Summary
- Microsoft created a playable AI-generated Quake II demo using their WHAMM model.
- Gameplay experiences with the AI-generated Quake II are bizarre, with morphing enemies and distorted visuals.
- While the AI demo is impressive, it falls short in comparison to the actual Quake II gaming experience.
Developers have been prodding at concepts for using generative AI in gaming. One of these concepts involves having the AI generate the entire game, which is just as weird as it sounds. We’ve seen people do their own take on this concept by feeding an AI tons of visual data based on a game and then allowing players to play in a generated world. Microsoft has released its own take using Quake 2, and while it’s surprisingly playable, it still feels like something I’d dream up while running a nasty fever.
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AI-generated Quake II is really, really weird
As spotted by Tom’s Hardware, Microsoft has made a playable version of Quake II that’s entirely AI-generated. It’s a tech demo for a model called WHAMM (World and Human Action MaskGIT Model) which Microsoft hopes will help developers create games.
You can give this demo a spin for yourself over on the Copilot Gaming Experience, but if you’d rather not, I’ve given it a go myself. The first time I played, enemies spawned normally; however, whenever they fired a gun, the muzzle flash would “stick” on them and they would slowly distort until they were a mess of colors and shapes.
The second time I played, you can watch along in the GIF above. This time, the enemies didn’t even spawn; they were dead the moment I entered the room. Trying to look at them caused the AI to morph and change what the bodies looked like, changing from whole corpses to individual chunks, flashes of limbs in the corner of my eye that vanished when I looked at them. Finally, I ran into a dark corner to see if the AI could “remember” where I was when I re-emerged, only to be dumped into a dark, hellish place with a fan at the end. I’ll admit, it was a good way to experience a fever dream without the actual illness.
Was it impressive for an AI? Sure. Would I play it over the actual Quake II? Not in a million years. Still, it was interesting to see how the AI “saw” the world of Quake, even if it killed all the bad guys before I could even fight them. Maybe a little more time in the oven. Or LAN parties.
#Playing #AIrendered #version #Quake #feels #fever #dream #worst
source: https://www.xda-developers.com/ai-rendered-version-quake-ii/
