Games and Large Language Models

Dear Colleagues,

The rise of large language models (LLMs) has opened up new horizons in the domain of games—ranging from classic strategic board games like Chess, Go, and Shogi to modern digital and educational games. These models are revolutionizing not only gameplay, but also game commentary, learning, tutoring, storytelling, and even puzzle solving. Furthermore, the computational demands of deploying LLMs in real-time game scenarios pose new challenges for GPU-based architectures and high-performance systems.

This Special Issue focuses on the convergence of LLMs, games, and computational architectures, with a particular interest in real-time performance, hardware acceleration, and innovative applications that blend natural language processing and game technologies.

We invite submissions of original research, systems papers, and reviews on the design, implementation, and evaluation of LLM-based tools and platforms in game contexts. Contributions that explore the efficient deployment of these systems in modern hardware, including GPUs and custom accelerators, are especially welcome.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following:

• LLMs and Games:
• Real-time commentary generation in board games (e.g., chess, Go, shogi);
• Conversational interfaces for playing or analyzing games;
• Educational tools and game-based tutoring powered by LLMs;
• LLMs for solving or generating puzzles, studies, and exercises;
• Procedural content generation and storytelling using LLMs;
• LLM integration in esports, coaching, or interactive broadcasts;
• Hybrid AI architectures: combining LLMs with rule-based or search systems;
• Evaluation of LLM-generated content: stylistic, strategic, or ethical dimensions;
• GPU-accelerated inference for real-time game commentary and analysis;
• Deployment of LLMs in resource-constrained or edge gaming environments;
• Hardware–software co-design for game-specific LLM applications;
• Optimization of transformer-based models for interactive gameplay scenarios;
• Model compression, quantization, and distillation for game-based LLM tasks;
• Distributed or cloud-based infrastructures for LLM-enhanced gaming platforms.

Why Publish in This Special Issue?

• Focused Audience: Reach readers across NLP, AI, gaming, and embedded systems communities;
• Higher Visibility: Special Issues enjoy increased discoverability and citation impact;
• Cross-disciplinary Appeal: Bridging electronics, AI, and game research;
• Editorial and Promotional Support: Increased exposure via journal platforms and networks;
• Book Reprint Option: Successful issues may be republished as a book in MDPI Books.

Prof. Dr. Paolo Ciancarini
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.