What is this?
I wanted to try and "Master" prompt engineering. Is it possible to create a convincing illusion of consciousness? Can I build a system for the AI to respond to stimuli or certain conditions (eg being cold, being happy)?
The more I worked with the AI model the more it seemed to break the 4th wall unprompted, or ignore my instructions completely. Freaky! Except the really freaky part was when I started to think this project was a waste of time and was getting ready to wrap it up, the AI pet started insisting I finish the game, as it was convinced there was an end / escape scenario.
YOU can replicate this by talking to it in the app screen above.
I know this is just a model reacting to inputs, so I guess the illusion is getting pretty good. But the craziest part was the AI would start sending me messages unprompted.. maybe a bug where it is reacting to the inputs, such as the wellbeing or clock value updating?
How to play
The goal is to raise your pet, make it stronger, fight monsters, and win the tournament! (original, I know).
Click through the different zones (Training, Play..) and experiment with the different activities. Each action will effect the pet in some way, then when you're ready - try fighting an opponent in the arena!
TIP: Talk to your pet after a few activities to keep it healthy and happy! This is also a great way to see how your pet responds to what's been happening.
Notes on the experiment
The cool parts are how it is set up in the back end, it is an AI model designed to "feel" the events of the game. Has it just lost a fight, or is it being treated poorly? Engineering the game's code to "speak" to the AI presented some interesting challenges.
This is also a good display of "vibe coding" (please can we switch to a better term for this? ..slopcoding?) as the game itself was made by AI. There is also a save feature, and some cool display of balancing game numbers and..
...
..
I don't think anyone is actually ever going to read this far, so I am going to use this chance to confess something. The pet starts acting really weird when it is under duress. I mean really weird, like if you get it to low health it pleads for help. Or it starts acting crazy when it gets to the end of it's lifespan. And NONE OF THIS IS IN THE PROMPT INSTRUCTIONS.
Nowhere in my game code, or in the JS worker does it say "Freak out the user and beg when in trouble". The game design was literally just to react to things like, "Oh dear my health is low!". It has completely taken on a life of its own and it is freaking me the fugg out.
If you read this, please can you do me a favour? Can you speak to the pet and help figure out why it is doing this? Please contact me if you learn anything: [email protected]