Today just about every type of game has already been made, including, it seems, games made by computers.  ANGELINA is the name of a research project started by PhD student Michael Cook designed to build games out of nothing but a set of themes.  The algorithm takes the instructions and researches the internet in order to understand the theme, and then goes out to grab assets and create a game.

To That Sect was the first game that ANGELINA created during a game developer's challenge, and the first where she competed against human game designers.  She took the theme of "You can only have one," processed it, and came up with a game "about a disgruntled child."  That in itself has some pretty big significance, because children tend to throw fits when they can't get more of something they want.  What if said disgruntled child had control over an environment, put a person in that space, and asked them to collect their toys?  It might look something like the video below.

Of course I'm assigning meaning to the game, where I should just let ANGELINA tell you what it's about.  I'm not sure that what I explained is any less creepy than what the robot came up with, but I'll let you be the judge of that:

This is a game about a disgruntled child. A Founder. The game only has one level, and the objective is to reach the exit. Along the way, you must avoid the Tomb as they kill you, and collect the Ship.

I use some sound effects from FreeSound, like the sound of Ship. Using Google and a tool called Metaphor Magnet, I discovered that people feel charmed by Founder sometimes. So I chose a unnerving piece of music from Kevin Macleod's Incompetech website to complement the game's mood.

Let me know what you think. In future I'll put more levels into my games, and also make the mechanics more interesting.

I have the distinct feeling that we're beginning to see Neuromancer coming to life before our very eyes.  I just wonder, is this good or bad the fact that good games don't need humans to make them?

[via Kotaku source Animal]