Another step closer to complete robot takeover: Game developer Ubisoft is going to use the AI tool Ghostwriter to generate their NPC dialogues. Texts are increasingly being created by AI services like the popular ChatGPT, including my blogs. Just kidding
(…or am I…).
In my experience, texts generated by AI can be somewhat static. AI language models like ChatGPT also don’t have a sense of humor, which they’re not afraid to admit:
Maybe ChatGPT is underestimating itself, because that joke wasn’t all bad. Not the most original I’ve heard, but not bad nonetheless.
Anyway, back to Ubisoft. The game developer announced the news on their blog today. They stated that writers face the challenge of keeping hundreds of NPCs individually interesting and realistic. Ghostwriter will assist the writers in focusing on the more important, overarching narratives of the games.
How will Ghostwriter work?
Scriptwriters will soon only need to create a character and select an interaction type. Based on that, Ghostwriter will generate different proposals. The scriptwriter selects one and edits it as desired. For each generated variant, Ghostwriter offers two options that are compared and chosen by the scriptwriter. The tool then learns from the choices and modifications made, making it more effective each time and subsequently providing better proposals. Here is Ghostwriter in action:
According to Ben Swanson (creator of the tool), Ghostwriter will change the future of Ubisoft’s games. He believes that Ubisoft will be able to deliver a lot more work and that they can be more ambitious in their narrative designs. The latter could most definitely be worthwhile, in my opinion. I still miss the times of the first Assassin’s Creed games, where the story was still very captivating and original.
Importance of NPC Dialogue
Imagine your favorite open world game without any NPC dialogue in the background. NPC dialogue often contributes to the game’s atmosphere and provides additional immersion in the game world. Without NPC dialogue, everything would feel empty and lifeless. A bit like Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City. And that one actually has NPC dialog.
NPC dialogues can sometimes irritate players if there is not enough variety. You might hear certain phrases over and over again on your way to the next quest, such as the famous “I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee.” Fortunately, they also often provide funny moments. Orange 12 from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a classic example. In that game, you couldn’t turn around without seeing this character and a few of his duplicates. He was known for lines such as “You’re so fat, you jumped in the air and got stuck” and “You lift weights? I lift joints.”
I wonder if Ubisoft’s Ghostwriter will also provide new classics, and whether we will see an improvement in the quality of their stories in the near future. Who knows, maybe the software will be able to write entire game scripts someday?
