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Ask HN: Is it worth avoiding AI while making a game?

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Ask HN: Is it worth avoiding AI while making a game?

#1

Post by 2muchclout »

Hi HN, I have been learning Godot while making a game which involves pixel art, music, etc. While learning, I have been discouraged about strictly making everything by hand because of the influx of content about just vibe coding or AI-assisted everything. There also seems to be a stigma attached to using AI in games versus general software engineering (Steam’s AI generated tag, for example).

In conclusion, I guess my question is if it is a good idea to use the AI generated assets and such, or should I just learn all of the skills and if that will be beneficial in the long run. I enjoy game development, I’m just feeling discouraged towards the learning process.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth avoiding AI while making a game?

#3

Post by 2muchclout »

cheevly wrote: post #2

It's best to avoid using tools and innovations that maximize your productivity.

While I get where your sarcasm is coming from, you either didn’t read the post or are ignorant to the point. AI is severely different in the gaming industry, where the goal isn’t to make a software where “maximized productivity” is the most important metric. Also, you seem to ignore the point that it is looked down upon whether you agree or not.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth avoiding AI while making a game?

#4

Post by verdverm »

It's a transformative technology, you should definitely try it at a minimum, and long enough to get a feel for it. It takes time to learn what/where they are good/bad at and how to interact with them to get the most of out them.

I saw a GameDev talk on Ai where they showed a virtual pile of trash. It cost more than $10k, what if we go photograph trash piles and use Ai to turn them into assets?

The Steam label, maybe it means something now, but longer I think it fades. For me personally, if there is a good game than looks nice, I'm not really going to care how much Ai they used. Be mindful of where you derice industry sentiment from, and that sentiments are changing.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth avoiding AI while making a game?

#5

Post by 2muchclout »

verdverm wrote: post #4

It's a transformative technology, you should definitely try it at a minimum, and long enough to get a feel for it. It takes time to learn what/where they are good/bad at and how to interact with them to get the most of out them. I saw a GameDev talk on Ai where they showed a virtual pile of trash. It cost more than $10k, what if we go photograph trash piles and use Ai to turn them into assets? The Steam label, maybe…

Yes I agree for the most part, I do wonder about the customer sentiment. Maybe it is a vocal minority, it would be interesting to see the impact on sales.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth avoiding AI while making a game?

#7

Post by verdverm »

2muchclout wrote: post #5
verdverm wrote: post #4

It's a transformative technology, you should definitely try it at a minimum, and long enough to get a feel for it. It takes time to learn what/where they are good/bad at and how to interact with them to get the most of out them. I saw a GameDev talk on Ai where they showed a virtual pile of trash. It cost more than $10k, what if we go photograph trash piles and use Ai to turn them into assets? The Steam label, maybe…

Yes I agree for the most part, I do wonder about the customer sentiment. Maybe it is a vocal minority, it would be interesting to see the impact on sales.

There could be a difference depending on the game dev, eg. AAA studio versus solo-indie

Also, if the Clawd Spam hasn't reached Itch, there will be a backlash after it does, trend to keep an eye on

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth avoiding AI while making a game?

#8

Post by WCSTombs »

I 100% recommend that you avoid AI-generated assets in your game. The stigma around AI-generated assets is very real, and not going away soon. Although people might enjoy using AI for their own purposes, by and large they don't want to be subjected to other people's use of it. Moreover, while I don't have the data to back this up, I would have to think that among the segment of the population that plays indie games, the stigma around generative AI is even greater.

In the second part of the question you asked if you should just learn all of the skills...buddy, does that question not answer itself? Of course you should learn all of the skills. Obviously that's much easier said than done, but TBH I think the quality bar to producing something viable is not super high, so as long as you're not a perfectionist, you can probably do it.

Since I could be labeled as an "AI hater" based on those comments, I want to be clear that I'm saying all this to keep you from falling into a trap and not to further my own agenda. The generative AI route is not a magic shortcut to success, although it is being aggressively marketed as such. The shortcut only seems to lead to success if you ignore the fact that people don't want to be subjected to other people's AI content.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth avoiding AI while making a game?

#9

Post by WCSTombs »

2muchclout wrote: post #3
cheevly wrote: post #2

It's best to avoid using tools and innovations that maximize your productivity.

While I get where your sarcasm is coming from, you either didn’t read the post or are ignorant to the point. AI is severely different in the gaming industry, where the goal isn’t to make a software where “maximized productivity” is the most important metric. Also, you seem to ignore the point that it is looked down upon whether you agree or not.

Yeah, using generative AI to boost productivity (i.e., with coding assistants), and using it to literally generate artistic assets for the the game, are very different propositions. Steam's AI tag also very clearly distinguishes between the two.

Re: Ask HN: Is it worth avoiding AI while making a game?

#10

Post by WCSTombs »

verdverm wrote: post #4

It's a transformative technology, you should definitely try it at a minimum, and long enough to get a feel for it. It takes time to learn what/where they are good/bad at and how to interact with them to get the most of out them. I saw a GameDev talk on Ai where they showed a virtual pile of trash. It cost more than $10k, what if we go photograph trash piles and use Ai to turn them into assets? The Steam label, maybe…

> The Steam label, maybe it means something now, but longer I think it fades.

It might fade, but it will take a while. You need a generation of gamers to grow up in a world where AI-generated content is normalized and then become old enough to start driving these trends. It could actually happen in as little as ten years or so, but it also might never become fully normalized, which I think is more likely.

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