Hi all! Long time no speak. I’ve been writing, writing, writing which has been the main news – but I’ve made some good progress and wanted to give a bit of an update. In this blog post I’ll talk about replacing the previously used AI artwork in the game with non-AI artwork and the writing process so far.
Editor’s Note 7.22.23: More on AI art in the game HERE
AI ART REPLACEMENT – WHERE WE LEFT OFF
So last we left off I talked about wanting to go back and replace the few pieces of artwork in the game that I used a mix of AI generations in – specifically the three boss fights for the Bat Boss, Giant Boss and Robot Boss.
Well I’m happy to report that all of these assets have now been successfully replaced with non-AI art. It was a bit of a to-do but I’m happy I’ve done it. I’ve said it before – but as of now I’m just not comfortable using AI generations in the game art anymore until they can figure out the data privacy issues with the data sets the AI is trained on.
I got access to Adobe Firefly beta recently, which has a data set I’m a bit more comfortable with (stock images and public domain images). I played around with it a bit and it’s fun – but right now the generations it make just seem a little too… incoherent? I guess is the word? As it is now I’m not seeing myself using it for the time being given it’s current state – but maybe in the future as it evolves? Who knows.
As it is now – the game is completely free of AI art and I’m planning on doing the backgrounds with just the old fashioned collage-ing and photoshopping/after effects-ing of Unsplash images as I’ve been doing. I still leave the option open for myself to use Firefly though in the future. I know this area of using AI art is controversial regardless of what you do, so I am basically undecided at the moment if I’m going to pull the trigger at all with it in the final product. Whatever ends up happening, I’ll always make sure to be transparent though on if I put any AI generations as part of the assets or not.
WRITTING WRITTING WRITTING
So now the writing process! It’s been long! But I think I’ve gotten a solid central script down. It stands at about 83 pages currently, which is roughly the length of a typical feature film. That’s what I was going for.
It’s funny having to sit down and actually write out this script finally, as the idea for the story and the characters has been kicking around in my head for over 3 years now. To actually sit down and have it come to life though is an intense experience. Just because the ideas are in your head doesn’t mean they’ll end up like you thought they would when you actually write it! The script certainly did take some unexpected twists and turns I wasn’t initially thinking of before I started writing it, but I ‘m glad it ended up as it is.
So now that the main script is done, the next stage in the writing process is to write out the optional dialogue. In the game there are going to be a number of “optional” conversations you can have as the game progresses. This is basically going to require writing out another feature length script on top of the main script to fill in all of these bits. For the optional dialogue, I’m going to be waiting a bit before I write it out, however I do have a basic outline of what things I want the optional dialogue to cover.
DESIGN BEGINS
Now that the main script is in place I want to actually start designing the levels and begin the process of truly building the game. This is an exciting time – it’s kind of a turning point in the creation of the game. I have all my player parts and most of my enemy parts created, as well as puzzles. I have my script. Now I actually need to build out the levels and make a game out of this thing!
To start with I’m just doing an old fashioned pen and paper approach to creating a map and basic layout of the world the game will take place in and how each room in each level of the game will flow or be focused. In example “this room will be a puzzle room” or “this room will have a bunch of bad guys player needs to fight”. Stuff like that.
I’m about halfway through that process right now and it will likely be what I focus on for the next month or so (if not a little longer). After that it’s actually drawing out each room in the game – which I will then reference when building the game levels in the engine.
Exciting times!
That’s it for now – as always you can keep up to date with progress on my social media accounts linked in the footer.
Until next time!
-Charles