AI's Impact in FAU-G Domination: AI significantly influenced game design, from drafting concept art to managing matchmaking, playing a crucial role in the development of FAU-G.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Plays Pivotal Role in Development and Performance of Mobile Shooter Game FAU-G: Domination
New Delhi, 11 February: When Indian mobile shooter game FAU-G: Domination launched last year, it surprised many with its smooth performance, extraordinary development speed, and distinctly Indian flavor. With a lean team of 30 members leading the project, the game is now revealing the powerful secret weapon behind its success: artificial intelligence.
In an exclusive interview with Dot9Games co-founder and executive producer Srinivasan Veeraraghavan, he reveals the intricate ways AI permeated every stage of FAU-G: Domination's creation, shaping its present and potentially its future.
The Indian market is primarily driven by low-end and mid-range smartphones, which necessitates a focus on maintaining optimal performance. Srini explains that the development team worked meticulously to ensure a sustained frame rate of 30fps on these devices, employing AI-guided device profiling, automated optimization pipelines, and relentless iteration on build settings.
Player satisfaction was another critical aspect for the team at Dot9, and they relied on data analysis to calibrate the in-game economy. By examining transaction data and player behavior, the studio aimed to make micro-transactions affordable and fair, encouraging engagement without provoking backlash.
Pre-Production: AI Speeds Up Research and Ideation
Before the inception of a single character or map, the world of FAU-G: Domination took shape through AI-powered research sessions. Srini affirms that AI was instrumental in the pre-production and production phase, speeding up fact-finding and idea generation. Perplexity, one of the tools used, helped locate information on a variety of niche topics, such as Northeast Indian street wear and slang, to provide authentic character details.
Artificial Intelligence Assists in Concept Art Generation
The early stage concept art was contributed by image-generation engines like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Leonardo, and KREA. These engines spun out hundreds of scene sketches and color palettes, which were subsequently refined by human artists focusing on the minute details that make environments memorable.
Procedural Generation: Balancing Creativity and Monotony
Procedurally generated content is key to long-term player retention, but Srini is cautious about falling into the "monotony trap." To avoid repetitive tasks, Dot9 employs AI to propose broad game-mode ideas, pieces of which are then crafted into unique experiences by human designers.
Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment: A Future Possibility
Dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) has the potential to significantly boost player retention, but Dot9 treads carefully with its implementation. Srini explains that the studio is considering DDA as a future option but prefers to keep close communication with the community as the primary method for such adjustments.
NPCs and Balance Adjustments
FAU-G: Domination features AI-controlled NPCs and ongoing balance adjustments to ensure they are challenging but fair. AI models analyze match data, such as kill rates, death locations, and weapon usage, to suggest parameter adjustments, keeping bot opponents engaging yet manageable for players of various skill levels.
Personalization and Matchmaking
While personalization remains an aspiration, Dot9 is exploring the use of AI to analyze player preferences for weapon choices, maps, and playstyles to recommend loadouts and game modes. Matchmaking, by contrast, is already AI-driven and plays a crucial role in between-match queue management by skill level.
A Partnership Between AI and Human Creativity
Through every stage — from pre-production research and art ideation to live-service pipelines and esports packaging — FAU-G: Domination exemplifies a philosophy of partnership, not replacement. AI augments Dot9's creative muscle, scaling their reach without diluting their vision. By outsourcing rote tasks to algorithms, the studio's small team can focus on the human touch: story arcs, level design, and community engagement.
In a landscape crowded with mobile shooters, Dot9Games has formed a competitive edge by blending algorithmic efficiency with designer intuition. As FAU-G: Domination continues to evolve, one thing remains clear: its success stems from a smart, judicious use of AI, guided at every turn by human creativity.
The development team of FAU-G: Domination leveraged artificial intelligence to ensure optimal performance on low-end and mid-range smartphones, employing AI-guided device profiling, automated optimization pipelines, and iterative adjustments to build settings.
In the pre-production phase, AI-powered research sessions aided the creation of authentic character details and environment design in FAU-G: Domination. Additionally, image-generation engines were utilized to create concept art, which was then refined by human artists.
