Following on from my previous blog about where AI Wars is up to and what still remains to be done, a wonderful author friend suggested I go back even further and unpack how it all began and got to where it is now. So that is what today’s post is going to focus on.
In The Beginning
I was invited to a meeting about a new serious game idea at Cranfield University where, to my surprise and delight, I was pitched my own work in serious games at Cranfield. Greeted in the meeting by photos of my latest games FutureSCAPE and K2 and their successes was encouraging – and a good sign that Cranfield wanted more experiential game design.
An Overview
The initial pitch for AI Wars came from a Cranfield academic. His vision was clear:
- A full day workshop format
- 5-6 rounds of interactive scenarios
- Competing teams made up of 4-5 participants
- AI-generated scenario outcomes, like a turn the page adventure game
- Scoring system based on stakeholder objectives and AI-scored responses.
I can’t deny that talking about AI scoring metrics in my next game was very exciting for me – a brand new challenge my developer and I hadn’t faced before, but I knew we would figure it out somehow.
The intended learning outcomes for the game were three-fold. First, to explore how large corporations respond to the threat of disruptive innovation based on Christensen’s theory. Second, blending AI and storytelling to create an immersive experience. And third, to enhance the understanding of culture, change, and power dynamics.
The Mechanics
Inspired by turn the page adventure novels, the academic, Kevin, wanted an experience that would change, depending on how you played it. Here’s where AI would come in: analysing user inputs and creating unique outcomes (within the constraints we set) for each interaction to an event that occurs (exciting stuff!) Users would be expected to make decisions in their teams each round – allocating their resources to specific strategies, alongside a narrative description of WHY.
Each response to each round of decision making would bear its own outcome and score which accumulated over the rounds of the game, to reveal at the end, who responded most effectively to disruptive innovation.
After the initial excitement had died down and I’d discussed potential approaches with my developer, I made the executive decision that we needed to create a non-AI scoring version first. This would allow us to test the game mechanics and story arc, before investing in new technology challenges which could cause significant delays to release. So, while we explored possibile approaches, we decided to hold off. AI would still help to create the game, just not handle the scoring in Version 1.
First Drafts
As mentioned in my previous post, to speed up production of this game we wanted to reuse a lot of the tech base we had already created for FutureSCAPE and K2. This included using a similar User Interface design, auto-team allocation from a QR code, inputting decisions and resource use via your mobile devices, experiencing videos on a large in-room screen, and team progress being shared at set intervals – culminating in a final reveal at the end.
The Story
Before you can start creating too much else, you need to know roughly what your end-game is, and how your users are going to get there. This is where the storytelling part of my role comes in. I used AI to sift through a multitude of historical case studies and current world trends in the health sector. From there, I started outlining the story of the game and how each event would unfold based on the user’s reaction, grounded in historical data.
The Look and Feel
Once the story foundations were in place, it was time to start growing them visually. Who is who in the zoo (so to speak), their beliefs, values, and motivations? How do you need to act to win their favour, and whose favour is important and when? How to achieve this?
- Creating biographies for who the user plays as as well as each Non-Playable Character (NPC) that they interact with throughout the game
- Finalising story arc and scenario details
- Developing a scoring metric (currently on the second version)
- Codifying the impacts and reactions of all NPCs to all event possibilities
- Script writing for the in-room videos
- Choosing the right AI voice over for the intended audience
- Finalising the look and feel of all UI assets
In Conclusion
It’s been a wonderful journey thus far – one that has challenged my writing and game design skills. My hope is that AI Wars will be impactful, engaging, and adaptable across different sectors, providing a safe place for users to test their responses to disruptive innovation.
I would love to know if you have any experience creating similar games or if you would be interested in learning more about this one, or even playing it once it’s released!
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