Field notes
The blog.
What we're thinking before we build it on stream, and what broke when we did.
It's 2026, Where Are the AI NPCs? A Contrarian Read on the Unit Economics
AI NPCs are in over 60% of new RPGs, yet almost nobody can name a game they played because of one. The answer isn't the tech — it's that inference costs turn player engagement into a cost centre.
What the Bristol Study Actually Found: AI NPC Research Beyond the Headline Stat
Bristol's AI-NPC research got reduced to a single enjoyment stat. The more useful finding is what players actually responded to, and it's a narrower, more useful claim than the industry debate usually allows for.
The $1,049 Steam Machine Is a Warning Sign, Not an Outlier
Valve's Steam Machine launched hundreds of dollars above its reported target price. The reason traces back to AI data centers buying up the world's memory supply, and analysts don't expect relief until 2030.
The Biggest NPC Game of 2026 Deliberately Skipped AI. Here's Why That's Not a Contradiction.
Playground Games built over 1,000 handcrafted, human-voiced NPCs for Fable, and confirmed at Summer Game Fest that no generative AI was involved. Here's why that's a different bet, not a rejection of the AI-NPC trend.
AI Game Development in 2026: What the Adoption Numbers Actually Show
50% of studios now use AI in active production. Here's what that adoption actually looks like on the ground, and where solo and small-team devs are getting the most real value.
Autonomous Game Agents Are Already Shipping: What NVIDIA ACE Tells Us
NVIDIA ACE moved from conversational NPCs to autonomous game characters that perceive, plan, and act, and it's already in shipped games. Here's what's actually working, and what's still hard.
The 'Gameslop' Backlash Is Real: Here's What It Means for AI in Games
52% of game professionals now say generative AI is hurting the industry, up from 18% two years ago. Here's what's driving that, and what it means for anyone building with AI in games.
AI NPCs Went Mainstream in 2026: Here's What the Data Actually Shows
AI-powered NPCs jumped from 8% of new RPGs to 62% in two years. Here's what's actually driving that, and what the research says about how players are responding.
Vibe Coding Is Already 'Passe': Here's What's Replacing It
The term Andrej Karpathy coined in February 2025 was declared outdated by its own creator a year later. Here's what changed, what the data actually says, and why watching the process live matters more than ever.
The 60fps Problem: Where Does the Model Actually Run?
Running inference in the game loop is a frame budget problem first and an ML problem second. Here's how we're approaching it.
Welcome to LEVEL//UP AI
We're starting a live-build series for AI × gaming. Here's why we think it's worth doing badly in public.