UK-based game publisher Kwalee is embracing the use of AI in future games production with the introduction of KAI (Kwalee Artificial Intelligence), a company-wide program that will allow employees to pitch new, AI-enhanced ideas.
Kwalee, the makers of Draw It! and Rocket Sky has wholeheartedly embraced the potential of AI, and through KAI employees can use open-source artificial intelligence tools to craft ideas to improve the business. Each proposal will be evaluated by a senior panel, and can contribute to any aspect of the business, including game design, data science, marketing, and customer support.
And the publisher has good reason to be optimistic as to the program’s success, as it previously experimented with the use of AI in its 2019 title Draw It, its most popular game with over 115m installs.
Pitfalls & perks
One of the many concerns with the use of AI in business has been as to whether it will be used to replace human employees. Streamlining game development is something that many tools have been developed for, but the potential to replace creative roles in the game development process inevitably brings with it some concerns.
Kwalee CEO David Darling is bullish as to the power of AI to aid their employees. “By offering our team an opportunity to pitch ideas to integrate AI in our work at Kwalee, we can boost our productivity and help us create the next generation of entertaining games.”
We spoke to Kwalee PR manager Joanna Mazur to get a better understanding of how this initiative and adoption of the AI in the office will work.
PocketGamer.biz: Isn’t there a chance that AI in the office could negatively impact existing jobs?
Joanna Mazur: Absolutely not. AI is supposed to support us in our daily work, not replace employees. We can already see that using various AI tools allows us to achieve the intended results faster. It has already positively impacted our employees, allowing them to focus on more creative and strategic work, improving the quality of the games produced, and creating new jobs. As a result, we all are more engaged and motivated.
How will AI help employees in their work and can you give some examples?
Kwalee employees use the possibilities of AI in various fields. AI benefits us by automating routine tasks and freeing time for more creative and strategic work. Another positive impact of AI at Kwalee is the ability to analyse and use data innovatively, prepare game icons, prepare translations, do dialogue writing, and many more tasks. For example, when we’re working on a game that’s about to see the daylight – a sneak peek for you and your readers – the AI tool is used in many different stages of the narrative design process for that game, e.g., character design and brainstorming events. The AI tool we use still requires some facilitation and isn’t perfect, but it works as a great starting point or brainstorming partner.
Other uses of AI take a more science-fiction approach, as tech company Brainamics utilises it to interpret data that measures player’s emotional states in order to improve game design and ElectricNoir are using artificial intelligence to help create interactive drama games for mobile.
