How artificial intelligence is changing the gaming industry

AI enhances not only the player’s experience, but also the development process itself. What used to take months of painstaking manual work can now be done in days, and sometimes even hours. Faster, more accurate, cheaper, and without any loss of quality.

“The use of AI in games is already the norm. It takes the routine off the team and frees up time for creativity,” says Yevhen Kasyanenko, an expert at KISS Software.

In this article, together with Yevhen, we’ll explore how artificial intelligence is changing the gaming industry right now: from development and design to how you’ll play your next game. Let’s go!

Modern artificial intelligence technologies in the gaming industry

AI is now involved in almost every stage of game development, from automatically drawing locations to analyzing statistics after release. Let’s take a look at where algorithms are already working to the benefit of both studios and players.

Personalization of the gaming experience

Yevhen Kasyanenko is confident that algorithms track the player’s style, thereby greatly simplifying the work. They pay attention to the following points:

• how often they win;
• what skills they use;
• where they experience difficulties.

Based on this data, artificial intelligence in games adjusts the difficulty in real time. For example, in Resident Evil Village, enemies become more aggressive if you shoot accurately, and in Alien, the xenomorph changes its route to increase the tension rather than turning the game into endless fake attacks.

Content generation: NPCs, levels, quests

Artificial intelligence in the gaming industry saves hundreds of hours for artists and scriptwriters, for example.

• In No Man’s Sky, the game itself draws new planets. Press start, and the map already has another unique location that no one has seen before.
• In AI Dungeon, the plot is invented by a neural network. You write “I open the door,” and the program immediately describes what is behind the door, adapting the story to your actions.

The main thing is that developers get a huge world and fresh stories without having to manually draw every stone or write every dialogue. The budget doesn’t grow, but there is more content

Smart characters instead of rigid scripts

Previously, non-player characters in most games worked according to pre-written scripts. Spot a player – attack, lose them – return to the point. The new generation of artificial intelligence makes their behavior flexible and similar to the reactions of real people.

In The Last of Us Part II, for example, enemies act as a coordinated group. If you hide, they flank you. If one of them is wounded, the others call him by name, change their plan, and call for backup. It feels like you’re playing against real people.

This approach raises the bar for realism, with NPCs becoming not just decoration, but a full-fledged part of the world to which the player has to react in new ways each time.

How artificial intelligence is changing the game development process

AI in games affects not only the player, but also the daily work of the team. Let’s look at three key areas highlighted by our expert.

Automation of content creation

The routine part of the art department’s work involves hundreds of identical objects and textures. AI removes this layer of work, with the following results:

• Services such as NVIDIA ACE create basic textures and emotions in minutes.
• Artists can focus on style rather than churning out models.

Yevhen Kasyanenko is confident that this saves approximately 30-40% of the time spent on secondary assets.

Artificial intelligence in game testing and debugging

Manual testing is time-consuming and expensive. Algorithms speed up the verification cycle, resulting in:

• Testing bots run through thousands of scenarios, fixing bugs and FPS drops.
• Developers receive a report on issues without a week of manual clicking.

“On one of our hyper-casual projects, manual testing took almost a week. After we connected AI bots, the entire verification cycle took two days, and the number of bugs found did not decrease,” emphasizes Yevhen Kasyanenko.

Game balance optimization

When balance is based solely on guesswork, one or two strong elements can ruin the entire gameplay. We use AI analytics to look at real numbers rather than just our impressions:

• Every night, the algorithm reviews statistics on how many times an item is picked up, how often a hero wins, and where players give up.
• Based on this data, the system shows specific imbalances, for example, +10% sword damage is too high, or “no one chooses this particular bonus,” which means it needs to be strengthened.

In my personal experience, if such targeted adjustments are made to a project, the outflow of players will noticeably decrease within two to three weeks.

The future of AI in the gaming industry

AI technologies are rapidly transforming game development, from the level of automation to the quality of the user experience. Today, artificial intelligence in computer games already helps to speed up production, adapt character behavior, and optimize resources. But the near future promises much more ambitious possibilities, from fully personalized storylines to live, unscripted character behavior.

“In 5-7 years, users will launch games where the storyline and atmosphere are shaped according to their tastes—as if Netflix had generated an exclusive series for you, but interactive,” predicts Yevhen Kasyanenko.

Custom games—the future of game development

We are already used to neural networks drawing images, writing code, and generating music. The next step is personalized games. This is not just about choosing a character’s hairstyle or difficulty level. Future tools will allow you to describe your idea in text, and AI will automatically create a prototype with suitable locations, events, and even plot twists.

An example is dynamic generation, as in AI Dungeon, where the scenario adapts to each player’s input. Only now it goes beyond text. You get a visual environment, objects, and even characters. This kind of personalization will be especially in demand in the niches of mobile games, educational projects, and indie game development.

Fully autonomous NPCs

Characters in games are no longer required to follow a strictly defined scenario. Modern AI systems allow them to:

• remember player behavior;
• form relationships (trust, aggression, alliance);
• communicate and interact even without player intervention.

Ubisoft is already implementing such mechanics in its sandbox projects. In the near future, NPCs will be able to truly live. They will interact with each other, remember the consequences of previous dialogues, and logically adapt to changes in the game world.

“This creates the effect of a living space — the player no longer feels that the world is waiting only for them. And this increases engagement many times over,” notes our specialist.

Hyper-realistic graphics and lifelike animation

AI is gradually replacing manual work even in the most subtle aspects of gaming related to characters—facial expressions, gestures, and body language. Modern technologies allow us to:

• synchronize the speech and emotions of characters in real time;
• dynamically adapt animation to realistic environments;
• automatically generate highly realistic face and body models.

A striking example of artificial intelligence in games with the creation of realism is The Last of Us Part II, where enemies shout each other’s names, adjust tactics, and express emotions in battle. Such details cannot be reproduced manually on a large scale. This is where AI becomes indispensable.

“It’s not about replacing artists or animators. It’s about enhancing their work to bring characters to life without wasting time or budget,” emphasizes Yevhen Kasyanenko.

Key challenges of applying artificial intelligence in the gaming industry

Algorithms are already capable of generating levels, dialogues, and even music. But along with new opportunities come questions that the industry is still seeking answers to. Yevhen Kasyanenko highlights three key challenges that cannot be ignored when implementing AI solutions.

Legal and ethical issues

An algorithm can compose a soundtrack, write a quest, or create a texture. But who owns the rights: the artist, the studio, or the model developer? Until the law provides a clear answer, we recommend that customers:

• Establish authorship through contracts. Include everyone involved in the project, from the designer to the ML engineer, in the license agreement.
• Store the original prompts and model versions. This is proof that the content was actually created within the company.
• Check third-party datasets for licenses. Only use datasets that allow commercial generation.

“The legal framework will certainly change, but the basic evidence of authorship needs to be collected now,” our expert emphasizes.

The danger of “lazy” game development

Algorithms are good at routine tasks, but without art direction, the result can look primitive — identical buildings, cloned dialogues, repetitive quests. We adhere to the rule of two roles:

• AI in the game is a draft and an accelerator. It creates the foundation, saving time.
• The artist and game designer are the final editors. They add style, edit the plot, and ensure the integrity of the world.

This is how we achieve balance—the speed of the machine generator and the author’s uniqueness.

Will there be room for creativity?

No neural network is yet capable of replacing the intuition of a screenwriter or the emotional message of an artist. The algorithm offers options, but the choice and dramaturgy remain with people:

• Creativity is the team’s task. AI provides the tools, but the direction is determined by the author’s concept.
• Quality control. Final testing and the human eye will reveal things that the machine will miss: cultural nuances, humor, atmosphere.

“The best game is a union of idea and technology. The algorithm speeds up the process, but the team remains the driver,”says Yevhen Kasyanenko.

This approach helps to use the potential of AI in games without losing individuality and complying with legal frameworks that are still being formed.

Why KISS Software is a reliable partner for AI solutions in games

We help studios implement algorithms for real time savings and metric growth. From idea to release, we work according to a clear plan.

What exactly do we do for you:

• We design an AI module for the task. Whether it’s level generation, correct item placement, or bot testers, we first describe the business goal, then select the algorithm and dataset.
• We integrate the solution without slowing down sprints. Integration runs parallel to the team’s current work: code review, CI/CD, documentation — everything in the usual pipeline.
• We train people and show them metrics. We hold workshops where designers, programmers, and analysts learn how to use the tool and read reports. In just a week, the team sees how artificial intelligence in games reduces routine work.

“We give developers a tool that saves hours and budgets, rather than adding headaches,” – Yevhen Kasyanenko.

Conclusion – how to implement AI in games today

AI technologies have become available to every game developer. Even a small team can achieve a noticeable increase in speed and quality by starting with three practical steps:

• Automate content. Use sprites, levels, and test quests generation so that artists and game designers can focus on key stylistics rather than routine tasks.
• Optimize balance through analytics. Connect an AI module that tracks win rates, item selection frequencies, and completion times, and suggests specific edits.
• Run bot testers. Automated agents will run through thousands of scenarios in hours and cut the QA cycle in half, freeing up the team for fine-tuning.

Studios that are already implementing such solutions today are setting trends tomorrow—fewer bugs at release, higher player retention, and significant budget savings.

Want to speed up your project by at least 30%? Write to KISS Software, and in a short time we will prepare a personalized plan for implementing artificial intelligence in your game, as well as show you exactly where you will save time and money.