Journal of Other Forum Analysis

[benji]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-hints-at-ai-generated-textures-and-objects-in-future-games.908772/page-4

 

 
Surely the fact we've seen some good indie games come out doesn't imply improvements to wider process of game creation might lead to much larger numbers of even better games being possible in the future?
This is where we differ.

You view AI as an improvement to the artistic process. I view it as getting rid of the process altogether. Which it is, because again the selling point is you need no actual artistic knowledge or practical skill to use it. "It's democratized," aka any idiot can do it. You type in keywords and it's done for you. None of that effort getting in the way.

People seem to view having to sit down, learn, and practice making art as, in and of itself, a waste of time that should be excised out as part of an effort to achieve perfect efficiency, that it gets in the way of developers- indie or otherwise- from making "what they really want to make," (which is a bold presumption, that we're being technologically hamstrung from our true potential, but I digress). I'd argue that the human ingenuity and effort involved is why art is even meaningful in the first place, and handing the process off to a generative tool means the tool is simply the one doing the art, and it's pretty hard to talk to OpenAI for the job well done.

 
For a start, it's a bit of a meme that a ton of indie games use pixel art. I doubt every other indie game devs lifelong dream has been specially to make pixel art games - it's the consequence of factual limitations. You just won't be able to whip up the next RDR2 visually with a small indie team, so teams end up choosing an art style that suits their budget, time and skill constraints.

I knew you were going to say something to this effect.

"No indie can whip up the next RDR2/Final Fantasy/Overwatch alone!"

Why the fuck do I want to play janky, AI-generated indie clones of better games that already exist? Why do you want to play that? Why are you incapable of just playing RDR2 which is already there? Why do you want the same thing from a different artist, with a different voice, and different life experiences than the collective of Rockstar who made the game you literally already have?

It's like when people were cloning Ghibli's art style (much to my disgust), completely ignorant to the fact that we go and watch Ghibli movies not just because of the animation quality, but because Miyazaki is a fucking talented director with unique insights on childhood, nature, and life from his own lived experience that are bold, honest, and refreshing. I'm not watching a movie from some fucking techbro merely copying Ghibli's style when the only way he can imagine the world and human nature is entirely one through transactions and power consolidation. This tech is being championed in part by empty, antisocial people with nothing interesting to say about anything, which is why you can only imagine this technology just giving us shittier retreads of shit that already exists.

The art follows the artist. It is not the other way around.

 
Now many argue AI hampers creativity. I'd argue it has the potential to really boost it though by removing all the restrictions that define the creative boundaries within which indie teams must operate.

Again, you are missing the point of, like, art. The "restrictions" are not inherently an impediment to the ability to create something unique and meaningful. The necessity of hundreds of people to make certain games means that you are simply compounding the collective input on that one product. You are getting hundreds of insights instead of just one, and collaboration is an extremely important part of works that are multidisciplinary, both for the end product and for the personal development of the people who work on it.

It would be impossible to get, for example, the Overwatch we have with just one person, even if they had a button to shit out a game of similar technical quality, because one person's insights are not enough to account for the amount of cultural diversity on display. Hell, would the guy with the button even think of adding people with more melanin than a paper bag? Considering the make up of the gaming community and it's consistent hostility to minorities, probably fucking not. Again, who wants to play this shit? Who wants to play a white, straight Overwatch??????

You need other people for certain artistic exploits. You need to cooperate, bounce ideas around, learn when you're not cooking and be humbled. Collaboration isn't a fucking weakness. It's a strength of our species.

Lot of words to come out against SpeedTree and shaders in general, Nepenthe. She literally seems to think the only use for AI is shoving prompts into image generators.

Makes you wonder why all those artists in the gaming industry haven't been throwing their sabots in the machines over the last few decades.