ElevenLabs Tutorial: Add a Witty Narrator to Minecraft with AI Modding

The Exciting World of AI in Game Modding

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has become more pervasive and adaptable in nearly every imaginable way. One particularly thrilling revelation is the surge in capabilities of generative AI, showcased by various use cases including copy generation, coding assistance, image generation, and more. This represents a promise of endless possibilities for human-AI creative collaborations.

The Fun Side of AI Creative Collaborations

Creativity naturally leads to fun, as art and creative works often serve as forms of entertainment. In the realm of AI, the potential for collaboration seems limitless! Imagine teaming up with a novelist to create captivating narration for a video game. Such tasks, once thought to require a full indie game company, can now be attempted by a single software developer with moderate writing skills. In this tutorial, our focus is to explore this collaboration.

What You Will Learn

Setting up your Minecraft installation for modding.
Building a narration generation service using ElevenLabs and Anthropic's Claude.
Integrating this service into Minecraft to provide a dynamic narration experience using AI.
Testing the final narrating mod in a Minecraft environment.

Getting Started with AI Tools

This tutorial utilizes the APIs of ElevenLabs and Anthropic's Claude model to generate narrations for the popular game Minecraft. Every time the player’s character steps on a tile, a new narration is produced, echoing the style of the renowned game "The Stanley Parable." Let’s dive into the thrilling world of game modding using AI tools.

Introduction to ElevenLabs

ElevenLabs specializes in advanced speech synthesis technology. Imagine text-to-speech, but with a flow and sound that is genuinely natural. Their tool, VoiceLab, allows users to create and customize synthetic voices, making the experience highly personal. In this tutorial, we will utilize ElevenLabs' API for speech synthesis to narrate our Minecraft character's actions.

Introduction to Anthropic's Claude

Claude is a highly advanced AI model from Anthropic, focused on making AI safe and beneficial. Its ability to generate human-like responses makes it a perfect choice for creative applications. For our Minecraft project, we will harness Claude's capabilities to create unique and witty narrations.

Understanding Minecraft

Minecraft is a sandbox video game where players can build, gather resources, and discover vast virtual worlds. It fosters creativity and personal storytelling within its ecosystem, allowing players to modify the game itself and partake in a variety of adventurous experiences.

Ready for Modding? Here's What You Need

Knowledge of Python: Familiarity with Python and web frameworks such as Flask.
API Access: Access to ElevenLabs' API and Anthropic's API.

Modding Project Setup

Initializing Your Modding Project

To start, ensure you have Minecraft Java Edition installed and ready. Set up your Minecraft installation to run Python scripts by installing Forge and the Raspberry Jam Mod. Follow these steps:

Open Minecraft Launcher and create an installation using "Release 1.12.2".
Install Forge for version 1.12.2.
Create a mods directory in your Minecraft app data folder.
Download the necessary mods and Python scripts from the RaspberryJamMod’s GitHub repository.

Congratulations! You’re set to embark on your modding journey.

Building the Narration Generation Service

Next, create your Flask app in a new directory called 'mc-narrator'. This app will handle narration generation:

Define the endpoint /narrate to generate narration and play the audio.
Pass JSON events received via HTTP from Minecraft to Claude for text generation.
Use ElevenLabs' API to synthesize audio, ideally using their pre-made voice.

Integrating the Narration into Minecraft

Add a new Python script in the mcpipy directory called narrate.py. This script will link the narration generation service to Minecraft events:

Use functions like getTilePos() to detect player movements.
Send the events to the narration service and receive the generated audio for playback.

Testing the Narration Mod

Finally, test your mod! Launch Minecraft, execute your narrator script, and ensure the narrations play according to player actions. You’ll hear responses like:

"Try wandering a little bit further!"

This narration adapts based on the blocks the player steps on, making the game experience dynamic and engaging.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we explored how to mod Minecraft with AI narrations reminiscent of "The Stanley Parable". Integrating AI services from ElevenLabs and Anthropic offers a unique experience in game development. We hope this tutorial inspires you to delve deeper into game modding and the potential of AI in enhancing gaming experiences.

Thank you for joining this exploration! We hope you gain valuable insights and may your future projects be filled with creativity and innovation!

For further reading, visit our collection of guides on game development and AI integrations.