{"slug": "i-tried-to-put-ai-into-the-race-then-i-realized-it-didn-t-need-ai", "title": "I Tried to Put AI Into the Race. Then I Realized It Didn't Need AI.", "summary": "A developer building the creature-breeding racing game EvoWild Run concluded that the game's race system does not need AI running inside it at all. After initially designing a 'Race Agent' that would observe races and issue tactical commands, the developer realized the runtime behavior reduces to a rule-based tactical command system, where condition checks like remaining distance and fatigue select predefined commands. The design now has every racing creature use a common Agent File that players can configure through the game UI or generate with an external AI, with no special commands for AI users.", "body_md": "In the previous post, I started working out what EvoWild Run is actually supposed to be as a game.\n\nRaise Creatures. Breed them. Continue their lineages across generations.\n\nRace them on Courses with different conditions, then use the results to influence the next breeding decisions.\n\nEventually, players may also be able to create Courses themselves.\n\nBut one major question was still unresolved:\n\n**What does the player actually do after the race starts?**\n\nI left that question open in the previous post.\n\n[What Is EvoWild Run Actually Supposed to Be?](https://dev.to/badjoke-lab/what-is-evowild-run-actually-supposed-to-be-2664)\n\nSo that is where I started this time.\n\nThe first decision was that EvoWild Run should not become a game where the player directly controls the Creature after the start.\n\nMove left and right.\n\nPress an acceleration button.\n\nTime your inputs through corners.\n\nIf I make that the core of the race, the player's action-game skill starts becoming more important than the Creature they actually bred.\n\nWhat I want to matter more is:\n\nSo the rough structure became:\n\n**Breed → choose a Creature → choose a strategy → watch the race → analyse the result → feed it back into the next decision**\n\nUp to this point, the idea is still fairly close to a horse-racing game.\n\nThat led to an AI idea.\n\nIf the human player is not directly controlling the Creature, perhaps an AI prepared by the player could observe the race and make decisions instead.\n\nFor example:\n\nThe AI could respond with commands such as:\n\n```\nCONSERVE\nMOVE OUTSIDE\nATTACK\n```\n\n`\n\nThe AI would not directly move the Creature.\n\nThe structure I had in mind was:\n\n`text`\n\nAI / Agent\n\n↓\n\nevaluate the situation\n\n↓\n\nissue a command\n\n↓\n\nCreature attempts to execute it\n\n↓\n\nRace Engine determines the actual result\n\nThat is where the idea of a **Race Agent** started.\n\nThe next problem was obvious.\n\nWhat happens to players who do not use AI?\n\nIf AI users have a Race Agent while everyone else uses a completely different system, then I effectively have two different race systems inside the same game.\n\nSo I changed the idea.\n\n**Every racing Creature should have a Race Agent.**\n\nA normal player would not need to write an Agent File.\n\nThey could simply choose understandable options in the game UI, such as:\n\nBeginners could use simpler presets.\n\nInternally, those choices would be converted into a common Agent File.\n\nAn advanced player could instead write the Agent File directly.\n\nOr they could ask ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, a local model, or another AI to create one.\n\nThe important part is:\n\n**an Agent created through the normal UI and an Agent created with AI eventually become the same kind of Agent File.**\n\nAI users do not get access to special commands.\n\nFrom the Race Engine's point of view, they are the same thing.\n\nThis was the point where the idea changed.\n\nSuppose the Agent File contains a rule like this:\n\n`` `text ``\n\nremaining distance <= 400m\n\nAND\n\nfatigue < 70%\n\n↓\n\nATTACK\n\n`\n\nThat is not AI.\n\nIt is just checking conditions and selecting a predefined command.\n\nGames have been doing variations of this for a long time: instead of directly controlling a character, the player defines tactics, priorities, commands, or rules in advance.\n\nThe name **Race Agent** sounds AI-related, but the runtime system itself does not actually need AI.\n\nSo I had started with:\n\n**What if I put an AI Agent into the race?**\n\nAnd after breaking the idea down, I ended up with:\n\n**The race does not need AI running inside it at all.**\n\nWhat remained was essentially a tactical command system.\n\nIt would still be possible to connect an external AI during the race and let it make decisions in real time.\n\nBut then a different set of problems appears:\n\nI would be designing a racing game, but suddenly the price and performance of external AI services would also become part of the competitive environment.\n\nSo for the initial version, I think this is enough:\n\n**Create an Agent File before the race, then let the Race Engine execute it.**\n\nLive AI can be reconsidered later if there is a reason to add it.\n\nJust because AI is involved somewhere does not mean an AI model needs to be running throughout the race.\n\nI did not remove AI completely.\n\nI moved it to a different part of the process.\n\n`` `text ``\n\nCreature abilities\n\nPast race results\n\nCurrent Course conditions\n\nExisting Agent File\n\nExternal AI\n\nImproved Agent File\n\nValidator\n\nRace Engine\n\n`\n\nA player could ask an AI to analyse a Creature's previous races and produce an improved strategy.\n\nA player who does not want to use AI could create the same kind of Agent through the normal game UI.\n\nSo:\n\n**AI is optional.**\n\nIt can help with strategy creation and analysis.\n\nBut the game rules themselves can still work without it.\n\nAt least for now, that seems like a much better fit for EvoWild Run.\n\nEvoWild Run originally started from me thinking about blockchain games.\n\nThe question was not:\n\n**If this is a blockchain game, where do I put the token and NFTs?**\n\nIt was:\n\n**Does this game actually need blockchain at all?**\n\nI seem to have ended up doing something similar with AI.\n\nI started with:\n\n**Could AI make the race more interesting?**\n\nThen I separated the idea into its actual components and found that the Race Agent did not need AI in the runtime.\n\nBut the Race Agent itself survived.\n\nSo the next question became:\n\n**If this is now just a tactical command system, how do I make it interesting enough to become part of the game rather than just another settings screen?**\n\nThat is what I started thinking about next.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-tried-to-put-ai-into-the-race-then-i-realized-it-didn-t-need-ai", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/badjoke-lab/i-tried-to-put-ai-into-the-race-then-i-realized-it-didnt-need-ai-5a4k", "published_at": "2026-09-22 15:42:16+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-22 15:53:04.115134+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-agents", "ai-tools", "generative-ai"], "entities": ["EvoWild Run", "ChatGPT", "Claude", "Gemini"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-tried-to-put-ai-into-the-race-then-i-realized-it-didn-t-need-ai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-tried-to-put-ai-into-the-race-then-i-realized-it-didn-t-need-ai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-tried-to-put-ai-into-the-race-then-i-realized-it-didn-t-need-ai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-tried-to-put-ai-into-the-race-then-i-realized-it-didn-t-need-ai.jsonld"}}