Nvidia has unveiled a new tech demo showcasing AI video game characters with voice and animation powered by the Nvidia Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE) as part of GDC 2024 and GTC 2024.
Created in collaboration with AI gaming startup Inworld AI, the playable demo is built on Unreal Engine 5. It features Nvidia ACE technology combined with Inworld Engine to allow developers to implement realistically animated NPC characters powered by AI that They react dynamically to the player. decisions.
Noble Covert protocolIn the demo, you take on the role of a private detective and engage in conversation with various characters to discover information and progress through objectives.
You can see some short clips of the demo for yourself in a recently released explainer video that also shows some interesting looks at the software development kit (SDK) behind the scenes. This includes a screen featuring some written character details, where the developer explained what a specific character knows in-universe, described some of his backstory, and filled in information about his current mood and personality.
All of this information informs how the character will interact with players in the game. Kylan Gibbs, CEO of Inworld AI, says that “the combination of Nvidia Ace and Inworld Engine microservices allows developers to create digital characters that can drive dynamic narratives, opening up new possibilities for how players can decipher, deduce and play.” .
Analysis: Do gamers really want AI?
While the concept of NPC characters who can react to your actions may seem tempting on paper, it raises the question of whether gamers really want generative AI technology in their games. The extensive role-playing game (RPG) Baldur's Gate 3 was one of last year's biggest hits, largely due to its meticulously crafted narrative and detailed characters.
Although Covert protocol is undeniably impressive from a purely technological standpoint, it's hard to imagine that AI-generated character dialogue can compare to something that's been carefully constructed by a team of expert writers. The dialogue shown so far also seems pretty basic, mostly involving characters sitting in static rooms.
Whether such technology can actually be implemented in the complex world of a full game remains to be seen, but Inworld says it will release the source code for Covert protocol at an unspecified time in the near future to allow developers to learn from its code and implement similar systems in their own creations.
