‍About PlayPack

PlayPack is an international and diverse studio with years of collaborative experience in gaming, founded by ex Wooga, Etermax, Glu, Huuuge veterans, and backed by fantastic VC experts such as Play Ventures and The Games Fund. 

We are building a casual game studio based around the pillars of cross-platform accessibility, community, and social collaboration for a casual audience.

From hackathon winner to AI tool of choice

Like many other modern mobile game studios, PlayPack was looking for a user-friendly AI tool that could add real value to their art pipeline. The search for an AI solution was driven by their need for a tool that was not only quick to learn but also capable of delivering consistent and reliable results across established game IP. This was especially important with PlayPacks portfolio of casual merge games - all with unique art styles and live service requirements.

Their journey with Layer began when the team started running into limitations with in-house solutions. They needed an AI tool that could seamlessly integrate into their studio art pipelines and be adopted by all team members regardless of technical background.

To explore potential AI-driven solutions, PlayPack organized an internal hackathon, providing their team access to various AI tools. During the hackathon, the team not only managed to create a new set of characters for their game but also built a custom model tailored to their specific needs using Layer.

Layer quickly became a regular part of the PlayPack workflow, supporting them with everything from quick concept generation to designing detailed UI elements. The tool has empowered their entire team to explore and implement AI-driven solutions, significantly enhancing their gamedev process.

We incorporated Layer into our regular workflow for various tasks, from generating quick concepts to designing UI elements. The team's positive experience made Layer an integral part of our creative process.
_{Tatiana Kondratyeva, CEO PlayPack}

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Custom IPs + multiple assets = No Problem 

Supporting a demanding live service pipeline

While running a successful live game is a dream for most studios, meeting the constant demand for fresh content can be challenging. To tackle this, PlayPack integrated Layer into their workflows, leveraging AI-driven capabilities to enhance and expedite art creation. The process began with PlayPack's team providing specific inputs and creative guidelines to Layer, ensuring that the generated content aligned with their vision for Greentown, Merge Away!, and Cozy Lane.

The Layer tool acted like an outsourced team, producing initial drafts of new live service content based on the custom model created by PlayPack. These AI-generated drafts significantly reduced the workload on PlayPack's artists, who then focused on the more creative aspect of refining content. This division of labor not only sped up the production process but allowed the artists to engage more in the creative elements of their work.

The impact of integrating Layer was a marked improvement in efficiency, enabling PlayPack to deliver high-quality content more consistently and at a faster pace. The use of Layer allowed the studio to keep up with player demand without overburdening their creative team.

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Character creation + overpaint

Assets like characters can be fully created by Layer with minimal overpainting, allowing them to be directly integrated into PlayPack's games. This was particularly valuable in Merge Away!, where each level pack introduces a new custom character and background. By utilizing Layer, PlayPack was able to generate these assets quickly and efficiently, maintaining quality and consistency expected by players.

The process begins with creating specific prompts for the new customer characters and game backgrounds. Layer then generated variations, often ready for immediate use with only minimal touch-ups from the art team. This automation drastically reduced the time and effort required from PlayPack, allowing them to focus on other critical aspects of game development.

The integration of Layer into the art pipeline streamlined production, enabling PlayPack to release new level packs more frequently and reliably. This efficiency not only keeps players engaged with fresh content but also ensures that the game maintains a consistent aesthetic and quality across all updates.

Layer has allowed us to streamline our content creation process significantly while maintaining high quality and consistency in our game assets.
_{‍Tatiana Kondratyeva, CEO PlayPack}

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UI design

A good example of Layeri's impact is in UI design, a process that traditionally required extensive custom work. Previously, PlayPack relied on the art team to create these elements, which could be time-consuming and slowed feature development. With the integration of Layer, the team can now fully concept new features for the UI/UX flow using elements generated directly by the tool.

With UI concepts generated independently, they can then be brought to the art team for refinement and review. This streamlined process means that new UI elements are prototyped and iterated upon much faster - reducing the initial workload on the artists and allowing them to focus on perfecting designs rather than starting from scratch.

This approach has significantly accelerated the concepting process. By enabling quicker iteration and implementation of new features, PlayPack can now more rapidly adapt to player feedback and market demand.

Bring AI into your game team - the right way

We believe that to achieve success, you need to take the initiative and start experimenting. AI tools can significantly help small studios streamline their workflows, reduce concepting time, and enhance collaboration across different disciplines.
_{‍Tatiana Kondratyeva, CEO PlayPack}

 It's easy to become overwhelmed by the myriad possibilities, but setting aside a few days for your team to explore custom tools like Layer can make all the difference.

• Experimentation Time: Allocate time where everyone on the team has access to AI tools and the freedom to experiment.
• Focused Tasks: Set a specific task, such as creating a small game or a new feature for an existing game. Define clear goals to keep the project manageable and targeted.
• Collaborative Testing: Encourage team members to collaborate and share their findings. This process helps identify which tools and methods work best.
• Iterative Development: Understand that AI tools are not out-of-the-box solutions. They require smart application and integration into your existing workflows. Be prepared to iterate and refine.

Adopting AI tools early can provide a competitive edge as these technologies continue to evolve. We strongly encourage everyone to try these tools and see how they can benefit your projects. By being proactive and adaptive, you can save time and enhance your content creation capabilities.