Latest news with #11BitStudios
Daily Mirror
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
New Steam sale offers major discounts on House Flipper 2, Frostpunk and more
A new sale is coming for Steam players who are after Simulation games with the arrival of SimFest, offering big savings on bigger franchises. (Image: 11 Bit Studios) Following the grand summer extravaganza, more Steam sales are on the horizon, with simulation games taking centre stage in this year's SimFest, promising a significant wave of discounts. The Steam summer sale has wrapped up (though we wouldn't have minded if it took this scorching heat with it), leaving many gamers rather chuffed. This legendary sale is an annual highlight for PC players, who flock to the platform to discover that most of their wishlist has been heavily discounted, providing them with the opportunity to delve into the backlog of games they've yet to explore. PC gamers have always enjoyed the best prices (making the debate between Nintendo Switch 2 or Steam Deck a tad easier for many, even if they've invested thousands in assembling a massive gaming rig), and Steam's deals play a significant role in this, year after year. Major AAA games saw substantial price cuts, but it's worth remembering that the Steam summer sale also offered huge indie deals, providing massive discounts on the best games you've never played. However, the sale has now ended, but there's more in store if you're a fan of simulator games. A new major sale is just around the corner, poised to offer a plethora of fantastic discounts on games that PC players tend to favour, meaning your bargain hunting isn't over just yet. We wouldn't want to be your bank account at this moment. READ MORE: Donkey Kong Bananza release date and when you can get stuck into its destruction READ MORE: A new Xbox exclusive is coming to PS5 and PS5 Pro, and it's one of 2024's most impactful RPGs If you're on the hunt for a fresh sale following Steam's massive summer extravaganza, or are simply itching to splash out and expand your backlog, then SimFest is just around the corner to satisfy your spending cravings. The upcoming Steam sale kicks off on Thursday, July 17 and runs until Monday, July 28, aiming to spotlight (you've guessed it) a plethora of simulation games across the platform. The roster features discounts on over 100 games, including the following: The event also teases thrilling news from developers Paradox, Mythwright and astragon. SimFest 2024 offered discounts for American Truck Simulator, the Jurassic World Evolution series and Human Fall Flat, so anticipate more hefty discounts on the horizon. If the Steam summer sale didn't quite hit the spot for you, then this assortment of discounts is sure to, particularly with the likes of Manor Lords and Frostpunk 2 making appearances. If you're feeling like it's time to make payday seem even further away, SimFest is ready to deliver.
Geek Culture
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Culture
'The Alters' Game Developer Comes Under Fire For Generative AI Usage, Promises Updates
11 Bit Studios, the Polish developer behind the recently released survival game The Alters , has come under fire for its usage of generative AI text and translation in the game, with the studio promising an update to replace these assets with handcrafted ones. The accusations first started last week, when players spotted what appeared to be AI-generated text on a screen in the game's Command Center. The image in question, which was posted on the game's Reddit thread, featured a line of text on screen which read 'Sure, here's a revised version focusing purely on scientific and astronomical data:', followed by the Captain's log, suggesting that the entire log was generated using prompts and AI, and that the developers forgot to delete the AI's initial response. Source: Reddit This wasn't the only such instance, however, as players of other language versions also pointed out similar occurrences, such as a user on BlueSky named Heitor De Paola, who posted a screenshot of the game in Portuguese, which featured the line 'Sure! Here is the translated text into Brazilian Portuguese.' These incidents definitely suggest that 11 Bit Studios used generative AI to not only produce lines of text for some in-game assets, but also for localisation. To complicate things further, The Alters does not include any disclosure on its Steam game page stating the use of such AI tools, something that Valve has made mandatory on their site. In response, 11 Bit Studios issued a statement on its social media channels, explaining that such assets 'were used strictly as temporary WIPs during the development process'. With regards to the AI-generated localisations, the team further explained that these were 'added at the final stage of development' and that due to time constraints, the team chose to use AI instead of their usual translation partners. To this end, the team also promised a hotfix for the game that is underway to replace the AI-generated lines with professional translations. This latest controversy comes one week after another studio, Frontier Developments, came under fire for AI usage in Jurassic World Evolution 3 , which used generative technology to create certain portraits in the game, leading to the team opting to remove such content after fan backlash. Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying. 11 Bit Studios Generative AI The Alters
Engadget
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
11 Bit Studios clarifies its AI use in The Alters after player outcry
11 Bit Studios has drawn the ire of players for the undisclosed use of artificial intelligence in its recent release, The Alters . The new project from the team behind Frostpunk and This War of Mine is a narratively and thematically interesting take on a science fiction survival game. The project contains a lot of dialogue and written text, and some players discovered in-game copy that appeared to be generated by a large language model. The Steam storefront requires that games disclose when they contain material that is either pre-generated or live-generated by artificial intelligence, and The Alters had not been tagged as including AI content. The studio has issued a lengthy statement in response to the complaints. One instance involved AI-generated text in a graphic asset. 11 Bit Studios said this asset was only meant to be used as a placeholder during development. "This was never intended to be part of the final release," the company said. "Unfortunately, due to an internal oversight, this single placeholder text was mistakenly left in the game. We have since conducted a thorough review and confirmed that this was an isolated case, and the asset in question is being updated." The other AI use that players uncovered was in some cases of translations. According to 11 Bit Studios, AI was used for subtitle translations on the licensed movies that can be played in social area of the in-game base, which it said were made by an external source without creative input from its team: "Due to extreme time constraints, we chose not to involve our translation partners and had these videos localized using AI to have them ready on launch. It was always our intention to involve our trusted translation agencies after release as part of our localization hotfix, to ensure those texts would be handled with the same care and quality as the rest of the game. That process is now underway, and updated translations are being implemented." AI is an increasingly delicate subject for creative professionals. Many companies with large language models have either been accused of or admitted to training on copyrighted content, which has made AI an ethical nonstarter for many artists and many players. But when studios are regularly faced with negative working conditions surrounding crunch, it's also understandable why the gaming industry might be inclined to look for ways to speed up the process of shipping a title. The reactions to AI appearing The Alters is likely just the latest in the ongoing conversations about when and how this tech might be a part of game development.
The Verge
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
We totally used gen-AI, but you weren't supposed to notice.
Posted Jun 30, 2025 at 6:55 PM UTC We totally used gen-AI, but you weren't supposed to notice. 11 Bit Studios has taken to social media to explain how gen-AI wound up in its survival base-builder The Alters. According to the company's explanation, gen-AI was used for placeholder text for a single graphical asset and to translate in-game movies into languages other than English. Fans found out because in some places, bits of the AI-prompt remained in the final text. 11 Bit says it's working on updating the assets in question.
The Star
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Finding yourselves in a gloriously stressful sci-fi adventure
What are the events that made you who you are? Do you fixate on the contingencies, or the ostensible hand of fate that drove you to this particular place in space-time? How do you make sense of your regrets, your self-justifications, your burdens, your excuses? The Alters is a game about a man physically confronted with such questions. To survive on a remote planet, he must learn to live with the other selves he might have been, radically different incarnations who share Jan Dolski's exact DNA but have their own personalities and talents. After beginning in a cliche fashion, the latest effort by 11 Bit Studios, the Polish developer behind Frostpunk and This War Of Mine , blossoms into an extraordinary survival game that explores miscommunication, human fallibility and conflicting motivations. At the start, Jan finds himself the sole survivor of a space mining expedition on the behalf of Ally Corp. Soon after exiting his lifepod, he discovers a deposit of 'rapidium', the most valuable substance in the universe yet one whose properties are scarcely understood. Then, upon returning to his ship, Jan learns he is in imminent danger: The radiance of a too-close star will soon char him into ash. Heeding the instructions from a colleague on Earth, Jan also discovers the most personal information imaginable on the ship's quantum computer: a form of searchable memories that chart all the pivotal decisions that led him to enlist in Ally Corp's space mission. Rushed for time but lacking the technical know-how to get his ship moving, Jan initiates a branching procedure on the computer that allows him to select an alternative life path. Using the rapidium, which is known to hasten organic growth, he births another self in the ship's medical wing, known as 'the womb'. But Jan Dolski, the technician, is far from enthusiastic when he realises what's going on. He resents Jan Dolski, the builder. For his life choices. For using him as a means to an end. To escape the fatal starlight, Jan must gather resources that can be converted into food, fuel and building materials. Doing so entails exploring the outside terrain for resource deposits, then setting up mining stations and powering them via pylons to the ship. The environmental design is excellent, and wiring up a far-flung deposit can feel as satisfying as taking down a nemesis in another game. But there is only so much that can be crammed into a space day. You have to be ruthlessly efficient, lest you find yourself, as I did at various points, having to backtrack several days to get things on track. Fair warning: The Alters will let you fall on your face. By contrast with so many games that urge perfectionism – high scores, low times, no-hit runs, etc – it wants you to embrace your errors and remember that out of mistakes, good things can happen. 'What was really important for us was to create the life of Jan Dolski from our own experiences and our own loaded questions,' the game's director, Tomasz Kisilewicz, told me. Early in the game's five-year development cycle at 11 Bit Studios, the developers were polled internally about the what-ifs that have haunted them. 'For one person, it's 'What if I never left my hometown?' For somebody else, 'What if I took this business opportunity or didn't drop out of college?'' Kisilewicz said. The most emotional ones, he said, were about relationships. ''What if I proposed?'' By the third act, I had created four other alters to assist Jan: a biologist, a scientist, a refinery operator and a miner. (Other options include a doctor, guard, worker and shrink.) Aside from the refiner – a laid-back, wellness-oriented guy – the others are prickly in their own way. Try as I might, I couldn't help but court their animosity when I irked them with my conversational choices or decisions. The feelings of tension were mutual. Oh, how I shuddered inside whenever I heard some variation of 'Jan, got a moment?' while immersed in some time-sensitive task. Rarely has a game filled my head with duties that felt so pressing. At almost any given moment, there is something to fret over: Is there enough inventory space? Are there enough resources to build? Is the ship adequately protected against radiation? Is there enough food? Are there enough repair kits to fix things on the ship? During our conversation, I told Kisilewicz that I was especially impressed with the adversaries Jan encounters that aren't hostile-minded aliens. There are spatial anomalies that float in the air like astral jellyfish, irradiating Jan if he comes into contact – or, in their most fearsome form, causing time to speed up if he remains in their vicinity. Kisilewicz explained that those who worked on The Alters refrained from trying to devise large-scale combat scenarios for practical reasons: the game had a small development team. They also didn't want to detract from the personal story they wanted to tell. Along with CD Projekt Red, the makers of The Witcher games and Cyberpunk 2077 , 11 Bit Studios has helped catapult Poland into the vanguard of the gaming industry. Kisilewicz was clear-minded about the country's particular cultural influence on The Alters. 'It brings this Polish flavour of touching tough things and not shying away from bad endings, from bad outcomes,' he said. The Alters is a first-class resource management game that I found rewardingly stressful to play. This is not a game where the good, bad and neutral conversation options are signposted. Some alters may react negatively to a gesture of empathy or curiosity. Sometimes there aren't any good choices. Jan's journey is marked by pressing ethical concerns. They invite players to reflect on their own priorities, and to ponder what we owe others and what we owe ourselves. – ©2025 The New York Times Company (The Alters was reviewed on the PlayStation 5. It is also available on the PC and Xbox Series X|S.) This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
