GAFX 2025: How AI Is Revolutionizing Gaming with NPCs & Boss Fights

Bengaluru: Indian specialists are spearheading global initiatives that require finesse in animation, VFX, and gaming. "Indian Professionals are globally renowned for their skills and artistry that add tremendous value in producing high-end visuals. Karnataka remains the fastest growing market in gaming at 23 percent YoY growth, despite Indias 28 percent GST, gaming revenue is projected to reach $3.8 billion by FY 2024. Karnataka also plans to position itself as the host for the national e-sports festival which could turn out to be the largest e-sports event in Asia,” said, Priyank Kharge (Minister of Electronics, IT, and BT and Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Government of Karnataka) while serving as the Keynote Speaker at GAFX 2025 Conference today in Bengalore, Kharge stated, “This is why we are here to support our ATCs." Kharge Stated on Day One of the GAFX 2025 Conference held today, in Bengalore.

The three-day conference is hosted by the Department of Electronics IT and BT of the Government of Karnataka in cooperation with ABAI. The conference marks yet another achievement for Bengaluru as the center of the AVGC-XR industry and for India as the leader in immersive media and entertainment.

The panel focused on the AI in Games lecture ‘Shaping the Future of Immersive Experiences’ discussed ethical aspects of gaming, including character-based content generation, fraud prevention, privacy, game addiction to Gen Z, safety, licensing, and more.

On the panel were Khinshuk Sunil (Co-Founder & CEO, Second Quest), Goutham Dindukurthi (Director, Holy Cow Productions), Tarun Bisht (Vice President), and Jikku Ben Pothen (Principal Game Designer, Gameloft) with moderator Dhruv Garg. They discussed the impact of AI on the gaming world.

Uh, I mean... The gaming industry and its AI integration have the potential to benefit immensely from AI – so much so that it is seen as a problem when there is a lack of it. Like personal computers, a lack of AI made problem solving far more difficult. Panelists argued that the same discontinuity shift is happening with the advent of artificial intelligence.

GAFX Session- AI in Gaming: Shaping the Future of Immersive Experiences

As presented in ETV Bharat, Goutam Dindukurthi had stated, “AI is a great enabler and something that helps us approach a problem with multiple perspectives”. Each and every top studio is using Analytical AI, which makes a great impact in the gaming world, simply by looking at the data, visualising it, identifying the issue, and finding a solution to it. His statement is well complemented further in the presentation when he also says, “AI makes lives easier and helps in narrative design and story art.” Although he does mention that, “AI is making the lives of developers easier, but it is also making people sluggish,” his final argument makes complete sense.

As defined, Goutam Dindukurthi’s statement claims that, “AI makes the lives of players easier and helps them revolutionising every single department of Gaming.” The argument provided offers simple logic, in which he claims AI is the Google of the 21st century. His statement further makes clear sense as he summaries with, “AI speeds up the process”

In addition, Tarun Bisht, as a game developer focuses a lot on AI tools. He mentions that with the proper use of AI tools, “everything is already available and through these insights, various issues are resolved swiftly.” The enhancement to this statement is, games can be developed with less bugs and feedback. The panel also mentioned that, iteration time for each project is now reduced significantly due to AI. The final claim he makes revolves around, “AI recognises patterns and predicts the next move.”

The use of AI for the improvement of NPCs and boss fights.

In regards to the Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and boss fights, Jikku Ben Pothen stated that the scripted actions of NPCs are a thing of the past. He put an emphasis on the fact that NPCs now remember players and their actions, which allows for greater interaction. NPCs have specific actions they can perform, but when a user engages with those restrictions in a meaningful manner, that NPC is able to acknowledge the user when they encounter them somewhere else in the world.

Players interaction patterns are learned by Boss Fight. A general pattern regarding the public is stored and then response is activated. With those AI tools, every player’s problem is understood from a different and appropriate perspective. Experts felt that there was a problem of dynamism control in case of a boss fight. With limited control over how a boss will choose to respond to the player’s movements, said experts.

Khinshuk Sunil stated that interaction building has been the goal of gaming designers for generations. A good designer using AI technology can create and enrich experiences. Human engagement and challenge are the major components of the games where AI has a significant part to play, said Tarun Bisht. He further added models need to be kept training through AI by observing how people play and interact with NPC bots.

The speakers noted that for multiplayer games for his II, it was clear that AI's capacity to analyze player interaction and create new ‘novel’ challenges was important for retention. Achieving a balance where AI-driven opponents are natural and competitive, instead of feeling robotic, was considered critical to making the game engaging for the users.

Restrictions on screen duration

In Tarun Bisht's words, while discussing the AI ethics, integrity, fraud prevention, AI safety, and its systems, it's understood that there should not be any fraud in the system as a general principle. As an ethical concern, panellists agreed that there is life beyond the screen and therefore, there ought to be some restrictions on gameplay duration. Manipulation for the players to spend more time on the screen can be done. However, it should be done in a mindful way. Either developers should draw a line or policymakers should draft policy to stop spending time after the set limit. They thought that self-realisation is also a need of the hour.

The influence of AI on employment possibilities

With regard to employment opportunities and AI driven tools, the panel stated that it is almost a pre-PC and post-PC situation. Their fears on AI taking over jobs were accepted, but they underscored the point that more developed technology has come to mean more developed skills not job elimination. There was consensus that there will be a lot of employment opportunities taken by AI, but that does not suggest that there will not be employment opportunities. We need to find a way to deal with the state of affairs.

The power an AI holds in the realm of gaming is immense.

Designers and developers should know that AI is not only an enabling tool but one which will streamline, simplify, and speed up the entire development process. AI productivity allows humans to concentrate on more innovative, creative, and strategic works. So, embracing AI today is the most productive solution. Scholars believe that AI as a boon enables people to think more innovatively with multiple approaches to one mechanism.

Kinshuk Sunil spoke about licensing and privacy and pointed out that there is need for a system of checks and balances to separate public data from stolen or compromised data. Supplementing privacy concerns, Jikku mentioned that sharing data with other people comes with risks. But, in organizations like Gameloft, there are strict regulations on the data provided to third-party tools that includes tracking and monitoring of data provided to ensure privacy.

Ultimately, panelists underscored that AI improves efficiency, minimizes redundancy, and allows game developers to devote their time to more creative and constructive work. Its ability to analyze huge volumes of data and streamline processes is considered revolutionary for different parts of game development. At the same time, it is important to exercise moderation in its use to prevent dependency on it.