Ethan Mollick posted this nifty little demo of a research project that generates a world based on Counter-Strike, frame by frame in response to your actions. What’s around that corner at the end of the street? Nothing, that portion of the world hasn’t been created yet—until you turn in that direction, and the world is created just for you in that moment.
This is not a post that proposes the future of gaming or that tech will replace well-crafted game worlds and the people who make them. This proof of concept is nowhere near ready or good enough for that, except perhaps as a tool to assist/support game authors.
Instead, it’s interesting as a remarkable example of a radically adaptive interface, a core aspect of Sentient Design experiences. The demo and the research paper behind it show a whole world being conceived, compiled, and delivered in real time. What happens when you apply this thinking to a web experience? To a data dashboard? To a chat interface? To a calculator app that lets you turn a blank canvas into a one-of-a-kind on-demand interface?
The risk of radically adaptive interfaces is that they turn into robot fever dreams without shape or destination. That’s where design comes in: to conceive and apply thoughtful constraints and guardrails. It’s weird and hairy and different from what’s come before.
Far from replacing designers (or game creators), these experiences require designers more than ever. But we have to learn some new skills and point them in new directions.
