PGC London 2024 is now in progress, and already plenty of insightful talks are getting underway. Among the first, Corbomite Games CEO Oded Sharon appeared on stage to offer a tonne of keen perception around artificial intelligence and its fast-paced changes in "Unleashing the power of AI for ultra low-budget game development".

With 25 years of experience in the games industry across multiple platforms, Sharon’s interests as a developer include narrative games, VR and XR. And with the power of AI, he has been able to cut development costs significantly and reduce time costs in exploring potential game concepts. This can be hugely beneficial to indie developers particularly, who often lack funding.

The latest obsession

"What is AI actually good for?" Sharon asked. His answer: "AI is the best thing you can use" for 2D images, and it can do "a lot of other things" too. Being Sharon’s "new obsession", he has been exploring the uses of AI technology in games development across design, art, sound, marketing, and even music. He’s also been spending an hour or more per day researching the latest in AI and its uses.

With so many potential uses and new tools constantly releasing, Sharon suggested: "Every company should probably have their own Chief AI Officer now" to explore the potential uses. Overall, the tech offers cheap asset creation from text-based tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Bard, to Ready Player Me for 3D NPCs and Suno for AI music. Sharon even had AI make a pop song about Pocket Gamer Connects.

"We’re at this point where technology is just moving so fast, things are going to keep getting easier and better," he added.

There’s a lot more still to discover from PGC London 2024, with talks and conversations ongoing through January 22 and 23. Find out more about what's on and how you can be part of it here.