Artificial intelligence generates never-ending Super Mario levels
With MarioGPT, researchers from Copenhagen have developed an artificial intelligence that can generate infinitely long Super Mario levels. The system is currently in the test phase.
Super Mario has delighted many children and adults for almost 40 years. The video game series about the red plumber always provides challenges, laughter and moments of frustration. With the “Super Mario Maker” series, players can now even build their own levels and make them available to the community.
Generating new level sections is a task that not only humans can take on. At least that’s what a team from the University of Copenhagen has shown. Because in a new research paper they presented the artificial intelligence MarioGPT.
MarioGPT gets basic information from users
Similar to ChatGPT, the user enters the text at the beginning. This specifies what content you want in the new level. In addition to selecting tubes, item blocks or coins, setting opponents is also possible. In a first version, however, the algorithm does not yet differentiate between enemy types.
However, players can define whether they want an opponent. Whether it is a Goomba, hammer thrower or mole is left to chance. In order for the generation to work, the system divides the available space into different categories. Depending on the category, the desired elements then appear.
Super Mario: Trainigs data is based on original games
The researchers trained MarioGPT with material from the two classics “Super Mario Bros” and “Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels”. The training was based on 84 levels with different degrees of difficulty. The AI, meanwhile, is based on GPT-2, not the same model that uses Chat GPT (GPT-3).
In the first version, the generator allows levels with a size of up to 50,000 steps. Each individual step is based on four random level sections. So what the final level looks like is always left to chance. The system is still under development, but could bring amusement to your living room in the near future.
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