{"id":1848355,"date":"2026-03-26T14:09:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T11:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1848355"},"modified":"2026-03-26T14:09:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T11:09:28","slug":"pragmatas-new-york-like-cityscape-was-intentionally-designed-to-feel-ai-generated-and-distorted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1848355","title":{"rendered":"Pragmata&#8217;s New York-like cityscape was intentionally designed to feel &#8220;AI-generated&#8221; and &#8220;distorted&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/pragmata\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Pragmata<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Pragmata&#8217;s New York-like cityscape was intentionally designed to feel &#8220;AI-generated&#8221; and &#8220;distorted&#8221;<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Met Gala apple.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Pragmata-screenshot-showing-Diana-on-the-back-of-a-suited-up-Hugh-as-they-make-their-way-through-a-New-York-like-city-scape.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Pragmata screenshot showing Diana on the back of a suited up Hugh as they make their way through a New York-like city scape\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Pragmata-screenshot-showing-Diana-on-the-back-of-a-suited-up-Hugh-as-they-make-their-way-through-a-New-York-like-city-scape.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Capcom<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Victoria Phillips Kennedy avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1644925423.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Victoria Phillips Kennedy avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1644925423.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/victoria-kennedy\">Victoria Phillips Kennedy<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      News Reporter<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-26T14:09:28+00:00\">March 26, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/pragmatas-new-york-like-cityscape-was-intentionally-designed-to-feel-ai-generated-and-distorted?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          3 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"d1fa1a57-5244-448f-b2c6-f85875a30c5c\" data-name=\"Pragmata\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Pragmata\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Pragmata\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Pragmata\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Pragmata\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Pragmata\" title=\"Follow Pragmata\"><br \/>\n  Follow Pragmata<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Pragmata&#8217;s New York-like cityscape is meant to feel like it has been created by AI, even though it was &#8220;painstakingly&#8221; made by Capcom&#8217;s very human developers.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s coming from Pragmata&#8217;s director Cho Yonghee and producer Naoto Oyama, who explained this area was intentionally designed to feel &#8220;AI-generated&#8221;, because it isn&#8217;t &#8220;the real&#8221; New York City, and that had to come across. To achieve this, the Pragmata team made deliberate &#8216;errors&#8217; like inverting streets and adding &#8220;buses sprouting from walls&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><!-- code from Primis - Eurogamer.net - eurogamer.net --><\/p>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- code from Primis --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For Pragmata, we set the premise as &#8216;a fake New York generated by AI&#8217;,&#8221; Cho explained to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.4gamer.net\/games\/512\/G051239\/20260317058\/\">4Gamer<\/a> (translated by <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pragmatas-newly-revealed-new-york-stage-was-painstakingly-made-by-human-developers-to-look-ai-generated-according-to-director\/\">automaton<\/a>). &#8220;When familiar locations appear, players can relate more easily. On top of that, to make it clear that this isn&#8217;t the real New York, we wanted something slightly distorted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Oyama added that while this New York-inspired location &#8220;mirrors reality&#8221;, its &#8220;unique appeal comes from the setting errors and how they feel out of place&#8221;, such as those aforementioned wall buses and &#8220;taxis sinking into floors&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The Pragmata producer noted that &#8220;although the premise is that it is generated by AI&#8221; it was of course Capcom&#8217;s &#8220;human developers&#8221; who &#8220;painstakingly worked to incorporate mechanisms that express this AI-like uncanny feeling&#8221;. <\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pragmata's Diana and Hugh look out over a New York-like city\" height=\"966\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Pragmata's-Diana-and-Hugh-look-out-over-a-New-York-like-city.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7774327122153208\" width=\"1717\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Pragmata's Diana and Hugh look out over a New York-like city\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"Pragmata's-Diana-and-Hugh-look-out-over-a-New-York-like-city.jpg\" height=\"966\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7774327122153208\" width=\"1717\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Capcom<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This took a lot of careful work, as the development team had to make sure they struck a balance between this world being visually interesting for players, but not so distracting that any distorted &#8216;errors&#8217; could be mistaken for puzzle clues or similar. &#8220;Balancing distortion to be both unique and merely background was difficult,&#8221; Cho said.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, this approach seems to have worked, with Oyama saying Capcom hasn&#8217;t received any feedback from players suggesting that the paths in Pragmata are too difficult or confusing to follow.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Pragmata - World View | PS5 Games\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6lbf5ZPUtx0?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/6lbf5ZPUtx0\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Pragmata &#8211; World View | PS5 Games<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Pragmata &#8211; World View trailer. <a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6lbf5ZPUtx0\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Pragmata was once <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/capcoms-next-gen-project-pragamata-wont-launch-until-2022\">planned for a 2022 release<\/a>, having been originally revealed in 2020. It is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/capcoms-astronaut-and-small-girl-starring-pragmata-gets-yet-another-new-release-date\">now slated to launch across PS5, Xbox Series X\/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 next month<\/a>, on 17th April. If you are keen for more before then, though, there is <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3357650\/PRAGMATA\/\">currently a demo for Pragmata available on Steam<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The result is a fascinating mix that was only better in its more difficult and more thought-provoking proper hands-on than it was in the two previous proof-of-concept style demos,&#8221; Alex Donaldson wrote in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/pragmatas-unique-action-and-puzzle-blend-may-grab-the-headlines-but-as-its-creators-explain-its-secret-sauce-is-all-about-rhythm-1\">Eurogamer&#8217;s Pragmata preview<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Pragmata&#8217;s New York-like cityscape is meant to feel like it has been created by AI, even though it was &#8220;painstakingly&#8221; made by Capcom&#8217;s very human developers.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s coming from Pragmata&#8217;s director Cho Yonghee and producer Naoto Oyama, who explained this area was intentionally designed to feel &#8220;AI-generated&#8221;, because it isn&#8217;t &#8220;the real&#8221; New York City, and that had to come across. To achieve this, the Pragmata team made deliberate &#8216;errors&#8217; like inverting streets and adding &#8220;buses sprouting from walls&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><!-- code from Primis - Eurogamer.net - eurogamer.net --><\/p>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- code from Primis --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For Pragmata, we set the premise as &#8216;a fake New York generated by AI&#8217;,&#8221; Cho explained to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.4gamer.net\/games\/512\/G051239\/20260317058\/\">4Gamer<\/a> (translated by <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pragmatas-newly-revealed-new-york-stage-was-painstakingly-made-by-human-developers-to-look-ai-generated-according-to-director\/\">automaton<\/a>). &#8220;When familiar locations appear, players can relate more easily. On top of that, to make it clear that this isn&#8217;t the real New York, we wanted something slightly distorted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Oyama added that while this New York-inspired location &#8220;mirrors reality&#8221;, its &#8220;unique appeal comes from the setting errors and how they feel out of place&#8221;, such as those aforementioned wall buses and &#8220;taxis sinking into floors&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The Pragmata producer noted that &#8220;although the premise is that it is generated by AI&#8221; it was of course Capcom&#8217;s &#8220;human developers&#8221; who &#8220;painstakingly worked to incorporate mechanisms that express this AI-like uncanny feeling&#8221;. <\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pragmata's Diana and Hugh look out over a New York-like city\" height=\"966\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Pragmata's-Diana-and-Hugh-look-out-over-a-New-York-like-city.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7774327122153208\" width=\"1717\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Pragmata's Diana and Hugh look out over a New York-like city\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"Pragmata's-Diana-and-Hugh-look-out-over-a-New-York-like-city.jpg\" height=\"966\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7774327122153208\" width=\"1717\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Capcom<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This took a lot of careful work, as the development team had to make sure they struck a balance between this world being visually interesting for players, but not so distracting that any distorted &#8216;errors&#8217; could be mistaken for puzzle clues or similar. &#8220;Balancing distortion to be both unique and merely background was difficult,&#8221; Cho said.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, this approach seems to have worked, with Oyama saying Capcom hasn&#8217;t received any feedback from players suggesting that the paths in Pragmata are too difficult or confusing to follow.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Pragmata - World View | PS5 Games\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6lbf5ZPUtx0?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/6lbf5ZPUtx0\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Pragmata &#8211; World View | PS5 Games<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Pragmata &#8211; World View trailer. <a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6lbf5ZPUtx0\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Pragmata was once <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/capcoms-next-gen-project-pragamata-wont-launch-until-2022\">planned for a 2022 release<\/a>, having been originally revealed in 2020. It is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/capcoms-astronaut-and-small-girl-starring-pragmata-gets-yet-another-new-release-date\">now slated to launch across PS5, Xbox Series X\/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 next month<\/a>, on 17th April. If you are keen for more before then, though, there is <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3357650\/PRAGMATA\/\">currently a demo for Pragmata available on Steam<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The result is a fascinating mix that was only better in its more difficult and more thought-provoking proper hands-on than it was in the two previous proof-of-concept style demos,&#8221; Alex Donaldson wrote in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/pragmatas-unique-action-and-puzzle-blend-may-grab-the-headlines-but-as-its-creators-explain-its-secret-sauce-is-all-about-rhythm-1\">Eurogamer&#8217;s Pragmata preview<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Pragmata Pragmata&#8217;s New York-like cityscape was intentionally designed to feel &#8220;AI-generated&#8221; and &#8220;distorted&#8221; Met Gala apple. Image credit: Capcom News by Victoria Phillips Kennedy News Reporter Published on March 26, 2026 3 comments Follow Pragmata Pragmata&#8217;s New York-like cityscape is meant to feel like it has been created by AI, even though it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1848355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1848355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1848355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1848355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1848355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}