Honestly, I’m going to throw my malformed hat into the ring, I actually very much enjoyed the difficulty, especially against Atla. The combat system is incredibly engaging as it is, and learning to get around some of her mechanics (mainly the webs locking inputs) was very fun to figure out, and satisfying once I could do it without too much issue.
I think the game itself is very learnable in it’s current state, and is of decent difficulty but fair. I’m not differently abled or any other factor of similar magnitude, so that may be something to take into account, but I do entirely think that if you went forward with the same difficulty, you would be fine.
The uniqueness of the combat system for weight gaming also really helps the game stand out, even outside of the work’s story, and is really just… a breath of fresh air. Regardless though, it is your game, and up to you how you change it. I just noted that most of the discourse was about how the game was “too difficult” and wanted to present my opinion. Have a nice day!
Adding in difficulty modes is one of those ideas I’ve had raised to me enough times that I have to take it seriously. That being said, I’m not very excited about the idea of making that change. I try to set the difficulty at a level where grinding is not necessary to progress, but remains a valuable tool to overcome difficulties. I feel like the quickfire, lethal combat system is a part of the game’s presentation, and that trivializing the challenge with an easy mode would spoil part of the experience.
The player can grind or acquire items that will make fights objectively easier, and enemies are predictable to a point. If at any point the game becomes too difficult, the player will ideally level up or learn the handful of attacks that are giving them problems. When the player sees a boar, they should come to recognize it will sometimes do charge attacks, and expect that; if they see a highway robber, they might expect to see a feint.
Adding an “easy mode” would still be very possible. It could be overpowered gear, permanently slower timings or more generous windows for every attack. It COULD also be removing special attacks, but that seems to definitely steal away the individuality of the combat encounters - and the novelty of encountering new enemies, and it would be more time consuming to implement.
Truthfully I think the best solution in the end is to either increase the window for attacks or reducing the penalty for not getting the timings perfect. The timing is rather tight for a game that (in my eyes at least) is being shown off as a fetish game. I understand the appeal of having a unique combat system instead of just being rpg maker fetish game #6969 but I personally believe that it’s a little too much for a new person who came in expecting fetish content. I personally only made it to the end of the prologue because of annoyance with the mechanics and personal gripes about the story and pacing. It took too long to get to the part I was interested in for me to stay invested in the game with the mechanics as they are.
For what it’s worth, I think the current combat system is great. I like that the combat and the fetish aspects of the game are (as of now) separate, so I don’t feel the need to play out the combat sections one-handed so to speak. idk, the difficulty just really speaks to the gamer in me. It helps this game really stand out in a sea of generic fetish rpg maker games.
I personally think the combat is great and the difficulty feels much better than the original prepatched/unbalanced version, and I love something that doesn’t go for the old turn based rpgmaker system for combat.
However, it would be pretty ableist of me to act like there aren’t going to be people that won’t be able to enjoy the story because of this unique and more challenging combat system. The game does not have to have more accessibility options but was just thinking an easy way to help those out that for a myriad of reasons might struggle with combat or qte events (as no amount of learning or effort can help in cases where people are not able to do certain things. As much as some people would like to frame it as individuals are “lazy” or “unwilling” to try). It sounds like the difficulty options might go counter to your games vision.
Difficulty options would be probably a better way to not lose the way you feel the game should play while opening access to those that would normally pass it up, in my opinion. However, I understand this is not a non-time-consuming task nor and easy one. And was framed merely as a suggestion that might help open your game to more people and help alleviate some of the balance fixes needed.
I decided to go ahead and put the face portrait that I drew of Sylvi, so I could inevitably and immediately be outperformed by an algorithm in 0.2 seconds. Here’s the result:
Now, this is the result of roughly 20 seconds of work on my part, setting up the right parameters and putting in some tags that corresponded with the picture. Given how quickly and easily I can have the A.I. produce art for me, the question arises - should I just start doing this for my game? I could replace all the face portraits, and add full body shots of characters with fairly little effort put in.
I’m also wondering how quickly this is going to catch on, and how many other projects will do exactly the same. I know there are other game projects that use A.I. art already, but as far as I know it’s not widespread among RPG Maker creators yet. What do you guys think?
it only truly matters if this fulfils your artistic vision of the game.
both portraits in my opinion serve as good visual grounds for what the character looks like but with yours you have more artistic control over minor details that are much more difficult to get the AI to include, so personally I’d choose your drawing
there is also a slight problem with AI art looking “samey”, you see enough and they start blending together
either way, there are some real dedicated haters of the AI art movement, I think it’s a valid workflow and I wish you luck with whichever style you ultimately go for
As much as I’m for developers finding quicker and more efficient ways of making their games, AI art just doesn’t sit right with me. Every piece looks the same due to it just being an algorithm, compared to a human’s ability to draw with a unique artstyle that can set it apart from others. It’s like if you were to make an RPGMaker game using only the base sprites, or maybe recoloured versions of them. They’re everywhere, we’ve seen them before, they get boring quickly.
Then there’s the issue of uncanny valley. The more I look at AI art, the more small imperfections I notice that are just too weird to have come from a human and it throws me off. Of course, with time the AI will improve, but it can never be perfect.
If what the AI is generating works for you, or you feel you’re saving so much time that the trade-offs of generic looking art and small imperfections seem worth it, then go for it. I know I prefer original artwork, but I also know the time involved in creating it, and if I end up being the small minority who prefers not having AI art in games then I’m in no position to demand more time be spent to make only a small portion of the player base happy.
Ultimately it is your decision, and if the majority of people either don’t mind or for whatever reason prefer AI art then so be it. But I would also ask if you enjoy creating the artwork, or if you just see it as a chore to be done to reach the next stage in development. If it’s just a chore, then AI does offer a very enticing deal, but if you enjoy it, then I see no reason to stop enjoying it for the sake of generic anime style art.
As you may already know, I’m certainly a proponent of AI art. I think that @Wulf_Diomhaireachd summed up the arguments for either side pretty handily in their reply, so I won’t just rehash what they said.
Something I do think should be brought up, though, is if someone is doing AI art out of necessity or not. For example, I personally have very little artistic talent, so I decided to use AI-generated pieces in my game. The only other option for me to have good art in the game would be to commission an artist, but I didn’t want to do that for obvious reasons.
On the other hand, if you have even some amount of artistic skill, I think there’s an argument to be made that adding your own art to your game makes it more “you.” It shows even more that the game you’re making could truly only be made by you. I think there is definitely some consideration that should be given to this argument, but I’ve personally found other ways to express myself outside of the art. If you think you can also find other ways to express yourself in Skirjasaga outside of the art, then you could definitely consider putting AI-generated stuff in the game (especially if it makes it so there’s less work for you).
AI art has it’s place, and as long as it’s not being touted as real art, or sold for money, it’s fine in my books. Using it as a tool isn’t awful nor should it put a black mark on your game.
Trying not to reiterate what’s already been said here, but I’m probably also one of the few folks who are against the usage of AI art. Not completely condemning it, persay, but I feel there’s more to be said about a game with assets made by a person compared to one that’s strictly AI generated. It also feels kinda weird if you can already do some decent art on your own yet relegate the bulk of the work (pun not intended) to a machine. Why not continue to add that personable touch yourself if you’re capable of doing so?
That being said, there isn’t exactly anything wrong with using it as a tool, especially for a labor of love. If it prevents any additional burnout, then sure, by all means. There hasn’t been many instances yet of the AI being used for kink gamedev, but public opinion of it doesn’t seem too bad overall. Ultimately, the choice really comes down to you, and nobody says you can’t go back and draw your own OC once everything’s all said and done.
Every piece looks the same due to it just being an algorithm, compared to a human’s ability to draw with a unique artstyle that can set it apart from others
The thing is, most anime looks samey already, so, unless we are looking for a very specific unique artstyle I would argue its okay to use AI, specially if the content of the game is more focused on great story, gameplay and spritework like this one.
I would also argue its nothing like using base sprites. The problem with those is that you can tell immediately they are, with AI… specially with anime portraits, its getting harder and harder to tell apart by the day, and keep in mind I’m saying this as a professional artist specialized in games.
I would argue that what @Seren could do is, sure, use AI for everything, and since you have already an art base, go over the AI art and fix/change anything you dislike. Use the AI as a base to heavily reduce the time it takes to make the image, but spend some time making the image “yours” later by changing, editing stuff the AI didn’t get right.
People in the industry are literally doing that now, AI is a tool, just like photoshop, use it to your hearts content if that is going to improve your final work!
I apologize in advance for my English that it’s not my native language, but both pictures look good for me, there’s just a few reminders that the one from A.I. for me has a few beauty defects 1) A.I. the cartoon chin seems too pointed and longer, which isn’t wrong, but the manual is nicer for me and a better transition 2) the nose at the A.I. drawing seems very bland almost can’t be seen at the hand drawing is visible 3) the brows from A.I. are a little thicker, but maybe it’s because the picture is bigger
i get both sides of the argument being human drawn usally has a aura of character but a.i can give decent pieces in a quick fashion. so maybe have both do the a.i picture first so you can focus on more other parts of the game then do a hand drawn one after you get that all sorted out and add a option to switch between the a.i and hand drawn stuff.
I’d have to disagree with that. There are plenty of artists online, fetish or not, that you can recognise simply by looking at an image. But with AI, at least currently, I could be shown images from 5 different people and not be able to differentiate them because they all come from the same algorithm. With more and more indie games releasing all the time, it’s certainly beneficial to to stand apart visually, otherwise it’s a lot easier to be lost in the sea of other games of a similar nature. RPGMaker games suffer particularly bad with that as well.
As for using AI as a basis, or as a placeholder while work is made elsewhere, I’ve no problem with that. My only issue is using solely AI generated art because no matter how hard you try it’s going to end up looking similar to other AI art. I know hand drawn art takes a hell of a long time, but I feel the benefits of appearing more unique and original would make up for that.
Now I’m not an artist, so I can’t speak from the creation point of view, but I do make games and I know individuality is very important for that. Imagine you’re scrolling through steam and you see generic RPGMaker/Unity platformer #6969, it doesn’t matter how great the story or gameplay is, you’re likely to skip over it because it looks just like every other game. Of course, this isn’t steam, and there are many games here that look roughly the same that still garner a lot of fans, but if AI art is adopted across a large number of games here then it loses its charm. What was once a fancy way of adding great art with little time spent on it becomes just another tool that everyone uses. It won’t make the games any worse, but the novelty will wear off.
Again, it’s not my choice, but I would say that if AI art does get used, I’d rather it were to be used as a foundation/placeholder, not the final product. Of course there are people who feel they can’t make art to the standard they want, but in this case there’s definitely enough talent to make this game look unique, whether Seren decides to stick with hand-drawn art or use AI.
If you use AI for art make sure to put some effort into “taming” it and post processing. It can be useful, but for example the output shown has some issues with the eyes and such. There’s also the problem that a lot of AI art currently produces the same exact style of soft-shaded coloring that makes everything look like generic artstation or mobage bait (depending on if it’s realistic or stylized art).
If you use AI, consider learning how to edit and paint over the outputs so you can fix errors like eyes and hands. Some basic knowledge of color filters and texture overlays can probably help a lot with the generic soft shading style too.
