Nataniel Ruiz

Excited to show some surprising inventions on generative multiplayer games we made at Google with Stanford. We call the work MultiGen. I've always been inspired by early studios like id Software with Doom or Blizzard with Warcraft bringing networked video games to the next level. We are at the point in history where we can make strides like them, but for generative games. It's a strange feeling to be in the age of generative video games while still discovering how exactly to train the models and design the tools that make them useful. All of the tools that have been invented for classic game engines need to be redesigned for generative games. For example level and world design is not entirely possible with existing technology. We introduce editable memory to diffusion game engines that allow for design of new levels via a minimap. But we can easily imagine how this can be expanded with different creation tools. The end goal of this research direction is to allow game designers to be able to guide the generation process of their world, at the granularity that they prefer. Editable memory also allows us to add multiplayer to Generative Doom. We were amazed when we saw GameNGen some years ago, and now you can play it live with friends in real-time, on your couch or even online. Shared representations like our editable memory seem like the future for this type of experience. Models are, in some cases, expensive and approximate encoders but great interpolators and extrapolators. Leveraging their strengths lets you have completely new experiences that can be realized now and not in the distant future. This work was started at my previous team and continued in collaboration with Stanford. Congratulations to all for the discoveries.