Posted January 03, 2025 by QuentinWH
The poll in question is here:
Now a little explanation.
There is a lot of work to do. The game is roughly 1/5 finished story and map wise. I have a long list of things that have to be done. I simply decided to shift my priorities depending on your feedback. I would really apreciate it if you could take a few minutes to fill it out.
I made a simple list of things that I would like to be done to some degree this year. I will start working on them depending on the priorities you will set to them. Keep in mind that there is much more than what is on the list.
Certain things, like more maps, quests and so on, are already included in some of the options in the list. For example, making the main faction will include new maps, quests and so on. Some things, while still planned, will require more work on previous system before I can include them. Endings, for example, are placeholders and not canon. But I can't make new, propper ones without finishing the game first. Nevertheless, you can still ask for such features in the last part of the form and if the demands is really there, I can start working on those to some degree. For example, if you really want better endings, I can make new, better ones that would still be placeholder, but actualy be canon and have atleast some actual cutscenes to them, even if I will be removing some of them once the game is finished story wise.
I will let the poll sit here for roughly a month. After that, I will publish the results and I will start working on what gathered the most votes and slowly work down the list.
I'm playing around with AI. Both for pictures and music, and in both cases, I found a good point where it makes my life easier, but doesn't take away control from my creative proces. Graphics are the first example.
I used the AI to make the dungeon tileset. I used it to make textures which I applied to 3D models. This saved me time I'd have to spend looking for proper textures on the internet and the results were pretty good for my standart.
I'm also using it to make NPC conversation sprites. These I treat as placeholders, since they don't look exactly like I imagine the NPCs looking and I will be replacing these in the future.
I'm also working on a workflow to make main character sprites with AI. This gives me great result, since I already have the 3D model finished. I can put on the proper clothes, pose it the way I want, do some basic colors and the AI does the shading and small details for me.
It's not perfect though. I will still have to touch up all images to make the fingers and eyes look normal, The sprites above were not touched up in any way and they still look pretty good. Thanks to this, I can make higher quality sprites while still having full control over posing, clothing, and so on. Bear in mind though that this is still just me playing around and nothing from those pictures is set in stone or even in the game.
Music, however, is the biggest game changer. While I can make simple, catchy loops and even make shorter pieces of music, I can't do the overal composition properly. AI can greatly help me with that too now.
I made a simple loop in midi, fed it to AI. I then edited the result and fed it to it again. I generated several songs, spliced them, edited out bad parts and put them together. And these are the results.
If you played Sinathir recently, then you know this music. It's been the main menu theme for some time. (by the way. I made the video with: https://vizzy.io/ . It's free and works well.)
This one was in the game also for some time and played when you fought againts Mr. White. You can hear the common theme both these songs have and how they are linked together.
And this one is not in the game yet and won't be for quite some time, but you can take a listen. I think most of you will guess in what situation is it going to play.
In my opinion, music is one of the hardest things to come by and make. Free music is usualy not very good and a bad soundtrack can ruin the entire experience. This AI music is not perfect. If you really focus, you can hear that something is "wrong" with it. Personaly though, I find it much better than royalty free alternatives and I still have plenty of control over the overall result.
Again, this is just me playing around and trying out new toys. And while the AI image generation is not something I'm 100% set on, the music is something I will absolutely be using, since the things I can do or get for free are much worse.
That's pretty much it. See you next month with the poll results.