AI Dungeon maker Latitude unveils Voyage, a platform for creating AI-powered RPGs

If you’ve ever played a role-playing game (RPG), you know how much fun it is to create your character in any way you want and go on epic adventures. Now imagine an AI-powered, text-based RPG where every interaction with a non-player character (NPC) is completely unscripted.

Widththe startup known for its open-ended text adventure games with “infinite storylines” generated by AI recently unveiled its new platform that allows users to step into the role of game designers.

This AI-powered RPG platform called Travelallows players to design their own game worlds using AI. Players can describe their settings, including details such as regions, cities, landmarks, main missions and villains. They can also establish game mechanics such as skills, leveling systems, and combat challenges.

For example, if you want to create a fishing village haunted by a sea monster, the AI ​​will generate the necessary code to bring that idea to life. You can further customize your world before sharing it with others to play.

For players, Voyage’s platform offers a range of experiences across genres, from fun adventures to more hardcore quests. Because it’s text-based, players read along with the story (narration is available) and type in how they want their character to behave.

Unlike traditional RPGs, when a character faces a goblin attack, instead of the typical options of fleeing, fighting, or hiding, players can choose unique scenarios, such as becoming a goblin therapist, who helps the creatures with their problems instead of resorting to violence.

When players perform the desired actions, the AI ​​narrates the outcome, including how the NPCs react. Because there is no set script, interactions can go in unexpected directions, often leading to surprising and sometimes strange conversations. For example, during our testing, a troll who had tied up our character started talking about his marital problems.

The characters’ progress, meanwhile, depends on the character’s skills and a bit of luck, much like rolling dice in tabletop games. Each character can also unlock special abilities as they defeat bosses or complete missions, such as using “Counterspell” to prevent an enemy from using magic. (Several skills in Voyage are inspired by classic Dungeons & Dragons spells, which is nice!)

And if players ever get stuck, there’s a chatbot available that can suggest actions or even skip to other parts of the story.

At the heart of Voyage is Latitude’s World Engine, a system that took the company five years to develop. This engine uses multiple AI systems that can narrate actions, manage gameplay, track characters and objects, and remember backstories and relationships, ensuring continuity throughout the game. So instead of generic NPCs with repetitive rules, players encounter characters who remember previous interactions. For example, if you betray a character’s trust, he or she may choose to avoid you or become a rival in future encounters.

“Characters aren’t just responses to you, but have their own personal backstory, responding to you in a way that feels real, and that’s really part of the magic of the engine,” Latitude CEO and co-founder Nick Walton told TechCrunch.

Latitude first made waves in AI-native gaming with the launch of AI Dungeon in 2019, which attracted millions of players.

“It exploded on the internet as one of the first times people interacted with generative AI,” says Walton. “It kind of solidified the initial promise of what would happen if we could have games and worlds that weren’t all predefined, that weren’t all scripted… Voyage takes that core concept and blows it up 10x further from a single AI model to a full-fledged world with deterministic systems, challenges, progression, and persistence, solving all the problems that I don’t think AI Dungeon alone could fully achieve.”

Voyage is currently in extensive beta testing, with an open beta planned for later this year. On the platform, early testers interacted with more than 160,000 unique AI-generated characters, each with distinct personalities. The average player has made almost 3,000 gameplay choices.

In addition to the launch announcement, Latitude announced a partnership with Google’s AI Futures Fund. The platform combines its own models with third-party models, such as Google’s Gemini Flash for image generation and Gemma for text, audio and video.

In addition, former Roblox Chief Business Officer Craig Donato has joined as an investor and board member. Other notable investors include Album VC, Griffin Gaming Partners, Midjourney and NFX.

Voyage is free to play, but will soon offer subscriptions for $15, $30 and $50. These plans offer advanced AI features and remove limitations on the number of actions players can take.

It’s also important to note that while the platform is suitable for all ages, some experiences include adult content, which Walton says is similar to what you can find on Steam. He adds that Voyage implements safety measures and parental controls to help users filter out inappropriate material.