Square Enix confirms Foamstars uses AI-generated assets
Publisher confirms that Midjourney was used to create in-game album art
Square Enix has confirmed that upcoming online shooter Foamstars includes AI-generated art.
As reported by VGC, Foamstars producer Kosuke Okatani said the development team used generative AI tool Midjourney which generates art from text descriptions.
"All of the core elements in Foamstars – the core gameplay, and the things that make the game enjoyable – those are all made by hand," Okatani said. "However, we did want to experiment with AI as well.
"In terms of the content in the game, this makes up about 0.01% or even less, but we have dabbled in it by creating these icons in the game."
Square Enix clarified that the AI-generated art was used specifically for album covers featured in the game.
"As developers, we're always looking at new technologies to see how they can assist with game development," the publisher said. "In this instance, we experimented with Midjourney using simple prompts to produce abstract images.
"We loved what was created and used them as the final album covers players will see in the game. Everything else was created entirely by our development team."
Earlier this month, Square Enix shared it would explore how it can use generative AI in internal game development.
Company president Takashi Kiryu said: "I believe that generative AI has the potential not only to reshape what we create, but also to fundamentally change the processes by which we create, including programming."
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