The Future of Immersive Gaming#
Today, the multiplayer gaming world is full of popcorn. Popcorn is light, tasty, and addicting. But it isn't satisfying.
Our project Haze: Saltborne rejects that gaming has to be that way. We are a permadeath roleplaying experience that discards the insta-gratification of today's gaming. Leveling up can take weeks. Players communicate via text chat. There are no +2 Swords of Thunder.
Our dungeon masters (DMs) are instrumental to creating a responsive, immersive world. They design and run plots, control a range of NPCs, and are a guiding hand to the players' world. At their best, they help faciliate the best multiplayer gaming experiences players will ever encounter.
I believe the future of multiplayer gaming is not the popcorn stuff, but rich, intriciate online experiences. These experiences will demand AI tooling, and players are waiting for someone to build it.
DMs don't scale#
DMs are a scarce commodity. One must be a great storyteller, excel at improv, and have a sense of customer service.
A large-scale multiplayer world could never be built with human DMs. We've found that DMs get overwhelmed during interactions with above 8 concurrent players, which means the economics of a large-scale world with only human DMs will never work. Visiting Roll20 or other "Book-a-DM" sites shows that DMs are costly such that a large-scale, always-on persistent world like Haze could never work.
Haze gets by through wonderful volunteer DMs who love the world, community, and vision. But the next big thing in gaming demands AI-enablement.
AI will extend the DM#
To build a large-scale, immersive gaming experience, we have to extend the reach of DMs. The only way to do that is through AI tools.
NPC Dialogue - Enabling great, lifelike NPC dialogue is going to be the first step in the journey. One DM can only play one NPC at a time. A large-scale, immersive world demands AI-enabled dialogue that respects every NPC has their own background, goals, and dreams.
Spontaneity - Admittedly, players don't demand, expect, or want constant DM coverage. They're happy to spend some time crafting or sitting around the fire roleplaying with their friends. But the potential for the discovery of new lore, an unexpected raid on their settlement, or an unexpected trade caravan passing through makes the experience more magical. Scripted encounters break the magic and immersion. The world demands spontaneous, beautiful experiences that only AI will be able to generate at scale.
Story Design - Coming up with stories and plotlines is challenging! A AI writing assistant will reduce the burden on human writers by amplifying creativity and keeping the world lore straight. A large-scale, immersive world will demand AI-enablement of story because the human recordkeeping and writing would never scale.
Let's build#
Haze: Saltborne is the continuation of a project first launched over 20 years ago. We reunited in 2020 because our shared past gaming experience was so memorable, and never again equalled.
AI will enable the future's most memorable gaming experiences, extending the reach of DMs to every one of millions of palyers. Let's make it happen.