Today's topic is a bit boring and probably one you've already heard way too much about because everyone can't stop mentioning it. But I feel like it's necessary to dive into how AI is impacting my work, in which ways I use it, and in which ways I don't.

The beginning:

I'm not gonna lie to you all. I'm not the biggest fan of AI tools. As an artist, I do feel threatened by it and can't approach these tools without bias. I feel like it's going to cost many artists dearly, that it creates soulless results, and I fear we will lose so much humanity in our art and in the images we consume, with the internet being less and less human-generated.

Already, when searching for hairstyles on Pinterest for character inspiration, it feels like 80% are AI-generated. And all of that is based on probably the biggest art theft humanity has ever seen.

But what's done is done, and I also know that a younger me, free from biases and knowledge about how the world and capitalism works, would have loved this shit. So while I rejected anything that had to do with AI for many, many months, I slowly started to warm up to it—and after a period of sulking, I knew that I needed to get into it if I didn't want to get left behind.

That's just how it is, and I'm glad that I gave it a chance.

Programming with AI:

I'm not a programmer. I never was. I always approached game development from a creative perspective, always only learning exactly as much about Ren'Py as I needed in any given moment—but often falling short and not being able to get my vision exactly the way I wanted it. Close, but not exact. In this aspect, ChatGPT has become a huge help. While it's confidently incorrect pretty much all the time I ask it to code something for me, it still gives me the answers I've always needed.

Before, I had an idea and thought about the implementation, realized what I had to do, and then googled how that would work in code. Sometimes I found what I needed, sometimes I didn't.

Now, I have the idea, think it through, and then ask ChatGPT how each individual part could be done in Ren'Py. More often than not, this works—and it works really well. In the new side project I'm making, I was able to create simpler and much cleaner code for more complex problems than ever before. While I knew this was possible, I always feared that I wouldn't learn anything new about coding this way, but I was wrong. It feels like I'm working with an exclusive tutor that answers my exact questions—and only the exact ones. It's a bit too dumb to answer more complex stuff, so I still have to do all the actual thinking. I actually love it.

This way, ChatGPT has completely changed how I approach the programming tasks for my games, and I'm very excited about what I'll be able to do in future projects. It opens up so many possibilities for me. But that's not the only way I use it right now.

Writing with AI:

The other way ChatGPT helps me is with grammar, punctuation, and spelling. I don't know if you've noticed, but the last update in CoM was proofread by ChatGPT. It's a bit of a headache to get it working with explicit material, but after some begging and whining, it always works. You just need to gaslight the AI, which is kinda weird but okay. Then it'll do what I want and check the script.

I was very happy with the results. I told it to check the writing, but without changing it. Just get rid of errors—don't change the actual words or sentences. Leave my human writing and flaws intact; only get rid of mistakes. This way, I make sure that my style persists, that my flaws are still there, and it doesn't sound machine-written—but no errors or hiccups.

ChatGPT can't really replace a real editor—it doesn't give good feedback in my opinion, and its writing always feels a bit generic. It's also unable to follow the larger developments of a story and only really works on small text snippets. But for the singular purpose of getting rid of my typos, it seems to be doing a good job.

What else I do with AI:

Programming and writing are the two big things I use AI for, but there's also small stuff. Sometimes I ask it brainstorming questions that honestly seldom reap any rewards.

Once I asked it to generate a pattern based on a description that I then used as the base for a texture in Blender, which worked really great.

A few days ago, I asked it to turn a normal picture into an equirectangular picture so I could use it as a background in Blender. This also worked quite decently.

More and more, I'm testing its limits and enjoying it quite a lot—but while I do all of that, I also realize where I draw the line and where I still refuse to use AI.

What I don't do:

Again, I'm biased against it. When I was looking into using AI to generate music, I realized that I felt really uncomfortable with it. In all areas where I've used generative AI, I've used it to change my personal inputs. I use it on my own writing or in my own 3D scenes. With music, that would be different.

If I were to use AI-generated music, that music would have absolutely no human input whatsoever. It would just be AI and nothing else.

Let me make it clear: I don't condemn the use of generative AI for music. I don't care what other people do or don't. But I care about what I do, and I realize that this feels wrong to me. It's something I don't want in my games. Using it as an assistant to alter or improve my own work? Sure. Using it to completely generate my work for me? Forget it.

In the end, I came to the conclusion that I really enjoy working with ChatGPT and the freedom it gives me—especially when it comes to the programming part of my work—but even now, I don't feel comfortable replacing my creative input with AI. I don't use it to write for me, I don't use it to generate my plots or characters, I don't use it to make my images or music or plan minigames or anything at all that involves actual creative decisions.

I'm the director of my games, and ChatGPT is a tool that I use. I don't want it to become the other way around.

That's all from this development diary. The second entry already! How time flies. That means the next time you hear from me will be with another status report on what exactly I'm doing with the games right now. So I better start working right away :D

I wish everyone a great, sunny week. Touch some grass—or don’t. I've just started with the Oblivion remaster and feel like this week is a don’t week for me.