The State of Video Game Development in Quantum Computing; Interview with IBM’s Dr. Wootto
(Kotaku) This is an interview with Dr James Wootton, a quantum computing researcher at IBM who has the honour of being the first person to ever make a game on a real quantum computer. So far, he has wrangled with quantum circuits to recreate basic games like Battleship and Qiskit Blocks, a Minecraft-esque voxel game designed to teach kids the basics of quantum computing.
Dr. Wootton comments Finland seems to be the main place embracing quantum computing in games. IBM co-organised a game jam there last year: the first one in which jammers could use real quantum computers. The university of Aalto is also planning a course that will have a combination of game design and quantum computing. IBM are also working with a game studio on including quantum effects in their game. You can expect more news on this in the coming months.
The discussion includes a technical discussion. When making quantum games, it is typical to focus on just one or a few quantum gates and think about how to make them into a game mechanic. In the Battleships games Wootton made, he used gates that flip a qubit from 0 to 1. For conventional computers, this is done by the NOT gate, which simply performs the flip.
Once game designers have the ability to draw on quantum resources, they’ll have more possibilities for creating the best game experience.
Those interested in games and quantum computing may want to keep an eye on this site: The Global Game Jam
