How Valve vet Chet Faliszek and Bossa Studios are pushing game narrative using AI

pcgamesinsider.biz:

In May of last year, Valve vet Chet Faliszek (left in picture) announced his departure from the Seattle games giant. Many of us in the industry were eagerly awaiting where the narrative and tech-focused innovator would end up, and in September we found out.

The former Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead and Portal writer had found a new home at London's own Bossa Studios. At first, the announcement seemed surprising. After working at Valve, Bossa might seem like a smaller studio, a step-down from his previous heights, but upon further examination, both parties are interested in experimenting with new technologies for their games.

"I’ve know the team at Bossa for over five years and chatted with them through the years about taking chances, trying to do something different, something that could fail," Faliszek tells PCGamesInsider.biz.

"Bossa embraces that same attitude about risk and non-traditional games with games like Surgeon Simulator, I am Bread, and now Worlds Adrift. So together we are using AI to do something new in the narrative space."

Asked what exactly he's up to at the Shoreditch-based game developer, Faliszek echoes this notion of experimentation once again.

"We are working to push on narrative in games in an interesting way," he says.

"What happens when you give a player complete agency? When they can do almost anything, and the world reacts to them. That allows them to approach and solve problems in multiple ways and create situations in the world that are distinct to them.

"And once they are doing that, the world reacts to them in ways that reflect it. This is a really simple example, let’s say one way you want to get information from a faction is to steal it. You don’t think anyone saw you - job well done, right?

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