AI - Good? Bad? Lets Talk about it

Welcome folks! I hope you are all well and interested in building amazing experiences in our cyberpunk world. Before talking about the emotional topic that is AI I want to speak to some of my background.

Gunvald, the pen name I chose from arguably one of the most life-changing tabletop campaigns I played. I have been working in the game development space for almost 20 years now. I was a sculptor character/creature artist and I worked in various game studios and production/sim spaces, Even tried to stand up a little game studio.

Here are a few bits of my favorite projects from the past, at least the stuff I can share. I talk about this because I want to be very clear about where I'm coming from as an artist when talking about AI. And to start this conversion I want to link a few little 5-minute videos of some industry Vets I have been following and learning from for years.

Now the full videos are in the description, it's good information and interesting to hear the opinions of these VFX veterans.

I would like to think I sit in the same camp when it comes to what AI is and can be. The good it can bring and the damages that can follow in its wake. These are important things to keep in mind. Legislation changes from day to day. It's hard to keep up with.

And don't get me wrong people have every right to feel how they want to about AI. I just hope to give out some more digestible information about how we use it and why. Will that change in the future? Of course, it will. The world and technology are growing and we really can't stop it, as much as I would like to go raise chickens in the forest.

The first and most important thing to bring up is at no point have we nor will we ever use AI for our text generation and writing.

Penburrow (Paul) is the fate weaver of this world. Every letter comes from his hand and our imagination. We followed this path for a few reasons. Penburrow is a writer at heart, it's a talent and passion I have seen grow in him for almost 30 years. This is also what protects us. our world, the game is based on the words and the systems we have developed. It is 100% human-written and created. That will never change.

Now let's talk about the visuals and not only why we use AI, but how we go about applying the AI tool to our workflow.

To put it simply we are 2 people creating a massive thing. I'm a 3d artist who can paint well enough but to claim it as a primary skill I would not. Now photo editing, paint-over, kit bashing, and all the fun tricks we use when developing film and games. Textures, UI/UX, environments, etc. Those are things I'm good at and we apply them here. Let's break down how we process our images as we stand up what we hope to be a wonderful tabletop and a platform for all of us and our community to craft epic experiences!

Check out this little guy! We shall call him Steve! Steve is what we call a "Gutterpole". Think giant tadpole with a rough attitude but trainable (hint hint)! This is also the image we got directly out of the engine using simple descriptors.

Now in some cases, we edit and re-run various parts of these generations or I will start to paint over the character, here we are adjusting the limbs and back end of the character, unable to get a decent tail.

At this point, I will start painting in simple shapes and ideas. This can range from hands, limbs, armor bits, or even parts of the environment. I think at one point I added a bar and a disco ball to an image through painting and kit bashing. To help clarify what kit bashing is, I learned it from 3d where you take lots of 3d objects and just smash them together until you get something you were looking for.

You can see from the last image here of Steve we have the base color layered in and to finish him I will need to render in more shadows and light in order to blend the paint better with the body. This is the same process I use for anything that we need to fit a description or a feel.

Let's talk about the term "Ethical AI". What does that mean? Groups, schools, businesses, and governments all use this term, and it's too much of a low-resolution statement in my opinion. Who dictates what's ethical? How is it applied? I can have my opinion and I can follow what the community wants and follow the legislation as it grows and develops. But not everyone is open to the idea of AI as a tool, and that is ok. I want to learn and apply it to illicit emotions and imagination that were not present beforehand.

This is why we use AI. You will notice few of the images we use will be reoccurring. Some of our important images, like our House icons, or the images we chose to represent our classes. These all have gone through the process I outlined above because they are going to stick around for the foreseeable future. But most of our images are not the driving force of our book. They are there to spark imagination and emotion. I can't express enough the joy and epic feelings I got from our year-long game where my character Gunvald and our team played out the last mission. Tears I tell you, and storybook high that I have not felt before nor since. As a creator and artist having a visual helps me connect with the character and the story.

We use AI to spark emotion and imagination. The driving force and foundation is the written word.

One day if you all enjoy our world it is my goal to not only have in-house artists but also reach out and contract our community who would love to share their stories and experiences with each other. A good example of that is a certain Card game that may be magical in nature. The artwork from hundreds if not thousands of artists have shaped and influenced that universe and I would love to do that for our world and community.

In the end, we understand some folks will not be ok with the use of AI. And I hope as we grow and build this we can start bringing in more talented artists to help us build this world. We would love it if you join us in the future and enjoy a game as an Eidolon!

Transparency and honesty is the only way to grow and learn. We want people to create a culture of creativity and imagination. If we can sprinkle a little AI on the game we created to help people connect with their characters and the world I'm game!