Well, I know that coffee does wildly varying things to different people. For me in particular, though, I become more focused, more willing to work on difficult things, and in general turns me into a raging optimist. Cocaine, on the other hand, makes you do downright unreasonable things. Well, so I'm told. In this instance, coffee has given me powers. And with these powers I have gone and started a company, Method in Mind.
And this, is the beginning of many stark changes, here and elsewhere. First of all, for those of you that don't know already, I've quit my job at Institute for Creative Technologies to work on Method in Mind full time. My god, I did what now?
Second, I'm sure you've noticed already, but what little posts that I've been able to squeeze out since the god awful shift to hourly-wage status have been decidedly non-game related. The reason for this is my interests moving more broadly into the general application of AI methods to software in general, as opposed to games in particular. That deserves a little discussion.
I love games. I know many of you love games also. As someone once seriously considering a career in the video game industry, I had to ask myself the following question: Will you be satisfied in a job that entails engineering a better way to entertain people? Is creating digital entertainment personally fulfilling?
For me, the answer is no. What I feel most, and what I think attracted me to AI in the first place is, I want to make software that helps people, that increases their quality of life. AI can go a long way in doing this, and that is precisely the investigation that my company, Method in Mind, has undertaken.
Now, do not misunderstand. I would be pleased as punch to create AI that is used in games. It will simply be as a part of a larger effort of applying AI to software in general. I think that along the way, Method in Mind definitely will create technology that will really benefit the game industry. In fact, as I've discovered in talking directly to developers, the only way real AI innovation is going to make it into games is through an independent company making the whole game themself. That is why, eventually, I plan to release a game developed through Method in Mind.
And now that I'm no longer working for the man, expect the posts to be coming fast and furious.
Mmmhmm.