Game developer Studio Atelico is announcing its AI-powered debut game, Bobium Brawlers, today. It's a turn-based card and dice creature battler game currently targeting mobile platforms (iOS to start, where it's set to launch later this year) with a specific twist: players can create the creatures that will be in their deck simply by describing them to the so-called Studio Atelico AI Engine.
Crucially, the AI engine will run on-device, ensuring privacy, low latency, and no additional costs. Because of this, Bobium Brawlers will only run on models equipped with relatively recent versions of the Neural Engine, probably from iPhone 13 onward. Of course, the developers also created many decks and cards to train the engine to follow those examples when creating new cards.
In a remote presentation attended by Wccftech, Art Director Mollie Boorman explained that Studio Atelico employs a team of human artists who have created extensive training assets. These images were paired with descriptions to train the model. She clarified that this game simply could not have been made without AI, as it allows players to create unique artwork in minutes. However, they are not using AI for everything.
Moreover, the studio paid artists to develop the visual style and to create the bulk of the non-creature art featured in Bobium Brawlers, and continues to pay them for the styles they created, including royalties for creatures generated in-game using their training assets. Their ethical approach was described as distinctly pro-artist, pro-player, and pro-human, as outlined in a blog post on their website a few months ago.
After the presentation, given the strong anti-AI stance of many hardcore gamers (as seen recently with the debacle surrounding Larian and their upcoming Divinity game), it's no wonder that the very first question in the roundtable interview addressed the elephant in the room: is the studio ready to face backlash?
Studio Atelico CEO and co-founder Piero Molino explained that he sympathizes with the profound reasons behind this growing sentiment among gamers, but also clarified that he doesn't believe gamers are actually anti-AI; rather, they are opposed to "slop" and the exploitation of humans that is sometimes associated with it.
I understand that stance for two reasons. One, because of how most tech companies are adopting this technology without providing for the people who made it possible, which are, in the case of image generators, the artists whose images the generators have been trained on. It makes total sense why there is this kind of pushback; I totally understand that. We are approaching it from a different point of view: paying artists and giving them royalties on what is being generated.
We do not want to exploit anyone; we want to use that technology to create new mechanics that were not possible before. I strongly believe that what players and people in general are opposed to is not actually AI, but rather the exploitation of people and "slop." These are both things that we are trying very strongly to avoid. We are supporting the people who make it possible to create these models and we are not creating slop. We are trying to have a specific art style that is tailored to our specific game, thanks to the work our artists are doing. We hope to disentangle the general sentiment towards AI and show what is possible when you use it in a very positive way.
Later in the interview, Molino added that in the very first version of Bobium Brawlers, some parts of the AI Engine will run in the cloud, but only a very small amount, and the studio plans to move those on-device as well in the future. Because they are just small parts, the cost for Studio Atelico is very low: less than one cent per creature creation overall. Molino reckons bringing the cost of AI engines in games to zero or close to it is crucial for the technology to actually spread in more titles.
When it comes to the game mechanics, the duels will be quick 1v1 battles that blend card mechanics with dice-rolling action. Players will be able to use clever combos and tactical improvisation, rather than grinding or chasing the meta, to win matches.
The bigger question, though, is whether you agree with the studio's approach and the CEO's view on why gamers are so vehemently anti-AI. Let us know in the poll and comments below!
- Disagree, AI naturally leans toward exploitation and slop 59%, 60 votes60 votes 59%60 votes - 59% of all votes
- Agree, AI is not intrinsically bad 41%, 42 votes42 votes 41%42 votes - 41% of all votes
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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