People are already amazed at what generative AI can do in image generators, but Roblox is taking it further by letting creators generate entire worlds. Following its announcement of a conversational AI assistant for the platform, anyone can create complex worlds through text prompts.
Roblox's World-Creating Chatbot
It would now be easier to create a playable world in Roblox with the help of an AI chatbot. The new tool was announced during the Roblox Developers Conference (RDC) this year, which aside from providing information, can also generate elements for a Roblox world.
Through typing in prompts, creators can instruct the AI chatbot to build assets like trees, castles, floors, flower beds, and more. A demonstration shows that the tool was able to create moss-covered columns and broken buildings when the player wanted a game set in ancient ruins.
Roblox's AI tool could also generate assets that players can interact with, such as trees that can be chopped down. When a creator asked for players to spawn by a campfire, the generative AI added a campfire and a stool within the ruins.
The elements that were added can come from the platform's own marketplace, or a visual library from the creator themselves, says Roblox spokesperson Roman Skuratovskiy. The AI chatbot is even advanced enough to help creators with code, as per The Verge.
With those capabilities, Roblox CTO Daniel Sturman said that Roblox's AI assistant could help create basic gameplay mechanics like teleporting players to a different place when they touch a door, which means that almost all the hard parts of creating a world can be done by AI.
Sturman believes that generative AI is going to reduce creators' "dependence on specific technical skills and enable the big differentiation between creators to be the spark of genius they have in what an experience should be and how it should operate."
It will take a while before creators can test it out since the conversational AI assistant is set to be launched this late 2023, or even early next year. But, this gives an opportunity for world makers who don't have much experience since the AI can both answer questions and create.
Roblox in Meta Quest VR
The platform is doing very well for itself as it arrives in a prominent VR game market. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Roblox will be available on Meta Quest's platform, App Lab, which will be compatible with Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets.
With the upcoming release of its Meta Quest 3 headset, the game will likely be compatible there as well. Roblox is already encouraging its creators to make VR worlds through the Creator Dashboard, as mentioned in Engadget.
Both the platform coming to VR and having an AI assistant for building worlds could go hand in hand in adding more players to its already massive and fast-growing player base. In virtual reality, players can have a more immersive experience in a world that can be created and enhanced with AI tools.
