Here's my opinion on the matter:
I won't play a game that uses AI for the art, story, animation, music, etc. It shows a lack of respect. And I find it hard to take the themes and narrative from the project seriously. If a developer is so insistent on using AI, to the point of using it for all assets of production, then why not get AI players to play your game instead of human ones? Made by humans for humans. Made by AI for AI.
I agree with your sentiment regarding books here on Itchio. I know some people who think Itch should be more gameplay and video-game focused. I did not mean to imply there was some sort of stigma against posting books and text-based works on this site. I have never had a negative interaction based on that haha I was just describing that many people wouldn't not even think about posting something like a book on the site.
Yes I am so glad someone has brought this up. I find ITCH.IO to be a fun place to post and search for other pieces of writing. In fact my favorite short story author happens to be on Itchio so that tells you something.
Originally yeah I never would have considered using Itchio to search for visual novels, interactive fiction, or even straight-up books as in fully text (which have been uploaded to the site, a fact I was not aware of until some time ago). Over time I have come to refer to Itchio as a place for sharing creative works just as much as games and I know other people might not agree with me but I love seeing more books and heavy-story based projects appear on this site.
It can be hard to find good visual novels for example (because the genre is so polluted with generative slop these days) but I try to search under my favorite tags, and see if I can find anything interesting. Key word is interest. I do not have the time to read everything I find. I look for intriguing thumbnails, short titles, and a direct description. I think a game being for free, especially available in browser, allows for easy reading to see if the premise hooks me or not. It usually takes a bit before I find something I like, and you're not going to find anything you will 100% like, but I think every now and then you will read something that makes your day better, or gives you a fun idea to think about when you get done reading. That's what I like to look for at least.
I found Shadow - Between the Worlds to be quite the introspective experience. Not only was it layered with many different philosophies but it gave a chance to highlight each of them through the dialogue. The game does not punish you for choosing a specific option. It questions your choices and pushes the reader to truly think about what their answers mean. It encourages them to truly try and understand the weight of these beliefs, as even though this is just a game, it applies to how the reader views the world around themselves. I liked it for forcing confrontation with these ideas that normally slip my mind. I think the writing in some of the later parts of the game, where it begins to define the reader's personality after the questions, is very well written despite the simple word choice. The author manages to put weight into such few words. I find myself going back to find the alternative outcomes purely to read how they are described by the author. It is an intriguing yet short experience and I am glad to see the author experimenting in new directions from, uh, previous works.
I never made this game, but I had the idea one time to make a traditional RPG Maker styled game with basic combat, but the actual gameplay happened everywhere else. Want to talk to an NPC? You have to do a minigame. Want to collect an item? Minigame. Want to get out of bed? Minigame. Failure kills you on the spot. Enemy encounters are easier on the player and require less skill. If you wanna be funny with it you can even have the enemy battles offscreen entirely. The true challenge is everything else.
Another really annoying idea I had could be torturing the player. If there's a character in your game who has to go get something for the protagonist. Make them wait. 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes. However long you want them to. No skip button. Nothing to keep them occupied except the one room they're stuck in as they must be patient. But don't simply allow the player to go on their phone or tab out. Maybe add a mechanic to prevent the ingame character from falling asleep. So every now and then, you have to come back to the game and interact with it slightly or else you have to start over.
If you're over-relying on assets anyway then the game will probably falter unless they're purely supplemental. I'm of the opinion that free assets are helpful for practice, but they should never be the focal point of your work. You shouldn't make a game that prides itself on its sprites and scenery when most of the images are from a stock library. I lump human made assetpacks together with AI only in this regard in that I don't think people should be overusing them. Exceptions being if you commissioned them for your game specifically, or as I said you're practicing with mechanics or writing and the assets are supplemental.
However if you want my thoughts on AI specifically? Eh. I am of the opinion that there should be as little AI generated assets as possible because I don't really like them. Personally they always look off and they have a certain level of polish that looks uncanny. I'm sure if you used AI to make them, and then edited them yourself you could probably make them look better. But I have never played a game with major AI artworks and had a good experience with the visuals. And I think if you're using AI assets "Because they're quick and easy" and you don't really care about assets, then I think you need to have more respect for the art form that is game sprites and art. A lot of people spend lots of time and effort designing their levels and their textures to give their game a unique identity, and trying to get a cheap pack for your project only robs you of that potential. You're substituting originality for the same tasteless style most generated stuff I've seen has. It sets a bad precedent. The more people take shortcuts the less likely they will be willing to hire artists, and quick and easy game creation will be rewarded. This is why there are so many slop AI asset flip games on this website because people keep playing them regardless of quality.
I suppose if you are some sort of AI connoisseur then do whatever you want. But again if you're going to use asset packs anyway just pick something that's human made at least. It will probably look better, at least in my opinion.
Hello. I'm Sirius. I like writing visual novels, stories, and making simple games. Visual Novels are my favorite of course, and if you like them too and make them yourself please let me know. I'm looking to meet more people who like that genre and I look forward to writing and publishing more projects on this site.
This short little mini-game is quite addicting. It kept me playing to fulfill my curiosity of the different enemy types and spells that are available. The gameplay is quick and repetitive allowing for a quick bounce-back after death. The movement is very responsive and feels quick and fast-paced. I think it's a very neat little experience and I will keep playing for a bit because I'm curious on certain things and want to experiment.
I.E - (What happens if I place lava tiles on all the enemy tiles? What happens if I convert them all to blue tiles? What happens if I hide behind rocks the entire game? Etc etc)
I understand it seems you really like using AI. Such passion and desperation for it I have genuinely never seen before so good on you I guess.
I'm going to try and convince you to stop doing that, but if you want to continue then skip this paragraph and read the solution under it instead. I don't really know what type of games you make so I'll just be broad here. I propose a solution for you: If you can't draw? Then don't. There are many character creation templates online that artists make and allow for the free use of. I could recommend some but I'll just keep it simple b/c I'm not sure if you will even read this or not. If you can't make music? Then don't. Free stock libraries exist all over the internet. If you can't code? Well, you probably should be able to if you want to make games. I'm not really sure how to help you there but since you're low on funds keep things simple. If you need assets for your game, 2D or 3D, it can be done. Free assets are so useful I've found so many just messing around. Old forums tend to have links to ones that actually look decent instead of the stock ones found in most game engines of course. And if you want GOOD art, GOOD music, GOOD assets? Well you have to work up to that. I used stock photos for my most recent game because I haven't learned to draw the characters yet, and I even managed to incorporate that into the aesthetic of the experience. Start small. And work up. It's never too late to learn anything unless you genuinely don't want to.
If you skipped the above paragraph here we go:
My recommendation is to go somewhere else. Find an AI support community where you guys can share your stuff or something. Me personally I don't respect the use of AI in art and game design but you shouldn't be harassed over it or anything. I think nobody deserves to starve that sounds horrible.
AI isn't going anywhere unfortunately. So while most artists are trying to make a living and share their projects using their own skills, I think there should be a separate community for people who want to use the new tools to, uh, do whatever. Perhaps even share money for said 'art'. Again I'm not going to concede and admit "AI IS ART TOO" or anything but I understand there will always be a community of people who believe this so try to work that into your favor. I know this post is quite old so I don't know the update on where you are but as I said just try to separate your content from the ones made traditionally.
I'm usually very harsh on AI creators because they're- well to put it frankly they're scammers who have zero passion in their craft. But you seem different. I'm not going to go as hard because you're desperate and as I said I haven't seen that before. Just please try to remember that it's the SOUL that goes into art. It's the hard work. This sounds almost paradoxical but as much as you use AI try to remember that it's humans that make games fun. It's humans that make art thought-provoking. A project relying on AI more than the individual will always be apparent and it will always miss that personal touch that others so often have. Just think about that. I guess.
I think a lot of people grab some books and watch some tutorials and they try to go it alone. There's nothing wrong with this and many of them even succeed with the effort of their own grit, but in my personal opinion I think having a teacher is the best possible resource you can have.
Someone to go back and forth with, someone to question, someone to explore and explain your ideas to who can better help you realize them. I'm suggesting find someone online, could be a friend, a mutual, or maybe go into development servers and try to find someone. Start small but build rapport. It's very useful to have someone who truly understands game design, and coding itself, in your corner. I can say with confidence that it helped me so I think it might help you too. Also if you're still in school see if they offer any classes in computer sciences.
Oh man what a topic. First and foremost, I would say the "perfect" game is VERY subjective. I mean, games these days are so varied from each other can you even compare them? Take a game like Baldur's Gate 3 with its (what feels like infinite) possible story and character combinations allows it to be pretty perfectly tailored to the player's experience, and then compare it to something like that first Five Night's at Freddy's. I would say both games are fantastic and I don't have any complaints for either but you can obviously tell that I haven't taken into consideration the scale of each game. The problem is that you can make a near perfectly executed smaller game, and as long as it excels in what it set out to do it will rival even bigger triple A titles.
I'm of the opinion that a perfect game should be one that takes advantage of every aspect of it's game design and narrative. For me, a game I like to look to for inspiration is Deltarune. That game masterfully blends the lines between the gameplay and the story. And both aspects are used interchangeably to further the experience. It's the type of experience that would be good as a standalone novel, and would be good in terms of it's gameplay alone. But specifically the way the creator merges aspects of the battle system with the thematic elements of the world, and how the encounters allow for in depth explorations of character really speak to me.
I personally believe that a game should have just as much plot as gameplay, of course I know many who would disagree and that's my take as a writer and coder. But even then I know someone who would be able to confidently defend a battle royal type or an open world exploration as 'the perfect game' and I can't argue that much because a lot of the deciding factors are opinions. For me a competitive experience isn't what I come to seek but I understand that it's similar in nature to sporting and that there's a high demand for those types of experiences.
TLDR: I think it's very very difficult to make or even conceive of a 'perfect' game because it's like trying to come up with a 'perfect' food or a 'perfect' human personality type. And My message to any readers is to not try and get lost on making a game perfect. As a developer your Magnum Opus will be perfect to you, because it's the combined effort of your experiences, biases, and passions. So while it is fun to propose ideas like I did earlier don't let it bring you down if your game isn't a cult following or held in high praise because out there lies a game for everyone.
I wouldn't call Itch.io a sanctuary but I find your mental state admirable and I agree with the fact that, through creation, a mental zen state is attainable. Having complete joy and control in your works is a very powerful state of mind. I'm very happy for you and I think that a good piece of advice for game developers and writers out there is to stop taking things so seriously. Of course you shouldn't be dicking around the entire time but if you don't stop and smell the roses along the way then you have missed out on a very big part of creating. It's about the finished product, sure, but I'd argue it's just as much about the process of creating that work than the end result. The reward is the creation itself and in an ideal world us creatives wouldn't need to rely on finances to make our dreams come true. I hope all of you passionate can reach that point.
And to the OP: Keep making things. I hope this state has only furthered your fuel for creativity and not made you go soft or anything haha
Figured I'd reply. Trying to build rapport on this site. I'm no game developer extra-ordinaire but I'm a writer who happens to code stuff on the side.
1: Just me. Depends on the project. Sometime's it's me and a close friend but for my projects on this account it's just me.
2: Yeah as I said in No. 1. I don't know anyone personally who is using AI and I don't think anyone SHOULD be using AI for their development. Period.
3: Well if it's me and a friend we split it 50/50. We don't have an LLC or anything (which is a good idea and you should do that but we're jackasses) so if it ever got any profit I assume we'd split the earnings evenly.
4: If it's me and a friend we would usually refuse to get anywhere until we agree. But we usually follow the same mental wavelength so we avoid tough problems like this. My advice to anyone trying to lead a project with someone else is to ALWAYS be close friends with that person. If you both understand each other you understand the ideas, and you understand their thought processes. It's easier for them to make compromises because you trust each other. And it can save time by avoiding arguments and creative differences.
This game was very well done and brought a fresh perspective onto mysteries with it's surreal nature and dreamlike atmosphere. The tension from start to finish kept me invested the entire time and the ending leaves much to think about. The characters, although simple, play their parts well in setting up, what I believe to be a fun twist at the end of it all. It tugs at the strings of the mystery genre and makes the reader think about what it means to question what you cannot explain.
I very much admire this little game and your larger works as a whole. After playing this I have become invested in your writings and have read quite a few as of posting this comment. I love your unique approach to the mystery genre and the twists you put upon your works. You prove that not every plot needs to follow the traditional rules and structures that I was so used to seeing and I admire your inventive nature to storytelling.
I must admit I have taken inspiration from your works and I would like to thank you for writing not just this game but the many other stories you've made. I only hope you are able to make many more.
I'm unfamiliar with your content just commenting as a player and dev myself, I for one do not have any problem with weekly, monthly, or even yearly releases of a game. I think splitting into different releases has benefits; allows you to start small and get a proper hang on the mechanics and code, keeping players invested, giving you more time to work on it, allowing for more accurate feedback via existing chapters. However consistency is important and be sure to update your players when you intend to release future installments. And try to keep the plot and mechanics similar between chapters or players will feel alienated.
My opinion: By all means go for it.
