Roblox announced Thursday a brand new feature called “Construct,” allowing users to design games from their mobile devices using AI.
The Construct feature lets anyone turn easy text prompts right into a basic game with none programming experience. For instance, if a user types, “Let’s make a comfy adventure game set in a dense forest,” the brand new feature will generate an initial version of the sport, which users can then modify and share with friends.
“Powered by a broad set of AI models, including each open-source and proprietary Roblox models, Construct handles gameplay mechanics, environment, characters, visual style, sound, and more,” the corporate wrote in its blog post.
Firms like Google, Microsoft, and Tencent have built similar tools. Nevertheless, AI-powered game generation has raised concerns amongst developers and players, with critics arguing that reducing the barriers to game development via text prompts may lead to an influx of low-quality and repetitive games. This will also increase competition on the platform, as creators are required to compete not only with other developers but in addition with AI-generated content that may be produced much more quickly.
These concerns are reflected on this yr’s Game Developers Conference State of the Game Industry survey, which found that 52% of game industry professionals consider generative AI is having a negative impact on the industry.
To handle this, Roblox plans to rank these AI-generated games based on player retention, much like the system used for other games on the platform. If a game is just not played, it won’t be featured as prominently.
“Our discovery systems are designed to spotlight games with long-term retention, which doesn’t include AI slop. The standard of games on the homepage isn’t changing: If nobody plays it — nobody can find it. The goal across these recent tools is to proceed to speed up creation across all experience levels,” the corporate added.
The Construct feature will enter public alpha testing on July 28, available to users in Latest Zealand aged nine and older who’ve verified their age. Users aged 16 and up can have the chance to publish their creations to a world audience. There might be a free, basic version available together with paid options.
Beyond the Construct feature, Roblox can also be working on developing AI agents that may assist creators in playtesting and providing analytics. These features are anticipated to roll out within the upcoming months.
The brand new feature highlights Roblox’s ongoing investment in AI, including an AI foundation model for generating 3D game assets and an AI chatbot for supporting developers through the game-building process. Moreover, Roblox is developing a “recent scene-generation model” capable of making entire editable and playable 3D scenes from a single text prompt.
Moreover, the announcement comes shortly after Roblox disclosed plans to discontinue “Roblox Connect,” the avatar-based video-calling feature introduced in 2023.
While you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.