The machine invasion of art is in full swing. This article has collected answers to all questions about AI in game development and video game art styles.

Creating Unique Game Art Styles: Automated or Creative Process

Art has always been a complex subject that arose due to the development of human thinking, the transfer of the first associations, and attempts to depict the subject. Studying the history of art, one can notice how historical events, the discovery of new materials and painting techniques, the problems of a particular era, and, of course, the development of a person, his thinking and vision of the world influenced creativity.

The 21st century has changed art, especially in games, and has created a new problem – can an AI generated painting outperform a real person? A modern game art company comprises artists, fashion designers, and concept designers who spend dozens of hours creating video game styles.

How AI Creates Unique Game Art Styles

A neural network is a set of simple, interconnected elements that add up to a primitive semblance of a brain. AI analyzes the works uploaded to its database, recognizes images, techniques, and examples of video game art styles, and then uses the knowledge gained to create its product according to the prescribed task.

The machine learning algorithm can find dependencies, features, and rules in any loaded object, be it painting, music, or poetry. Neural networks process a large amount of data while generalizing and inferring them differently. As a result, new art style games can be created that incorporate the features of other projects.

A simple example is the art generator app, which turns a real person’s image into an anime style based on given algorithms and “own” feelings. But this is in no way suitable for large projects in game development. Still, for indie studios, AI can be a useful assistant – teach a new team member the basics and examples of video game art styles, and the result will be ready soon. On the other hand, a professional outsourcing studio can also create unique game art styles for a new project and save valuable time. The visual part of any video game is half the success of any project, so this aspect is best kept under the control of the human mind.

Features of AI Art

The influence of neural networks is comparable to the advent of electricity and the Internet. Like other general profile technologies, this technology is universal and transforms society at different levels. The algorithms of Google, Facebook, Spotify, and many other platforms try to predict what we want to see based on our activity on the web and offer it to us.

One of the most popular examples of how AI-Art works is when, based on Big Data analysis, a deep style generator machine creates new images or models for games according to specified criteria. But, unfortunately, the role of artificial intelligence in such projects is usually exaggerated: it is presented as a full-fledged collaborator, although in reality, of course, new compositions are recorded with the great participation of professional artists and designers.

As you can see, even despite the autonomy and almost freedom of action, AI requires constant monitoring. If a game studio decides to use neural networks to save time, then such an undertaking will not always succeed because AI can be unpredictable and destroy all timings. This is one of the main problems of using AI art generators as an assistant or full-fledged tools for one game art studio. 

Is Game Development Ready for AI?

Human and artificial intelligence work differently, but by combining them, we can get a mechanism that will amaze us with its results. Brand new 3D game art styles, techniques, and tools are just a short list of what we can expect soon.

Despite all the negative aspects, AI can create unique game art styles in minutes or seconds when a person may need several days. The speed of production, in this case, is an advantage of neural networks, but are they able to imbue the philosophy of the character, draw sensual and touching art, or have their own 2D art styles? So far, humanity is at the top of creating art for games and does not use AI to its full extent, but everything has its time.