That would be interesting.
My thought would be that AI has a tendency towards looking kind of generic, unless given particularly distinct instructions, so maybe something that needs a bit of experimentation. You might get some interesting pictures if you give the AI more instructions. Like, instead of "futuristic" or "military", try more outlandish things like "baroque space station", "gothic alien space ship" and so on. Something to play about with.
I'm not sure about commander pictures, because one of the other things with AI generated art, is consistency and reproducibility. Like, for commanders you'd maybe want a couple hundred portraits. For each species and theme combination. And I think it'd be difficult to get a sufficient amount of pictures with a consistent look to them.
In general I feel like AI generated stuff is morally bankrupt and contributing to the destruction of the environment. OTOH, so is the entire tech infrastructure and you wouldn't be using it for profit so go for it.
I do have a knee-jerk "Who needs pretty pictures" response, but I assume that is because I am old now. I am not sure if the improvements, such as they are, from using it would be worth the time you spend figuring it out, but you are the only judge of that of course.
Hi Steve, if I understood correctly, you do not want/cannot use these images to replace the dot on the main map?
If not, do you have any plan to do that? I back with this request once again, replacing fleet dots with standard high quality tiny images would be absolutely cool, missiles as well and maybe planets asteroid and stars.
However, the benefit of Freepik is access to millions of images generated by other people, with some amazing premium images created by graphic artists - including thousands of existing ship pictures, which are extremely varied - unlike my own initial attempts which all looked rather similar in style. It was this vast library of images that made me consider the potential.
Agree commanders will be tricky. However, there is a tool that allows a lot of variations on a common theme, so I will play around with that,
In general I feel like AI generated stuff is morally bankrupt and contributing to the destruction of the environment. OTOH, so is the entire tech infrastructure and you wouldn't be using it for profit so go for it.
I do have a knee-jerk "Who needs pretty pictures" response, but I assume that is because I am old now. I am not sure if the improvements, such as they are, from using it would be worth the time you spend figuring it out, but you are the only judge of that of course.
AI is here to stay now. I use it for work in a lot of different ways (I am doing some consulting while travelling), whether searching, analysis, getting programming tips, etc., it is very useful as a competent assistant that does a lot of grunt work. It is still wrong sometimes (and confident when wrong, until you point it out and it suddenly pretends it knew that all along).
In terms of graphics, there is still a human element in making it work well. I imagine people who used to do tech drawing were not a fan of computer-aided design, or photographers didn't like photoshop, etc. Technology moves on and its usually the people adopting the technology that benefit. Every time there is new tech, old jobs disappear and new jobs are created.
Hi Steve, longtime player/lurker, first time poster.
I personally think this would be a terrible idea. AI art actively turns me off of projects that use it. I was critical of the original graphics of Shadow Empire, but somehow the AI portraits made it even worse. I was on the edge about buying Sins of a Solar Empire 2, and what ultimately made me hold off is the awful AI art they threw in everywhere. For me it just feels bad to spend time looking at images that nobody spent the time creating. Just soulless remixes of art that actually was created by human hands with intent. If you went through with this, I would be desperate for an option to restore the original graphics.
But beyond my personal preferences, I also just don't really see the practicality here. I don't think anyone is playing Aurora for the graphics, they're playing it for the amazing simulation and the gameplay that creates. You can already do so much with the existing customization options. I'm curious what benefit you're looking for here beyond going down the AI road for the sake of it.
Of course at the end of the day this is your project that you have blessed us all with, so if working with image generating algorithms is just something that makes you happy then who am I to tell you it's a bad idea. I just personally believe that sometimes less is more, and for me Aurora is already a pretty game to look at.
As far as I'm piecing your intention here together is that you want to replace the tiny 90's style icons for ships and images we can select with generated ones, and maybe add a few more icon types for commander faces and such. Maybe give the UI icons an overhaul.
Doesn't seem like a big change; do whatever.
Much more interesting would be an integrated image generator for ship/missile designs, an overhauled iconized UI or visualizations of space battle results, but that, much like the idea for that dynamic commander portrait generator, seem beyond your intent in this thread. Correct?
Also, honestly, replacing the graphics and buttons is not an art task, it's a graphic design task. Buttons should be readable and have a consistent style, and I think you're less likely to get a good result from AI than say, asking for community submissions. I'm sure someone would volunteer to do a pass over the button designs.
Also, honestly, replacing the graphics and buttons is not an art task, it's a graphic design task. Buttons should be readable and have a consistent style, and I think you're less likely to get a good result from AI than say, asking for community submissions. I'm sure someone would volunteer to do a pass over the button designs.
I'm always a little wary of asking for submissions, as I will have to turn down people if there are multiple submissions. Even if only one and I decide not to use it, it still seems like denigrating someone's efforts. However, if anyone does want to submit buttons and doesn't mind if I choose not to use them, then I would be very happy to take a look.