Prokop Jirsa, who is one of the new creative directors at Kingdom Come Deliverance studio Warhorse, has recently expressed his views on AI and it’s possible uses in gaming which looks to be going mainstream right now with the majority of companies implementing some form of the new technology for developing their games. In a recent interview with PC Gamer, he said that except for creating art, there are multiple areas where AI can bring lots of flexibility to the overall development process:
“Even if you’re not a programmer, for example, you can code little things that help you. Not necessarily something that will be used in the game, but, for example, you’ll be able to access some information in a more comprehensible way … or, for example, quick generation of some concept art, so you can actually communicate better to concept artists what you need,” he said.
“These things used during the development are, I think, something that will be or already is helpful, but I don’t think it is so far reaching as some other people think,” he continued.
He also added that he expects the rise of AI to be akin to the origins of the internet: “I think nowadays the hype is way too much. I think it will not be as useful as some people think, at least in the short term. I do think it’s transformative technology and a lot of things, but it will be more gradual than people think,” he stated.
Elsewhere in the interview, the dev also shared insights on how Warhorse studios deals with difficulty spikes in their games which are remarkably different than what most developers would do:
“We feel if you overcome the friction, or the friction is intentionally there … then the friction helps you,” he said. “Because you overcome the friction, you feel better about yourself, you feel that you’ve actually overcome some actual problem or difficulty.”
“You will lose some players that are really not there for any friction, they just want to have this smooth experience. And there’s nothing bad about smooth experiences! They have their place … but we are intentionally different. And I think Kingdom Come 2–1 as well, but 2 mostly–works so well in this regard.”
