C’est ça la Vie!

C’est la Vie! by Jonathan Lessard is an experimental video game artwork that explores the narrative and aesthetic possibilities offered by artificial intelligence within a creative framework. Designed as a sensitive and immersive interactive experience, the project combines game design, procedural writing, and locally generated imagery produced without relying on external services, ensuring ethical, technical, and energy control over the creative process. The online demo invites audiences to explore a hybrid universe where emerging technologies serve as a catalyst for artistic expression and reflection on new forms of digital storytelling.

Development, Dissemination, and Outcomes Overview

Project funding supported the formation of a student team composed of one PhD candidate, two master’s students, and two undergraduate students. Together, they worked on the production of the artwork, developing advanced skills in game design, narrative design, programming, version control methodologies, and the use of artificial intelligence tools, including the implementation of a fully local image-generation pipeline.

The online demo has been selected for several major events, including the International Conference on Games and Narrative 2024, Ludodrome 2025, and the art exhibition of the International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling 2025. The project was also presented during a discussion on innovation in video games at the Innovation in Video Games Summit.

While no scholarly publications have yet been produced, the project has generated research data on the development of specialized, localized, self-hosted, and energy-efficient AI models, as well as methodological reflections on integrating these technologies into video game creation.

This research project is funded by the Digital Creativity Axis and is part of the broader initiative on interdisciplinary collaboration within video game development teams.

Demo

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