Considering Freepik

[Kristover]

I am intrigued by the idea.  I’ve actually never really cared for the included pix in Aurora because the flags and pics I recognize from other properties tend to pull me out of my head canon I create for my games - but honestly not so much that I care greatly and I can always change them if I get a particularly obnoxious combo.  Having an AI generated image even if it is lower quality would address that concern for me - ships and flags and race pics would be the things I would like to see.

Ultimately I would say do what you want - it’s your project and you are sharing it with us for free.  If a person is so turned off by the usage of AI generated art that they would drop Aurora then it isn’t like you are losing any income over it.  No one that comes here for a game like this which honestly you can’t really find anywhere else would leave over freepix anyways imho.

[Zap0]

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?

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

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?

Yes, short term its about overhauling the existing images used in-game. Longer-term, some kind of composite images for commanders would be possible, although tricker. I need to learn more about it. You can actually link to the AI online and generate images from your software, but there is a fee involved, so I don't plan to implement that.

[Desdinova]

Personally, I am philosophically opposed to AI 'art'.

[Garfunkel]

Replacing the existing buttons and images that are from existing sci-fi franchises would be a good improvement. Beyond that, it doesn't really matter to me as I hardly use the images anyway. I have my head canon and that's that.

[Droll]

I play with the Solaris theme mod which IMO has much better images for the main menu bar than what vanilla comes with. Idk if there is anything licensed in there but it might be worth taking a look at instead of using AI for those.

As for ship icons, I don't really know if it matters as has been mentioned in this thread before it sounds like most people who care already just use custom images, which doesn't exclude AI anyways.

[Rezza]

Speaking of the Solaris theme - where can I download it from? The forum page for it says there's a link to the zip file at the bottom of the first post but it's not there (at least, it's not showing for me).

I'm new to the game, just learning, but wanted to make it a bit easier on the eyes.

[Desdinova]

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.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

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.

[jahwillprovide]

It made me legitimately laugh out loud seeing all these AI only makes bad stuff comments and then you dropped those amazing ship photos. AI is here to stay as you said and technology exists to make man have to do less work. Thank you for embracing the present I use it to handle small work tasks as well.

[Froggiest1982]

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.

Hi Steve, can you provide guidelines such as image format, pixels and or any other relevant info? I might give it a go.