Improving AI COMBAT FUNDAMENTALS
Last week concluded with the advancement of our campaigns through AI generative art. New functionality in the form of bespoke generated images for your campaigns rather than pre-set images chosen from a limited collage. Our AI is now able to take the the input from your campaign creation and use those details to craft a unique image to use as the title media of your campaign.
Moving onward our next priority was to deal with the loudest feedback we’ve gotten from our audience so far: the narrative generated to assist, if not at first, soon becomes repetitious and lacks variety. Equipped with that information we spent the last week improving how we used the AI to generate a variety of narratives.
We approached this problem from several directions. First and foremost we did a full reconstruct of the basic langauge we use to describe what we want the AI to do. Brilliant though it may be, greater clarity always yields best results. A return to edit and clarify in this case saw a significant improvement right away. Prior to our re-working the following results were typical.
Below are 3 exerpts taken from an earlier rendition of our combat narrative AI.
5 In the somber gloom, Connor, a shadow amongst shadows, moved with lethal intent. His weapon, a silent harbinger of fire, sought its mark. The goblin, unaware of the impending doom, continued its grotesque mirth. With a swift, merciless motion, Connor unleashed his attack. The weapon connected, searing the goblin with a fiery torment. Yet, despite the pain, the creature survived, its grotesque laughter replaced by a guttural scream echoing in the darkness.
6 In the echoing gloom, Connor, with his unwavering resolve, advanced towards the Goblin. A weapon, wreathed in flickering fire, held firmly in his grip. With a swift, practiced motion, he lunged, the fiery weapon searing through the dank air to meet its target. The Goblin recoiled, a pained shriek piercing the darkness as the fire consumed its flesh, but death did not claim it yet.
7 In the eerie gloom, Connor advanced, a weapon of cruel intent gripped tightly in his grasp. The goblin, unaware of the impending peril, continued its menacing dance. With a swift motion, Connor unleashed his attack, a surge of fire erupting from his weapon. The goblin shrieked as the flames engulfed it, the acrid smell of scorched flesh permeating the air. Yet, despite the severe burn, the goblin remained standing, its eyes ablaze with a newfound hatred for its attacker.
While in isolation a single narration can read well, when put side by side you quickly notice areas that could improve. Combat in a DND session can take hours and if you had a narrative which repeated itself, you’d rather it wasn’t present. For that reason, we made this our highest priority to fix.
Other than the basic re-write our CTO, Connor, focused on de-loading the cognitive task we’d given our AI. He provided, in the form of code, logic that the AI could utilize to better randomize its results. Remarkable to see what doing a bit of the randomizing in code could do for the overall performance of the AI. Where before it seemed to listen only occasionally to us. Afterwards, its performance was a clear line in the sand, the narrative results were better following the update. Greater variety in nearly all elements of the narration were observed following the change.
What follows are 3 exerpts following our changes to the AI
48 Stance shifted, Connor launched his fire-infused weapon at Goblin. The dark mood was palpable, the world seemingly holding its breath as the weapon, known for its scorching heat, blinding brightness, and terrifying speed, hurtled through the air.
49 Goblin, with its coarse skin, bulging eyes, and sharp teeth, was in the midst of the dark, oppressive atmosphere. Connor, brandishing his fire damage weapon, made his move. The attack hit, the goblin's features illuminated in the fiery glow as it recoiled.
50 Breath held, Connor launched his attack on the Goblin. His weapon, searing with fire damage, connected with a resounding impact. The Goblin recoiled as the fiery damage took hold, its form shuddering from the force of Connor's assault.
Describing the start, the combatant, opponent, weapon, all details of the confrontation have been tweaked to yield different descriptions and combinations of narrative.
The path to this better version had some interesting speedbumps. For a time the AI would create an end to every narrative it wrote. Everything had a concluding statement and it became stale extremely fast. We instructed it to have no comment and to stop having the need to write anything at the end. It listened to us, perhaps too well.
I laughed out loud when I read this. It wants to do what you tell it so bad, sometimes it confuses itself. What could be more human?
We enter the weekend feeling good about how far we’ve come. The newest version of Radiant Assistant is live and all the discussed changes within this week’s weekly update can now be experienced first hand be making a free account at www.radiant-assistant.com -
Perhaps the largest update since we’ve started working on Radiant Assistant is next. It will take more time than the previous to implement, but it’s no exaggeration to say the RA team couldn’t be more excited to talk about the details as soon as we’ve progressed just a little further.
Big thanks to those who support us on Patreon and for you, taking the time to read this.
Dave, Connor, Aya
