Honkai: Star Rail, the recently-launched turn-based RPG, uses “latest AI technologies”, developer miHoYo reveals.
The latest game from Genshin Impact developer miHoYo, Honkai: Star Rail, had a bit of AI assistance during its creation. That’s according to a piece over on IGN, in which the Chinese studio talked a little bit about the game’s design – and how machine learning was used to help make its sci-fi RPG.
Although the vast majority of the game was developed conventionally – as in, by human being sitting at workstations for long periods of time – miHoYo revealed that “the latest AI technologies” were used here and there in Star Rail's making. “These techniques have been implemented to improve the facial appearance and behavioural patterns of characters, enhancing the immersive gaming experience with a more natural representation overall,” the studio said.
The developer added that it’s still early days when it comes to using AI in game development; the describe it as a “supplement” to their standard working practices and can’t yet be used for “fundamentally solving issues from the ground up.”
That could change in the future, though. “We will focus on the [repercussions] and development of AI,” miHoYo adds, “figuring out a more robust implementation in the future.”
Released for PC, iOS and Android on 26 April, Honkai: Star Rail is already proving to be another success for miHoYo, having garnered a reported 20 million downloads within a couple of days of its launch.
Like Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail is a free-to-play action-RPG, with its sci-fi plot following on from miHoYo’s own Honkai Impact 3rd. Turn-based combat is one mechanical point of difference, while Genshin Impact’s gacha system returns to coax players into exchanging currency for handy loot boxes.
A PlayStation 5 version of Honkai: Star Rail (or should that be HonkAI: Star Rail?) is in the works, but a release date hasn’t been announced as yet.
