits of Using AI in the Game Development Process
When used well, AI can bring a lot of value to the table. It can speed up the creative process and improve quality by flagging up irrelevant details or suggestions that humans might have missed. It can also help teams identify workflow problems and suggest ways of solving them efficiently. For example, AI can help to identify the cause of miscommunications and suggest ways to improve communication between teams. It can also suggest ways to streamline processes, such as sharing art between departments or creative groups.
Rapid prototyping to get projects rolling
As mentioned, artificial intelligence can also be used as a resource to help speed up the process of concept design. Instead of getting bogged down in the initial prototyping phase, I can get a jump on other aspects such as modelling, animating and design to work on specific projects, then I can speed up the process of developing my new games and creating new concepts. This can make a huge difference for game companies that need to get products to market quickly.
By using AI to generate art for my prototype game concept art, my teams can quickly create assets that I can in a game design delivered to the project in a timely fashion. The downside of this approach is that AI-assisted teams are not experienced in the types of artistic or design decisions that take a more traditional approach to development. While AI can help speed up the process, it can also make the final product more unpredictable.
Importance of Good Communication in the Game Development Process
While AI can help to flag up details that might be overlooked by humans, it can also be used to make suggestions on how a level or environment should be interpreted. This can be a huge time-saver for experienced teams who just need to get their project moving. For example, an AI-based tool can help to quickly map out the entire experience from start to finish, from conception to support services.
It can even enable the creation of a vision document that lays out the core themes, setting, and feel of a game. While communication between departments within a company can improve with AI, the same tool can also be used as a communication tool between different teams or departments within a company. It can help to explain the creative process and the various stages a project goes through. This can help to eliminate misunderstandings and achieve a better understanding of the project’s goals and expectations between teams.
When to Use AI in the Game Development Process?
AI can definitely be used in the early stages of game development to speed up the process. For example, I can use Ai to generate character models and animations, which might be too basic or slow for a human artist to finish. I can also used to optimise the design of the user interface to speed up the process of getting a game ready for release.
You cannot beat the human element.
So we ask again. Will AI Generated Art Destroy Jobs for Game Concept Artists? While AI can definitely help to create more reliable or consistent results, it cannot perfectly duplicate the creativity or experience of an experienced artist. AI can also be used as a creative resource to provide insight into how a level or environment should be interpreted, while enabling more experienced team members to focus on more challenging aspects of production without distracting from the experience end users are having, not unlike out sourcing.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionise the way we work, live, and play. It can help to create more reliable and consistent results, help to improve communication within teams, and can even be used as a creative resource to provide insight into how a level or environment should be interpreted. However, it can also be used to replace or supplement the creative skills of creative artists, by using AI to help to generate art for games. This can be a great way for game companies to speed up the development process, or for smaller teams to create more content for a game sooner.