My Summer Love

Another Korean game; It calls itself "a romantic visual novel" and the developer says that it "is more than just a dating sim". Not out yet but I played the demo (still available). The main novelty is its use of AI, not only for graphics and music but also for dialogue: you talk to the girl (meaning type keywords at the prompt) and she answers accordingly.

The demo feels rather wooden. A good example is the second scene, driving along Han River (no need to download the demo - you can watch it on Steam page); the girl looks rather nervous and so would I if the driver was staring at me all the time and never looked at the road ahead. I don't think that the game will be much better but still, it made me wonder. Something like this could be developed into first person Sims-like game, not now but in a few years time. The whole question of AI is obviously there, bigger then ever, but I am afraid that battle will be lost: Koreans are using it more and more (though this one, Jorge L. Zapotecatl, is Mexican) and that's it.

I wasn't brave enough to try the demo so thank you for the description!
I am clinging on to the '?' at the end of the subject title, even though I know that visual novels as a genre can be a lot deeper and less stereotypical than this I'm afraid that this might be popular.

I was also intrigued by the developer. At first I thought his name was a joke pseudonym, too Mexican to be true. but I was wrong: it is his real name and he is working at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; he specializes in AI and has quite a respectable bibliography. At the same time, the game is as Korean as Korean can be: a cooperation? But with whom? Nobody but he is listed at the studio, Soul Shell, which is "focused on the application of AI to enable gameplay and experiences that wasn't possible before."

A nice problem.

It finally occurred to me to ask him. Turns out that he *was* working at the university but has now dedicated himself to game development. As for the Korean setting, he likes K-dramas. We don't get them where I live but I like K-pop. so I can understand that.

I've been playing the demo more than I should have. All the caveats stand but the real attraction is in the dialogue: it changes every time (some points are fixed but not too many) so it's always interesting; it's like meeting your (admittedly rather quirky) neighbor. AI is not very intelligent ATM but I still think it is the future, like it or not.