Game News Chronicles of Vaeltaja is a grid-based blobber set in a colorful fantasy world, now on Early Access

[Lady Error]

Yeah, this is like a generic Legends of Amberland knock-off, which was already quite generic and simplified.

Something like Mystic Land is much more to my liking.

 

[Grauken]

90s games (and even some 80s games, DM among them IIRC) generally had actual artists working on them, not just programmers doing ASCII or MSPaint shit.

There were a lot of shit-looking games in the 90ies and 80ies as well. Most people here only remember the peaks and then compare them to an average forgettable indie, obviously, that doesn't fare well. Compare it to something similar on the other hand

 

[lvl 2 Blue Slime]

Blobbers rock

 

[Grauken]

Yes, let's take a look at KotC 2.

Those tokens look like garbage

Compare it to some actually decent-looking token art

 

[Darkozric]

Someone has to be very desperate to play this tasteless thing.

 

[Serus]

I always wonder how 2023 games manage to look worse than 90s and even 80s games

Games made by one amateur versus games made by profi teams at the peak of their industry in their respective years

No

Just lack of vision/skill, or laziness

Underrail was made by 1 guy, Grimoire was made by 1 guy, Kenshi was made by 2 guys, etc. Despite the level of graphics, which isn't contested here, all of these games have a distinct style.

Even if this person cannot draw, he could have used AI to generate portraits, paper dolls and various 2D art for the game

You don't need professional teams to replace MS paint solid colors that look like shit

Complaining about a lack of style then suggesting he use AI is a weird take.

AI is just a tool like any other tool, it can be used well or not. If you can make the AI to create something in coherent style it can be better than of 3/4 of man-made "art" for computer games. Sure you will never achieve the level of true mastery with AI but who does? 1 in a 100? AI can be used to good results - for the majority of games, games that might be good mechanically or story-wise (who cares) but would never be able to afford good artists.

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

I always wonder how 2023 games manage to look worse than 90s and even 80s games

Games made by one amateur versus games made by profi teams at the peak of their industry in their respective years

No

Just lack of vision/skill, or laziness

Underrail was made by 1 guy, Grimoire was made by 1 guy, Kenshi was made by 2 guys, etc. Despite the level of graphics, which isn't contested here, all of these games have a distinct style.

Even if this person cannot draw, he could have used AI to generate portraits, paper dolls and various 2D art for the game

You don't need professional teams to replace MS paint solid colors that look like shit

Complaining about a lack of style then suggesting he use AI is a weird take.

AI is just a tool like any other tool, it can be used well or not. If you can make the AI to create something in coherent style it can be better than of 3/4 of man-made "art" for computer games. Sure you will never achieve the level of true mastery with AI but who does? 1 in a 100? AI can be used to good results - for the majority of games, games that might be good mechanically or story-wise (who cares) but would never be able to afford good artists.

Are you going to show this to be the case? Have you any experience in the matter? Or is this yet another AI blah blah tangent?

I don't wish to be snippy but it gets rather tiresome to read/hear people recommend "AI" for art when its clearly not suited for the vast majority of art work for a real game.

 

[Serus]

I always wonder how 2023 games manage to look worse than 90s and even 80s games

Games made by one amateur versus games made by profi teams at the peak of their industry in their respective years

No

Just lack of vision/skill, or laziness

Underrail was made by 1 guy, Grimoire was made by 1 guy, Kenshi was made by 2 guys, etc. Despite the level of graphics, which isn't contested here, all of these games have a distinct style.

Even if this person cannot draw, he could have used AI to generate portraits, paper dolls and various 2D art for the game

You don't need professional teams to replace MS paint solid colors that look like shit

Complaining about a lack of style then suggesting he use AI is a weird take.

AI is just a tool like any other tool, it can be used well or not. If you can make the AI to create something in coherent style it can be better than of 3/4 of man-made "art" for computer games. Sure you will never achieve the level of true mastery with AI but who does? 1 in a 100? AI can be used to good results - for the majority of games, games that might be good mechanically or story-wise (who cares) but would never be able to afford good artists.

Are you going to show this to be the case? Have you any experience in the matter? Or is this yet another AI blah blah tangent?

I don't wish to be snippy but it gets rather tiresome to read/hear people recommend "AI" for art when its clearly not suited for the vast majority of art work for a real game.

No need to get snarky, it is the Codex but it doesn't mean one needs to.
I am not quite certain what the "vast majority" means in your post - let alone what "real game" is supposed to mean? Is this game here "real" (but possibly bad) or not? Is Skyrim a "real "game? I honestly have no idea what you meant.
There aren't many games yet (that i know of) to make good use of AI for graphics* but i have eyes and saw what the AI can do in graphic departament. It certainly can do illustrations, portraits, static images of monsters that some indie blobbers/dungeon crawlers use, etc... You know, indie games, like the one this thread is about? I never said that AI could do advanced 3D graphics. So no, Skyrim 2 is out of the question, you are correct. Not that it matters. At least not yet. Who knows in a couple of years, maybe it will, maybe not, i have no idea. Also there might be some uses for programming side in the future, to take some time consuming tasks from the devs - but again - it isn't something i know much about. However static 2D, which indies do use, AI can do, i saw it, and you can see it too if you stop with snarkiness.

*On the Dex there was a thread for Secret of Darkwoods but this is a CYOA/CRPG, a tiny thing and only, supposedly, used AI to make (all?) illustrations.
*this was already mentioned: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/what-are-you-working-on.145219/#post-8225110

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

I always wonder how 2023 games manage to look worse than 90s and even 80s games

Games made by one amateur versus games made by profi teams at the peak of their industry in their respective years

No

Just lack of vision/skill, or laziness

Underrail was made by 1 guy, Grimoire was made by 1 guy, Kenshi was made by 2 guys, etc. Despite the level of graphics, which isn't contested here, all of these games have a distinct style.

Even if this person cannot draw, he could have used AI to generate portraits, paper dolls and various 2D art for the game

You don't need professional teams to replace MS paint solid colors that look like shit

Complaining about a lack of style then suggesting he use AI is a weird take.

AI is just a tool like any other tool, it can be used well or not. If you can make the AI to create something in coherent style it can be better than of 3/4 of man-made "art" for computer games. Sure you will never achieve the level of true mastery with AI but who does? 1 in a 100? AI can be used to good results - for the majority of games, games that might be good mechanically or story-wise (who cares) but would never be able to afford good artists.

Are you going to show this to be the case? Have you any experience in the matter? Or is this yet another AI blah blah tangent?

I don't wish to be snippy but it gets rather tiresome to read/hear people recommend "AI" for art when its clearly not suited for the vast majority of art work for a real game.

No need to get snarky, it is the Codex but it doesn't mean one needs to.
I am not quite certain what the "vast majority" means in your post - let alone what "real game" is supposed to mean? Is this game here "real" (but possibly bad) or not? Is Skyrim a "real "game? I honestly have no idea what you meant.
There aren't many games yet (that i know of) to make good use of AI for graphics* but i have eyes and saw what the AI can do in graphic departament. It certainly can do illustrations, portraits, static images of monsters that some indie blobbers/dungeon crawlers use, etc... You know, indie games, like the one this thread is about? I never said that AI could do advanced 3D graphics. So no, Skyrim 2 is out of the question, you are correct. Not that it matters. At least not yet. Who knows in a couple of years, maybe it will, maybe not, i have no idea. Also there might be some uses for programming side in the future, to take some time consuming tasks from the devs - but again - it isn't something i know much about. However static 2D, which indies do use, AI can do, i saw it, and you can see it too if you stop with snarkiness.

*On the Dex there was a thread for Secret of Darkwoods but this is a CYOA/CRPG, a tiny thing and only, supposedly, used AI to make (all?) illustrations.
*this was already mentioned: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/what-are-you-working-on.145219/#post-8225110

You ought not to communicate ideas which you know so little about. Almost everything you said is regurgitated without understanding. If you don't want to annoy people stick to what you know.

 

[Vaeltaja]

I gave my response to this inspiring conversation in the game's own thread here and really don't want to repeat myself, but I guess this shit show is on me for not updating the Steam page with pictures that actually ARE from the release version. But now the Steam page is updated. I wonder how lazy I would have been accused if I would have used AI art..?

 

[Tweed]

Looks hideous.

 

[Vaeltaja]

Looks hideous.

And yet it looks better than your girlfriend, you know the one you have to empty out of air every morning and hide under your mattress before your mom wakes up.

 

[mindx2]

Looks hideous.

And yet it looks better than your girlfriend, you know the one you have to empty out of air every morning and hide under your mattress before your mom wakes up.

You just might fit in here at the Codex.

 

[Vaeltaja]

Looks hideous.

And yet it looks better than your girlfriend, you know the one you have to empty out of air every morning and hide under your mattress before your mom wakes up.

You just might fit in here at the Codex.

Cheers!

 

[JarlFrank]

Looks like made in RPG maker.

Well...

 

[Butter]

The art is whatever. I'm more concerned that the player breezes through combat, trivially one-shotting enemies and barely taking a scratch.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Looks hideous.

And yet it looks better than your girlfriend, you know the one you have to empty out of air every morning and hide under your mattress before your mom wakes up.

Sold. I'm buying this.

 

[JarlFrank]

90s games (and even some 80s games, DM among them IIRC) generally had actual artists working on them, not just programmers doing ASCII or MSPaint shit.

There were a lot of shit-looking games in the 90ies and 80ies as well. Most people here only remember the peaks and then compare them to an average forgettable indie, obviously, that doesn't fare well. Compare it to something similar on the other hand

Moraff has to be color blind, there is no other explanation.

 

[Tweed]

Looks hideous.

And yet it looks better than your girlfriend, you know the one you have to empty out of air every morning and hide under your mattress before your mom wakes up.

Really not much different than your game then is it? Full of hot air and covered in patches.

 

[Tweed]

90s games (and even some 80s games, DM among them IIRC) generally had actual artists working on them, not just programmers doing ASCII or MSPaint shit.

There were a lot of shit-looking games in the 90ies and 80ies as well. Most people here only remember the peaks and then compare them to an average forgettable indie, obviously, that doesn't fare well. Compare it to something similar on the other hand

Moraff has to be color blind, there is no other explanation.

Steve Moraff's games have always been very...colorful.

 

[JarlFrank]

Yeah.

Colorful.

 

[Tweed]

Moraff's World is a carousel of color...eye-raping, soul-crushing color.

 

[lvl 2 Blue Slime]

I played it for a while and found it entertaining, the world itself is beautiful but the sprites of enemies (and the character portraits) could do with some work. The only thing I would request is the ability to create your own characters at the inn or something rather than having to hire the premade characters in town.

 

[Vaeltaja]

Looks hideous.

And yet it looks better than your girlfriend, you know the one you have to empty out of air every morning and hide under your mattress before your mom wakes up.

Really not much different than your game then is it? Full of hot air and covered in patches.

Did you have to resort to AI or your friends to come up with that response? Though I doubt you have any friends with those kind of manners.

 

[Vaeltaja]

I played it for a while and found it entertaining, the world itself is beautiful but the sprites of enemies (and the character portraits) could do with some work. The only thing I would request is the ability to create your own characters at the inn or something rather than having to hire the premade characters in town.

Thanks! That's something that I'm considering. There are also more classes coming in the next content updates.