Square Enix has officially confirmed that the upcoming online shooter, Foamstars, incorporates AI-generated art. According to a report by VGC, Kosuke Okatani, the producer of Foamstars, revealed that the development team employed the generative AI tool Midjourney to create art based on text descriptions.
Okatani emphasized that while all the fundamental aspects of Foamstars, such as core gameplay and elements contributing to the game’s enjoyment, were crafted manually, the team also sought to experiment with AI. He stated, “In terms of the content in the game, this makes up about 0.01% or even less, but we have dabbled in it by creating these icons in the game.”
Square Enix further clarified that the AI-generated art was specifically utilized for album covers featured within the game. The publisher expressed its ongoing interest in exploring new technologies to enhance game development, highlighting that the experimentation with Midjourney involved generating abstract images using simple prompts.
“As developers, we’re always looking at new technologies to see how they can assist with game development,” stated Square Enix. “In this instance, we experimented with Midjourney using simple prompts to produce abstract images. We loved what was created and used them as the final album covers players will see in the game. Everything else was created entirely by our development team.”
Earlier in the month, Square Enix had announced its intention to explore the potential of generative AI in internal game development. Company president Takashi Kiryu expressed belief in the transformative potential of generative AI, stating, “I believe that generative AI has the potential not only to reshape what we create but also to fundamentally change the processes by which we create, including programming.”
