Stupid games, stupid prizes. I'm really glad the gaming community at large is presenting a resounding "fuck off" to sloperators and their plagiarism machines trying to steal the work of actual creatives. It's disgusting, and should be met with sharp rebuke
There was enough slop out there in the gaming world before AI stole center stage. And yet there are so many games getting released every day that it’s genuinely difficult for new developers to get noticed. Tried+true studios are hitting diminishing returns. Gamers have a cornucopia of options old and new, and can afford to say no in this market much more easily than in most other markets.
"The truth is, we spent a long time trying to tell this game's story with cutscenes made entirely by our own hands," the statement goes on. "The results were devastating every time. We came to believe we could not properly deliver this game's complex, difficult narrative that way, and that is why we turned to AI. But if that choice hurt your experience, the fault is not in the tool. It is in our own shortcomings."
Man, if this is true – that they agonized over the cutscenes but decided they couldn't and that AI would be better* – then I feel legitimately bad for them.
I went in assuming it was strictly a lazy "ah, fuck it" kind of thing, but even though this still wouldn't be acceptable, it seems like this team really is hard-working, cared about the final product, and actually did think AI could deliver a good experience. Deluded, but that seems like part of a larger culture of delusion in SK.*
* Notably, the article remarks on how sentiment around AI in South Korea is vastly more positive than e.g. the US.
That's basically a statement for the press to try to minimize damage. He even said they had the cut scenes done and later replaced them with AI. Bullshit.
Unless AI takes one more leap and reaches a point where no one can tell the difference, what I believed was still closer to an ideal than a reality.
They are mad they got caught and it's the AIs fault for not being good enough to hide it.
it's the AIs fault for not being good enough to hide it.
"if that choice hurt your experience, the fault is not in the tool. It is in our own shortcomings."
The director literally outright says it's their fault for using the tool.
And what do you mean "got caught"? It's very obvious. They mistakenly thought most audiences would enjoy it, not that audiences wouldn't notice. Which makes sense given the overwhelming difference in the perception of AI between SK and the West. He even outright says he expected people to notice: "I expected some of you would be disappointed by our use of AI. I did not expect it to become this big."
The very first thing you need to become an artist is a sense of taste. Everything builds from that. If in his judgment he thought that art looked good enough then what does that say about him as an artist.
I'd rather see the "bad" things than Ai.
Honestly if the rest of the game is good, I would rather have some napkin sketches, or a computer based paint software.
I'm 100% with you. Bad art with genuine effort put into it has a charm of its own. I understand the team's mistake, but it's still a mistake.
Why not hire people or another firm to do the cutscenes then. You know, professionals who have learned and perfected their craft. Professionals you don’t have.
Backslash shouldn’t have been a surprise.
It's bullshit, they experienced zero agony, they skipped from trying it themselves straight to AI without bothering to just pay real artists because they're cheap.
Still seems like a cop-out.
If they had intended to do it manually in the first place, I don’t see why they couldn’t just use AI to help generate a number of rough outlines to help conceptualize a solid template that satisfied their needs before investing their time into it.
Man, if this is true – that they agonized over the cutscenes but decided they couldn't and that AI would be better* – then I feel legitimately bad for them.
even then, you use the AI output as inspiration, not as the end product..
Director Young Kim,
"That was a hasty judgment on my part. Unless AI takes one more leap and reaches a point where no one can tell the difference, what I believed was still closer to an ideal than a reality. I expected some of you would be disappointed by our use of AI. I did not expect it to become this big."
"I'm sorry we got caught this time. We'll try to dupe you again later."
Has real "and I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids" energy.
a Soulslike Metroidvania
Is this the gaming equivalent of increasingly niche music genres?
One of the things that drew me into Dark Souls to begin with was that it had some of that metroidvania feel. A soulslike metroidvania just sounds kind of redundant as a genre.
I believe the defining feature of the metroidvania genre is that it's essentially an open world, but certain paths are barred by the need of a specific item/movement mechanic. Like "you need to learn double jump to reach the high platform that lets you access this new area".
Where as Dark Souls immediately lets you wander into the graveyard or spooky ghost area and get your ass handed to you repeatedly until you wonder, oh maybe this wasn't the best path!
Dilution of buzzwords like roguelike and roguelite. I'm waiting for soulslite to pop up soon.
Although metroidvania I somehow have no qualms with, since pretty much any that I've seen is pretty faithful.
Slop skeptics, lol.
Hmmm... Yeah, I'm not sure about all of this slop yet 🤔
Look this is simple: There is no legitimate need to use AI to do anything, let alone anything you take seriously and/or you'd want to charge money for.
So if you're not just being a paid shill then why kill your reputation by attaching your name and company to ANY amount of sloppy shit?
Just don't do it.
And then after the backlash, the project director came out thinking the only issue was that the AI didn't look good enough. Yeah bro that was the issue glad you're in charge here to figure it all out.
"If someone asked me what I think about using AI, the honest answer is that I would have to think about it for a long time," the director wrote. "The reason I chose AI was that I believed it could reach a level of expression our existing resources could not, and that it would let us focus more on the game itself, outside of story and cinematics."
He continued: "That was a hasty judgment on my part. Unless AI takes one more leap and reaches a point where no one can tell the difference, what I believed was still closer to an ideal than a reality. I expected some of you would be disappointed by our use of AI. I did not expect it to become this big."
…
"The truth is, we spent a long time trying to tell this game's story with cutscenes made entirely by our own hands," the statement goes on. "The results were devastating every time. We came to believe we could not properly deliver this game's complex, difficult narrative that way, and that is why we turned to AI. But if that choice hurt your experience, the fault is not in the tool. It is in our own shortcomings."
I don't get it how do artists get captured by the Shortcut Machine like this? Genuinely what worm is entering these people's brains where suddenly they don't know or care what art is and just want to ask grok to "make it look cool with dinosaurs and lightning and an erupting volcano." Brother if you can't do what you planned to, change the fucking plans. Those constraints are how we get cool and interesting new works and themed and art directions. People love the ps1-era graphics look and it's not because Square Enix asked chatgpt to generate a Tomb Raider cutscene in the style of Monet or whatever.
His response is shockingly tone deaf and approaching genuine hilarity.
“It would be better if you couldn’t tell that you were being lied to, and I’m annoyed that we got caught.”
“We aren’t creative enough to tell this story ourselves.”
That dude’s dumb as rocks, glad they’re facing a consequence.
Soulslop, if you will.
Good. Make another example of them. Slop will not be tolerated and will torpedo your 'studio' instantly.
painterly
Lovely word, cant believe ive never seen it before
I see it used mostly for manually painted 3D scenes - where the artist has textured the objects with brush strokes, or a procedural shader setup that makes it look like they've been painted.
Random example from the internet:
You're one of today's lucky 10,000
Pear shaped?
Basically means "not good", but the etymology expands on it more.
Can you really call a studio that relies on AI independent?
Bummer. Looks like a cool idea art-wise judging by the gameplay trailer.
Too bad these fuckers are too lazy and untalented to do the work themselves.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
