Integrating AI into games is no longer a novel topic.

As early as 2005, in the game "F.E.A.R.", Monolith Productions introduced AI to give enemies simple thinking abilities. They could communicate through simple commands, judge threats based on player behavior, and even use maps and weapons for tactical maneuvers like flanking.

To this day, the AI system in F.E.A.R. remains one of the widely studied samples in the gaming industry.

With the rapid development of large models, today's AI presents a new face.

The emergence of NVIDIA ACE for Games allows NPCs to generate real-time dialogues with players using large language models, based on pre-set story backgrounds, settings, and character traits set by designers, giving us a glimpse of the possibility of "infusing souls" into NPCs.

Companies like Intel and MSI are also developing game assistance functions based on large AI models, striving to make AI a "helper" that accompanies you and me in playing games.

However, these operations are essentially integrating AI empowerment into games to enhance the experience.

But have you ever thought that one day, without a game engine, AI large models alone could automatically generate games?

Don't bother thinking about it, because this has already become a reality.

Recently, startup Decart AI and chip company Etched announced that, with the support of prominent investors such as Sequoia Capital and Oren Zeev, they recently successfully secured $21 million in funding and created the world's first real-time, playable, interactive AI game—Oasis.

(Image source: Decart AI)

Unlike the previously introduced approach of integrating AI into engine-based games, Oasis is touted as the first playable AI-simulated "open world" that immerses players in a world entirely generated by large models, allowing them to move, jump, pick up items, break bricks, and generate the surrounding environment in real-time based on different player actions.

Our understanding of games may truly be revolutionized by AI?

How does AI make the game world infinitely changeable?

The method to experience Oasis is actually quite simple.

Currently, Decart AI has publicly released a fully playable three-minute demo on its webpage, and everyone can play the game by visiting the official Oasis AI website.

For domestic users, this webpage does not require any special means to connect, but Decart AI states that the webpage can only run on Chrome browsers, meaning that users cannot try the game on mobile devices or other browsers (such as Safari or Firefox).

To give you an idea of what it looks like when opened with an incompatible browser, here is an illustration.

(Image source: Leikeji)

If you use the Chrome browser, you will see an interface like this.

Oasis defaults to providing five basic map images, including Mountain Meadow, Desert Expanse, Rugged Coastline, Danse Forest, and Village Outpost, and even supports uploading "Minecraft" screenshots to generate unique worlds.

(Image source: Leikeji)

Oh, and there's a queue.

Fortunately, there weren't many people actually in the queue, and I waited for about half a minute before it was my turn. After simply selecting a map to enter the game, my first reaction was—

This thing is so blurry!

(Image source: Leikeji)

Of course, the blurriness is normal.

According to the official introduction, without any delay, Oasis can achieve 20 frames per second rendering at 360P resolution when running on H100 and generate real-time video interaction content.

For those of us accustomed to 2K/4K, 120Hz/240Hz, such visual effects are indeed a bit unbearable.

Moreover, even in the company's high-speed network environment, I still felt obvious lag when moving and rotating the camera, and the sensitivity between operations fluctuated greatly, resulting in a very sticky operation feel.

(Image source: Leikeji)

But, "it just works".

The fact that this thing can actually run is astonishing in itself.

While wandering around in this world, you'll even find that Oasis has basically mastered the more complex game mechanics of "Minecraft", such as construction, spatial positioning, block placement, day-night lighting, inventory management, object understanding, and more.

If you can control your curiosity and not turn around, you can keep walking indefinitely along the default field of view without too many flaws.

(Image source: Leikeji)

But once you turn around, you'll find out—

Something's not right. The path you just walked on definitely wasn't this one.

Moreover, when you're ready to set off again, you'll find that your destination has already disappeared and has even been replaced by an unnameable, somewhat similar yet entirely different eerie landscape, and the surrounding world has changed drastically.

In a sense, it's as if I'm in a non-Euclidean space where the existence of all matter no longer follows the conventional rules of perspective.

Digging blocks? Of course.

(Image source: Leikeji)

But after digging up a block, what appears may not necessarily be the terrain beneath it. The block you're digging may be replaced by any block; it might turn into a fence, glass, or stay the same, but it's rare to encounter a situation where the game rules are followed.

And digging up a block doesn't mean you can pick it up.

(Image source: Leikeji)

The fastest way to place a block is not to dig, pick up, and place but to constantly refresh your character's backpack until Oasis decides you should have a block, then try your best to drag it to your inventory, being careful not to be randomly replaced by another item, before you can start building.

By the way, even if you start building, you need to ensure that your line of sight doesn't leave the block, or it will be refreshed by Oasis AI.

Coupled with the current time limit on the webpage version, this makes building a house in Oasis extremely difficult.

As for completing the challenges set by Oasis?

In the five games I actually played, I couldn't even find a single creature besides the player, let alone zombies or anything like that.

More like an interactive video than a game

Alright, that's it for the experience section. If you're interested, you can try it yourself.

After such an unusual attempt, I believe many people will have the same question in their minds as I do: How is this achieved?

As the technical support for Oasis, both companies have released technical blogs, with Etched providing computing power and Decart AI primarily responsible for training the model.

To put it simply, Oasis AI is a generative AI that can generate images or videos based on user input.

Similar to Midjourney/Dall-e, which generates images based on user input, or Kuaishou Keling, which generates videos based on user input, Oasis AI utilizes data trained on a large number of "Minecraft" game videos to create corresponding game frames in real-time as we play.

(Image source: Decart AI)

Unlike image or video generation applications, after training, Oasis has been able to understand basic game mechanics, such as jumping over steps in front of the user and connecting multiple fences. However, its grasp of distance and spatial perception still needs improvement.

So, essentially, this is just an AI video calculated in real-time based on player interaction.

Coincidentally, in August this year, Google released GameNGen, the world's first game engine fully driven by neural models, which can interactively simulate the classic shooter game "DOOM" at speeds exceeding 20 frames per second on a single TPU.

For an idea of the effect, refer to the GIF below.

(Image source: GameNGen)

At the time, some claimed that game engines were no longer needed and that large AI models could generate real-time, playable games for players based on diffusion models.

But in my opinion, this future is still quite far away from us.

First, the consumption of resources is a factor. The computational resources consumed behind Oasis are incalculable, and the final effect achieved is merely a 360P/20FPS game. Moreover, GameNGen currently does not even have any playable demo content, and performance requirements are an important aspect that cannot be ignored.

Second, AI currently cannot grasp the concept of resources well. In the actual experience of Oasis, the content and quantity of the player's inventory are constantly and irregularly changing, which is consistent with my experience of difficulty in defining constants and variables during daily interactions with large language models.

Most importantly, it lies in the principle of how these AI-generated games are created. Whether it's "Minecraft" or "DOOM", they are essentially renowned game masterpieces widely circulated in the world, which allows AI companies to acquire a large amount of video resources to train corresponding game models.

But what if it's a new game?

With only a concept, no art, no design, no videos, and no previous foundation, AI-generated games today are nothing more than castles in the air.

Will Oasis be a good start or just another hyped AI concept? Perhaps only time can give us the answer.

Source: Leikeji