25
Jan 2025
10:00 AM to 11:00 PM
Quoz Arts Fest 2025
Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Remember when game characters could only repeat the same lines? Those days are gone. Through innovations like Nvidia's Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE), your virtual companions now think, remember, and evolve - making every playthrough a personal journey.
With the power of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), the gaming landscape is transforming, bringing hyper-realistic worlds, adaptable storylines, and deeply personalized experiences. From machine learning algorithms that anticipate player choices to dynamic characters that evolve based on individual gameplay, AI is redefining how we experience virtual worlds. Presenting the next installment of the ‘AI and Arts' series, this immersive conversation with leading creative technologists will explore AI’s role in visual effects, game design, and the growing intersection of media and technology.
Join us as we unlock the next level of gaming innovation and explore how AI is reshaping the future of play.
Sameer Desai is a video games industry consultant who helps international gaming companies grow their businesses in India. He was previously country head for Austrian game publisher THQ Nordic, and head of business development for India at French esports organization Team Vitality. He founded India’s first annual gaming festival – IGX (2015), India’s first online gaming community – IndianVideoGamer (2006), and India’s first gaming podcast (2009). Sameer is an ex-journalist, having contributed to publications such as The Times of India, India Today, The Hindu, GQ, Forbes and IGN.
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Frank Harmon started his career as a classically trained Oil Painter. He started his game developer career in 2008. He led an expanded role of game artist as an Art Director, UI/UX designer, technical art director, and lead concept artist. Designing pipelines for large 3d teams and programming shaders, Frank has touched every aspect of artistic game development. He has worked at many studios in San Francisco, such as Zynga, Kongregate, Serious Business, JuiceBox Games, and MachineZone. Currently, Frank works remotely in between the US and India.
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Apurva Shah is a maker entrepreneur. He is co-founder and CEO of Duality AI, where the team’s vision is to leverage virtual worlds for solving real problems. Duality’s Falcon platform provides digital twin simulation for the design and development of safe, predictable, and resilient smart systems. Customers include robotics and AI teams such as DARPA, the US Army and several Fortune 100 companies. This endeavor draws on Apurva’s prior roles as head of creative technology and design systems at Capital One, visual effects supervisor and member of the technical brain trust at Pixar, and SVP of global technology at Rhythm & Hues Studios. He is adjunct professor in the interaction design program at CCA and covers emerging technology topics such as Metaverse Design and Designing for Trust. He is a strategic advisor to Mumbai based real time technology studio, Green Rain. His film credits include Ratatouille, Shrek, Finding Nemo, and Toy Story 3. He holds several innovative patents in simulation, rendering, and digital payments. He has served on the Siggraph committee and on the board of the Visual Effects Society. He currently serves as advisor for non-profit Kids & Art Foundation.
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Sameer Pitalwalla is a digital media and technology entrepreneur, he is currently the Head of Gaming, APAC for Google Cloud, and was previously the Territory Head, Epic Games for ASEAN, and South Asia. Prior to Epic, he was the co-founder and CEO of Culture Machine, one of India’s largest digital media firms that reaches 300 MN Unique audiences per month and 1 billion monthly views. He is a National Award-winning film producer, Forbes 30 under 30 in 2017, and holds 3 US technology patents to his name.
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The Evolution of Video Games
Due to the high costs and large size of early computers, universities were among the few places equipped to support video game development in the 1940s and 1950s. Emerging from academic circles in the US and UK, early video game prototypes included games like OXO and Spacewar! In 1967, Ralph Baer’s invention of the "Brown Box" marked a milestone in gaming history as it introduced the first home gaming console. Baer’s multi-program video game system allowed people to play on a television screen with multiple players, setting the stage for gaming to enter popular culture. In 1971, Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, catalyzed the era of arcade video games with the creation of the first arcade game, Computer Space, followed by the highly successful Pong.
This rapid rise in popularity, however, faced a setback in the early 1980s when the market was flooded with low-quality gaming consoles, leading to a downturn in the industry. Nintendo revived the industry with its Entertainment System (NES) in 1985, featuring enhanced 8-bit graphics and sound. Moving into the 1990s, Sega’s strides in 3D gaming, Sony’s powerful PlayStation, and Microsoft’s Xbox with motion-capture technology all contributed to shaping the future of the industry into what it is today.
Gaming in India: A Developing Landscape
India is now a significant player in the global gaming industry, both as a consumer and an emerging developer. The country is the second-largest market globally for mobile gaming, with industry projections reaching $9.2 billion by 2029. However, domestic game development is still emerging due to limited incubators and skilled talent. In response, initiatives like Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approval of the National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) are designed to address these gaps. State governments in Telangana and Karnataka are also incorporating game development into their education policies, further supporting India’s integration of gaming into the Viksit Bharat Plan 2047, and positioning it as a growing facet of India’s soft power.
Cutting-Edge Gaming Technology
Recent technological advancements are driving increasingly immersive gaming experiences. Electronic Arts (EA) has introduced its advanced HyperMotionV technology, which incorporates data from 180 professional football games to create highly realistic gameplay for titles like EA Sports FC. Ubisoft’s Anvil Engine brings detailed visual upgrades to the latest Assassin’s Creed game, set in 16th-century Japan, featuring dynamic weather conditions such as rain and thunder that progress over time.
While Virtual Reality (VR) was once seen as the next frontier in gaming, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is now a major factor, enhancing adaptive gameplay and reducing production costs through technologies like text-to-video generation. Additionally, innovations in cloud gaming are making games more accessible by eliminating the need for high-end hardware, and allowing gamers to play on a wider range of devices.
