Case Study: Riftwardens | Transforming Game Creation with AI

About Riftwardens

Riftwardens is an innovative crypto-collectible game combining classic RPG elements with NFTs, backed by major investors. After reaching 30,000 community members and securing initial funding, the team needed to quickly achieve a soft launch quality for a beta release.

How Riftwardens is Making Waves with AI Solutions

To address the production challenge and meet the deadline, Riftwardens team is using Code Maestro in 2 areas:

Technical Art

? Shader generation
? Assistance in setting up and integrating animations
? VFX pool generation and set up

Unity Engineering

? Fighting scenes development
? Assistance in building a resting area system for the characters
? Generating of the code with functions and classes that are already present in the codebase

Spotlight on Alex, Senior Technical Artist at Riftwardens

Alex faced significant challenges in creating VFX pools, often spending up to three days on complex scenes. With Code Maestro, he has transformed his workflow:

Rapid VFX Creation: Code Maestro reduces the VFX pool creation process to mere minutes.

Efficient Workflow: Alex simply interacts with Code Maestro through a dialogue window to receive tutorials and generate necessary code.

Step-by-Step Assistance:

• Step 1: Requests a tutorial for VFX pool creation.
• Step 2: Generate the required code following the tutorial.
• Step 3: Acquires guidance on integrating the new code into the project.

Impact on Productivity:

• Time Savings: Alex saves days of work with each task, significantly boosting his productivity.
• Enhanced Output: By month's end, Alex completes more than twice the tasks he used to, establishing himself as a top performer on the team.

This innovative use of Code Maestro not only addresses Riftwardens' immediate production challenges but also sets a new standard for efficiency in game development.

Spotlight on Anton, Senior Unity Engineer at Riftwardens

Anton, previously specialized in developing fighting scenes, recently faced the challenge of creating a resting area system for characters—a system unfamiliar to him. Despite the complexity and tight deadlines, Anton successfully transitioned to this new role with the help of Code Maestro.

Accelerated Onboarding and Integration:

• Rapid Mastery: Code Maestro significantly cut down Anton’s onboarding time from a month to just three days by providing an in-depth understanding of the existing codebase, its syntax, and functions.
• Enhanced Productivity: By explaining project mechanics and aiding in the generation of appropriate classes, Code Maestro ensured Anton could work efficiently within the new system.
• Seamless Integration: The solutions generated by Code Maestro were perfectly aligned with the project’s existing architecture and coding style, ensuring a smooth integration into the ongoing project.

Impact on Delivery:

• Increased Output: With Code Maestro assistance, Anton has been able to produce twice the deliverables initially planned by his project manager, significantly enhancing team productivity and project timelines.

Anton’s experience highlights Code Maestro’s role in facilitating rapid adaptation to new systems within complex projects, enabling developers to exceed their productivity goals.

Anton no longer needs to worry about the tedious task of creating documentation for his projects. Code Maestro automates this process, exemplified by the documentation it produced for the ServerDomain.cs module in a Unity project.

An example created by Code Maestro: 

"Module: ServerDomain.cs

Documentation:

This C# code is part of a Unity project and it's used to interact with the backend server using HTTP requests. Here's a brief description for each class, method, and function:

1. `ResponceCharacterId`: This class represents the response from the server after adding a character. It contains two properties: `CharacterId` (the ID of the added character) and `Id` (an identifier).
2. `ResponceWearableId`: Similar to `ResponceCharacterId`, this class represents the response from the server after adding a wearable. It contains two properties: `WearableId` (the ID of the added wearable) and `Id` (an identifier).
3. `RequestInt`, `RequestString`, `RequestCharacterClass`, `RequestWearableCategory`, `RequestEmpty`: These classes represent different types of requests that can be sent to the server. They all implement the `IBaseRequest` interface from the MediatR library.
4. `ServerAPIConnector`: This is an abstract class that provides a base for other API connectors. It contains methods for making HTTP requests and managing tokens.
5. `ServerLocalMap`, `ServerPlayer`, `ServerWearables`, `ServerCharacter`, `ServerConfiguration`, `ServerTest`, `ServerUser`, `ServerIdentity`: These classes are concrete implementations of the `ServerAPIConnector` class and they handle specific parts of the server API. They each have methods for making requests to their respective endpoints on the server.
6. `LoginWindow`: This class is used in the Unity editor to simulate a login process by sending a predefined username and password to the server.
7. `ServerDomain`: This class initializes all API connectors, sets up token handling, and handles authorization for the application. It also contains methods for redirecting users to an external URL in WebGL builds.
8. `Payload`: This class is used to deserialize a JSON Web Token (JWT) payload. The payload includes an expiration time (exp), which can be used to check if the token has expired."

? Quick glance on Antony's routine (early preview): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s12Yn3CvDIpFPJaRYgNQNYeOoKmx1bcD/view

Enhancing Art Generation

We ran extensive experiments on our AI art generation solutions specifically for Riftwardens. By training models to match the game's unique art style, fine-tuning production pipelines, and ensuring integration of AI-generated art with production-ready quality, we significantly enhanced the visual development process. This approach allowed the team to maintain a consistent and high-quality art style while accelerating the overall production timeline.

Experiment Results: Background Examples

Here are some examples of the backgrounds generated using our AI art solutions, showcasing the seamless integration of AI creativity with the unique art style of Riftwardens. The AI-generated art not only met but exceeded production quality, contributing to a visually stunning game environment.