Charmed, a Seattle startup that specializes in creating AI-powered video game development tools, raised $400,000 from Madrona Venture Labs.
The funding news comes alongside the recent debut of Charmed’s Texture Generator, which can automatically “paint” colors and surface details onto simple 3D objects, in accordance to a user’s customized prompts. It’s currently in free beta.
It joins a lineup of other browser-based tools from Charmed including Dream Dungeon, which can automatically create textured maps in the style of 3D isometric dungeon-crawling video games like Diablo, Dungeon Keeper, or Red Alert. There’s also a quest generator that lets the user quickly generate blueprints for in-game tasks.
Charmed was spun out from Madrona Venture Labs earlier this year by founder Jeremy Tryba, a 15-year veteran of Seattle’s tech scene who was previously a vice president at Placed, Snap, and Foursquare.
“Generative AI is the first time where, if you have the ability to build a game mechanic but not the art assets, you can start to produce those things with programming tools,” Tryba told GeekWire.
Charmed is among a flock of companies building AI tools for game development, including startups such as Scenario and Versed, along with more established players including Roblox and Microsoft.
Tryba said his company’s AI tools can make prototyping and iteration faster, and can help create maps, characters, animation, or sound effects.
“But all of that still requires great artists to produce that fundamental style,” he noted.
Tryba said AI can empower people who have a creative idea but “don’t have the means of executing on that.” That could be a big studio that doesn’t have the capacity to create enough content for their audience, or an individual creator who doesn’t have programming skills, he said.
With his first tool, Dream Dungeon, Tryba’s goal was getting users “into an integrated game environment as fast as possible,” focusing on the dungeon crawler games he’d played as a kid as an inspiration.
“I came into game development as a technology person who didn’t have art skills,” Tryba said.
Charmed’s website is careful to note that it sees its tools as something that can be used to quickly produce assets and material that a designer can proceed to iterate on. Its various tools are meant as an aid for brainstorming or conceptualizing, rather than something that can be immediately plugged into a game project.
“The way I look at these technologies is that they’re like a water wheel,” Tryba said. “They need some water to push it before they can do something useful. These AI tools will sit inert until you push something through them, and it really matters what you’re pushing.”
“If you’ve got a good idea and you do bring your own creativity to the table, I think these tools can help you create cooler things, faster and more complex than you could do on your own,” Tryba added. “But you know, garbage in, garbage out. If you shove a lot of garbage through these tools, you’ll get what you deserve.”
Charmed currently works with several companies in Seattle’s independent game development community. Fans and interested developers can experiment with beta versions of Charmed’s tools via the company’s website, but its overall business model is still a work in progress.
