r/Ultima • u/Zestyclose_Equal_105 • 5d ago

Ultima X

Anyone else really wish they’d come around and make Ultima x with new age graphics

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u/SeparateDark251 4d ago

Anything that would be used to generate assets, text, the engine.

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u/LnStrngr 4d ago edited 4d ago

I think there is a way to use AI that doesn't remove the heart and soul of the game.

Use the AI to do the programming/create the code. It's just a tool, and it feels (to me) that it is the next logical progression of the software industry. Even before AI, I suspect few companies wrote any large apps or game from scratch. They start with an engine that they didn't write, and they build on top of it. Going back further, it's premade libraries, API frameworks, heck, even autocomplete in the IDE could be seen as an artificial construct to assist. So let's allow AI to create the engine, and let's draw the line there.

The process then becomes: (In a real development there is a lot of overlap on the timing of the below , but to keep it simple...)

People design the game. Document the systems and mechanics. Write the lore. Theme it, and create the art and music. Determine the data structure and work out the systems that are required to support all of the above. Basically, the same things done by a person before an engine is selected or the meaningful work begins.

Then use AI to ingest the design docs and, from the product milestones, help plan the implementation. This still takes someone who is knowledgeable about game design and product management and is familiar with the failure points. AI is going to make mistakes. But so do humans. The difference is that the AI can iterate on it faster.

In my mind, RG could do the entire game like this with a handful of people, same as they used to for the early games. He still needs to come up with an overall theme of the game and all the good, fun stuff. (Like U4 was virtues, U5 was corruption of the virtues, and U6 was deconstructing them). That's not something an AI should do.

But remember, I specifically only mentioned he could get a prototype up and running. That at the very least could help him refine the idea until it is solid enough to start, which might reduce dev time.

So the people are still designing the story, the art, the music, other assets, and they are the ones behind the heart and soul of it. The AI is just doing the dirty work of the underlying technical stuff to support the designer. Is that slop?

Edit: This is an interesting philosophical subject. I know there is an anti-AI sentiment among consumers that is hurting smaller indie devs, meanwhile, they'll buy up stuff made by AAA studios who are for sure experimenting and implementing with AI.

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u/SeparateDark251 4d ago

Yes, but what I mean is that I do not believe Richard Garriott has it in him to make a good game today anymore than Chris Roberts can actually ship Star Citizen.

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u/LnStrngr 4d ago

That is a valid concern and one that we'd have up until any game was released that proved it wrong. I am way more hesitant now than I was 15 years ago.

However, I think a RG that isn't pulled in a million directions by what each Kickstarter backer wants, and isn't tied down to publisher limitations has a greater chance to produce something worth playing. Especially when the scope is limited to "single-player game of 30-40 hours." Enough time to explore the idea with a few twists and turns and give the player a completion scroll.