To understand the future of generative AI, we need better language to describe it

Our new series about generative AI and its use in games suggests some words to use

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun

If you’ve ever tried to play a hardcore RPG that’s way above your brain’s pay grade, or got lost in tutorials that use complicated words and bizarre jargon, then you’ve probably felt right at home reading headlines about AI recently. Why are people angry that this character has seven fingers? Why does Nvidia want me to talk to a robot about ramen ? Why is everyone saying AI is smart when it still can’t manage its Classical Era luxury resource economy in Civilization properly? In this new series, we’re going to explore what ‘generative AI’ is, why it’s arrived now in the games industry, and what it might mean for people who make, write about and play games in the future.

In my day job , I’m a Senior Lecturer at King’s College London’s Department of Informatics, where I lead a research team dedicated to studying how AI might change creativity and games. You might have seen some of my research on RPS before, such as the game-designing AI Angelina . I’ve been doing this research since 2011: before AI Dungeon launched on Steam; before OpenAI Five took on DOTA 2’s world champions; before Lee Sedol’s historic loss to DeepMind’s AlphaGo . When I started studying AI as a PhD student, it was a field very few people were interested in, and the idea of studying AI for games or creativity was a niche within a niche. Since then, I’ve watched as public opinion has gone from one extreme to another, and now the main problem I face as a researcher isn’t people underestimating what AI can do, but rather over estimating it. In this four-part series, we’re going to try to find that middle ground between the extremes, and from there see what’s really on the horizon for the games industry.

First, an important question: what does ‘generative AI’ mean? That’s something even I’m not always sure about. As AI has become more popular, we’ve lost our grip on what most of its terminology’s come to define. Even the term ‘AI’ itself has lost all meaning as it’s been applied to every technology product in existence. Did you know you can get gamer headphones with “AI Beamforming” technology in them, for example? Generative AI might be especially confusing for people who play PC games, too - weren’t games like Spelunky and Minecraft using procedural generation to make their levels and worlds back in 2010? Heck, weren’t Rogue and Elite using it in the 1980s? Isn’t that generative ?

Spelunky 2 is a 2D platformer that uses procedural generation to present new challenges to its players. |Image credit:Mossmouth

Today, ‘generative AI’ most often means a machine learning system that has been trained to produce some kind of creative content, especially artistic outputs like art, music or writing. These AI systems can usually be ‘prompted’ by writing a request in plain language, which is where we get famous systems such as Midjourney , which you can get images from simply by describing what you want with words. Using AI to create art or music isn’t new. In fact, it stretches back decades, long before my PhD. But it’s shot into the popular consciousness now that machine learning models have provided simple interfaces and higher-fidelity results. New AI results went viral from time to time on social media, then they popped up as little demos you could try yourself, and before long it began to feel like a product. Then, suddenly, it was a product.

It might seem like generative AI is already taking over the games industry. Earlier this year, GDC released their annual State of the Industry survey , in which they claimed that 31% of surveyed developers used generative AI in their workplaces, and 49% of studios were using it. But ‘generative AI’ can describe anything from people using AI image generators to create every single art asset in their game, down to people who just use ChatGPT to write their emails. Generative AI is not a single concept, and using it for one area – such as programming – might feel and work very differently to using it in another – translating dialogue, say. Regardless of any studies, headlines or big press releases, generative AI is a big, messy, controversial idea, and it won’t affect all parts of the games industry in the same way.

To help you think about some of these differences, I’ve got some suggestions for new words we can use to talk about generative AI systems. The first is ‘online’ versus ‘offline’ systems (which I’m borrowing from research on procedural generation ). Online systems generate content while you’re playing the game – AI Dungeon is an example of an online generative AI system, because it writes in real-time while you’re playing. Offline systems are more for use during development, like the use of generated AI portraits in the indie detective game The Roottrees Are Dead . Portraits and other artwork were generated using Midjourney and added to the game, but the game itself doesn’t generate anything. As you’d expect, online systems are a lot riskier because developers can’t test every possibility in advance, but they can also lead to more exciting and innovative game designs. Offline systems are easier to test, secure and validate, which might make them more popular with big studios who can’t afford to take risks with unpredictable technology in live games.

Released in 2019, AI Dungeon is a text-based, AI-generated fantasy sim that lets players create and share adventures using custom prompts. |Image credit:Latitude

Another way we can categorise generative AI systems is between “visible” and “invisible” systems. Visible systems produce content that you directly feel the effect of – things like art or music - while invisible systems generate content that the average player might not be as aware of. For example, some programmers use GitHub Copilot , a generative AI system that can write small sections of program code. If someone used Copilot to write the multiplayer networking code for your favourite MMORPG , you almost certainly would never hear about it (unless something went wrong). The same goes for many aspects of game development that we don’t necessarily see directly – if the finance department uses ChatGPT to compile their monthly reports, for example, or if concept artists produce some pre-alpha artwork using DALL-E . The visibility of a generative AI system may be increasingly important as backlash against the use of AI tools rises, because developers may feel safer employing generative AI in less visible ways that players are less likely to feel the presence of.

The third category, and maybe the most important one, is whether the AI is “heavy” or “light” – thanks to my colleague and student Younès Rabii for suggesting the names for this one. Lots of the most famous generative AI tools, like ChatGPT or Midjourney, have been trained on billions of images or documents that were scraped from all across the Internet; they’re what I call heavy . Not only is this legally murky – something we’ll come back to in the next part of this series – but it also makes the models much harder to predict. Recently it’s come to light that some of these models have a lot of illegal and disturbing material in their training data, which isn’t something that publishers necessarily want generating artwork in their next big blockbuster game. But lighter AI can also be built and trained on smaller collections of data that have been gathered and processed by hand. This can still produce great results, especially for really specialised tasks inside a single game.

The generative AI systems you hear about lately, the ones we’re told are going to change the world, are online, visible and heavy. We’re told that generative AI is going to live inside every video game, changing its look, mechanics and story in real-time, and use big names like ChatGPT to make it happen. The history of technology in games tells us that’s probably not going to be how it plays out. The technology that will likely become persistently useful will be offline, invisible and much lighter. As an example, we can look at the history of pre-2015 generative technology in the games industry. Despite all the potential and excitement around procedural generation, the most enduring and widespread tool in the industry is SpeedTree , a very specialised tool for generating trees and other flora, used mostly by environment artists for over twenty years. You may not have even heard of it.

But that kind of hindsight is still a long way off for generative AI, and in the meantime there’s a storm of court cases, hopeful start-ups and confused game design pitches for us to weather. Tomorrow, we’ll sail headfirst into the choppy waters of ethics and the law. Until then, keep counting those fingers, and don’t talk to any strange robots.

In Part 2, The Art Of The Steal, we discuss why protecting art from generative AI has never been more vital or important.

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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