New developer Half Moon Studios has launched its first game only a few short months after its formation.
How did Half Moon make a game so fast? The answer: the power of AI.
The developer, founded by ex-Miniclip chief advertising officer Pieter Kooyman, has already been backed by angel investors from Space Ape, Tripledot, Fumb Games, Playsimple, Mopub and, of course, Miniclip.
AI makes it possible
Half Moon has released its first beta of puzzle game Picture Quiz only five months on from the studio’s inception, with all content being made entirely by artificial intelligence.
This was possible by first building an automated content production pipeline, combining multiple forms of generative AI. Once the curated system began to produce content, Half Moon began to playtest on social channels, taking on feedback from its early fans and Discord community. This “heavily shaped” Picture Quiz into the form it takes now.
Roblox’s community has been getting involved in AI too, with the tech enabling users to create much faster.
The developers at Half Moon have also been writing code with an AI toolset wherever possible.
Altogether, this has culminated in a 15+ hour beta with thousands of potential rounds to play. Next up, Half Moon plans to advance from what is currently a single-player experience, broadening the possibilities of Picture Quiz as a multiplayer game. The studio will be looking at AI UGC too.
“This could well be a world first… In under five months my new venture – Half Moon Studios – has launched its first beta where *ALL* of the content was generated by AI,” Kooyman posted on LinkedIn.
“Big Tech is over… Small Tech companies like Half Moon Studios are where all the fun is at!”
Unity has been embracing AI more and more this year, recently going deeper by announcing Unity Muse and Unity Sentis.
Quelling the concerns of many artists in regards to AI, Belka Games lead artist Anton Danko shared with us how artists are just as important as ever, detailing how AI can be used as another tool.
We listed several of the companies listed in this article, including Miniclip and Unity, as some of the top 50 mobile game makers of 2022. We’ll be unveiling our list for 2023 in the coming months.
