Today Frost Giant Studios announced that it is considering the use of generative AI to drive characters in its upcoming RTS game Stormgate.
The announcement comes in the form of a video introduced by CEO and co-founder Tim Morten introducing a character interacting with the player during a "briefing."
Specifically, we get to see a Xenoarchaeologist named Tara Reade driven by generative AI by Convai after having been converted into an Unreal Engine 5 Metahuman asset The developers training the agent with some of the game's lore and character backstory information.
The video shows the player asking the character some questions via voice char, as she responds with a frankly appalling performance, even breaking the fourth wall.
Luckily, the developers are only considering the use of the technology, and have not decided on it just yet.
A.I. technology and the conversation around it is quickly evolving. At Frost Giant, if we ever decide to implement this technology, we would first need to make sure it makes the game more fun, feels immersive, and also has the blessing of the actors union.
For now, we hope you enjoy this experiment, and be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments.
You can watch the video below and judge for yourself.
Speaking of the comments, which included many negative opinion, Storm Giant mentioned that this would be additive to bespoke human storytelling and voice acting, and reiterated that they would not consider the technology unless SAG-AFTRA (the Actors' union) gave its blessing.
We are firm believers in human storytelling—with human writers and voice actors shaping our setting, characters, and storylines. We see there being some potential here to deepen a players’ immersion with technology, but we would not pursue using this tech in our game unless it looked and sounded better—and won’t consider it at all without the blessing of the voice actors union (SAG-AFTRA).
Yet, it's worth mentioning that many voice actors spoke against SAG-AFTRA's decision to strike a deal with a generative AI company back in January, so the blessing of the union may not necessarily represent the blessing of the voice acting community.
If you're unfamiliar with Stormgate, it's a classic-style RTS that brings back memories of Blizzard's Starcraft (at least in gameplay, since Starcraft had excellent human voice acting), mostly due to the fact that it's being developed by a team built around a core of Starcraft 2 and Warcraft 3 veterans.
The game was announced in June 2022 and then showcased at several events including the PC Gaming show in June 2023 and Gamescom in August 2023. It has also received several testing rounds. Recently, it received additional funding via a successful Kickstarter campaign that gathered $2,380,701 in pledges.
The game is coming to Steam and you can already wishlist it. A firm release date has not been announced just yet-
