AI is a hot topic. We’ve seen these tools really excel over the recent past couple of years. This is also a touchy subject for many people, as there’s a real fear that AI will replace people’s jobs. We’ve already seen that happen with different companies. One area where AI is often criticized is anything to do with art, whether it’s movies, music, television, advertisements, or, of course, video games. Today, we’re learning that AI was used in the development of The Blood of Dawnwalker, but the director behind the project was careful about how they approached AI.
The Blood of Dawnwalker has already gained a strong following. With Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the director behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, now overseeing this new IP, RPG fans are hopeful that lighting can be captured in a bottle again. Now, a new report reveals how the development studio at Rebel Wolves used AI to support its game development.
The Blood of Dawnwalker AI Tools Explained
Speaking with Eurogamer, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz noted that they used AI in early development. The team was building out the story and wanted to hear some lines spoken as they continued to chip away at the project. So rather than hiring voice-over artists right then, they decided to use AI first.
AI recordings allowed the team to hear the story and test parts of the game. From there, they could iterate on sections and build out a story that they were happy with. It’s only after that phase that actors were hired to record the final lines for the game. So it looks like AI recordings weren’t being kept, and their approach to using AI in this way is aiding developers rather than taking away jobs.
We used AI for voices during the testing period of time before the recordings. Because my experience from the previous projects was that you [understand] a lot more when you hear the voices, and we wanted to have it as soon as possible to test the game and iterate on it. And then when we decided the story was great and it worked, we started the proper recordings with the actors. This is the use of the AI we had in our company and I think that it’s quite reasonable.
Konrad also made it very clear that he believes AI shouldn’t replace actual people. Instead, these tools should only further aid developers rather than take over someone’s position within the studio. Of course, we’ve seen this subject before, with other developers chiming in on how tools can reduce production time.
For instance, the director of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 hopes AI continues to advance, allowing developers to speed up the time it takes to finish a project. This is also something that a former Rockstar Games developer expressed interest in, as it could make GTA 7 development time far shorter than GTA 6. Meanwhile, in other news related to this upcoming RPG, we’ve recently learned that there is no main quest.