Artificial Intelligence has been everywhere for the last few years whether we like it or not. From art, to literature, to journalism, AI has wormed its way into the online space in such a sneaky way that people are starting to struggle to tell what’s real and what isn’t.
Little Learning Machines, developed and published by Transitional Forms, has sprung up in Early Access at the perfect time to make the most of the buzz surrounding AI. The game allows you to train your own little robots, each with their own neural networks, to complete tasks and solve puzzles and help the story progress.
A neural network mimics the way that the brain operates and relies on training data to learn and improve their accuracy over time. In Little Learning Machines, this data comes in the form of LV (learning value) and FR (failure reason), also known as love and fear. These are the two foundational building blocks of programming the robots, however as I quickly learnt, you have no real control over them, and things can go rapidly awry.
I came into Little Learning Machines with high hopes. The tutorial level, which has you programme your first little robot friend to collect crystals from around the starter island, was reasonably straight-forward and I came away from it thinking that I understood what needed to be done.
When you are looking to programme the neural network to complete a task, you jump into the cloud – a liminal space where robots can receive rewards and punishments and you can control the environment they are in. This is where you can tell the robots what tasks they need to complete, which isn’t too difficult and yet I found it endlessly complicated at the same time.
Instructions are given in the form of amount, source, interaction and target. Amount is the level of LV or FR that completing an action will award. Source is what kind of action it is, such as movement or an action to do with a particular object like an axe. Interaction adds more information onto the source, like chopping with an axe, holding something, moving forward etc. Finally, the target is the object that you are looking to influence.
It isn’t quite as simple as telling the robot that it loves chopping down trees with an axe to make everything work well however. You need to make it pick up the axe, hold onto it, avoid swinging and missing, and often something to stop the robot just standing still. Piling these commands onto one another is the main reason that I realized Little Learning Machines wasn’t for me. It all became too complicated too quickly, and I found that I had confused my robots so much that they couldn’t even do the simple crystal collecting anymore.
Each of the levels come with a series of quests to complete, from gifting flowers to petting a dog, chopping down trees and of course, collecting precious crystals. These increase in difficulty as you progress, and new levels unlock as you complete them. I will admit that across the many hours I poured into Little Learning Machines, I didn’t get very far. Not for lack of trying either. My robots would be doing a great job in the cloud, kicking the ball to the dog, giving flowers to their fellow robo-buddies, and planting seeds, but as soon as they were placed down in the real world, all they wanted to do was spin in circles or walk aimlessly forwards into trees.
As I played and got continuously stuck on the same levels, I found myself thinking that Little Learning Machines could benefit from a slightly more in-depth tutorial. Ideally something that would explain everything in an extremely beginner way for someone like me who knows next to nothing about science. I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t doing the thing I wanted it to, even when I thought I was doing everything right.
That’s not to say there is no tutorial at all. Even after the initial crystal collecting explanation of how everything works, you have access to a detailed info panel containing notes on everything from how the compass works to teaching new robots how to function. While these are helpful, they are usually either too short to tell me anything I don’t already know, too wordy and confusing or just too complicated for me to make sense of.
Completing the missions scattered around each map will unlock accessories which can be used to dress up your robots with everything from sunglasses to mittens. This is very cute. Despite their rebellious ways, the robots are adorable and they look even cuter wearing an eggshell as a shirt. This isn’t the only form of customisation in Little Learning Machines. The starter island can be decorated using items you discover on each new island, including trees, flowers and, most importantly, the puppies.
Aesthetically, Little Learning Machines is gorgeous. The artwork is simple and blocky and yet fits together to create landscapes that are really unique and fun. The music is bouncy and enjoyable, with just a hint of factory sounds to add to the mechanical vibe of the game. The robots are, as I have said a million times, precious to look at and dress up, even if they made me want to tear my hair out on multiple occasions.
I wanted to like Little Learning Machines so badly. The concept, bright colors, and adorable robots meant it was a game right up my alley. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the opposite. Whether I just got unlucky and the robots decided to disobey me or if the game itself is far too complicated, it’s hard to tell.
I do think it is important to note that Little Learning Machines is wonderfully designed, and so unique in its concept, that if you have even the slightest interest in AI it is probably worth looking into. The majority of the issues I had with this game are likely more my fault than anything the game has done wrong, and with neural networks there’s never really much telling what they will do in the beginning stages anyway.
Megan reviewed Little Learning Machines in Early Access on PC.
