iplayedgame

[iplayedgame]

Ghostboy

In this game young boy perished in accident due to family’s inability to spend time with him, so that takes a big toll on family members. As a ghost he returns to house to protect the family from bad thoughts.

What I really liked: 1. How serious life problems were addressed in game, that really contributes for games value 2. How tower defense mechanics were implemented - I actually was surprised by that, I did not expect it after initial play and cutscenes. Also tower defense reputation is kind of damaged by minigames who don't bring larger value from the game, so that can be misconception. 3. Control of protector dolls which gives the player more closer feeling of gameplay. 4. Many types and action, tower cards etc. which are chosen before battle, this also gives the player more freedom in choices he makes. 5. Disorder mechanic - how those are acquired and also choices player has to make which will determine the future.

So I think this game has a really great concept. For players I would suggest to take easy mode first because I got stuck with normal one. Game review is accessible here: https://youtu.be/ufr1js5DIuI

#game review #ghost boy #indie games

[iplayedgame]

Darwake demo

This demo was epic, in my eyes like a polished jewel. I wouldn’t say for any game that that is perfect, but for this demo, it was close to that - really really good first gameplay experience.

Game starts by scene where is showed as mother is standing by sons bed and calling out him with tears in eyes, then he wakes up in his own mind as I understood, so that could mean as he is probably in coma. This really good contributes to the overall meaning of the game, I love to see that this scene was included. 

There were so many details, but at the same time not overcrowded and relatively simple to view the sight. When I was throwed in the first scene, for a few minutes I just stared around and watched the surroundings. 

I will mention few things I liked about this demo:

1) Intro scene - gives meaning for game

2) Detailed, but at same time relatively easy to read surroundings

3) Gradually introduce with game mechanics

4) Challenges for player are in right order - from simplest to hardest

5) Much attention to faces, I think this is a great choice, it draws player attention towards them.

Demo is accessible on steam.

Also there will be review on my youtube channel, so stay tuned:

www.youtube.com/@Iplayedagame

#darwake #game review #indiedev #horror games

[iplayedgame]

As I did my small research on this topic and a year ago in reddit there were some conversations regarding to this. So overall conclusion before I dive into this topic - AI art is a slippery slope to walk with. 

1)  As some users stated in reddit there are no proper rules in USA and Europe, so basically if You use AI-generated banner/cover/main character etc., You might not be able to stop anyone from copying it and using it for themselves. But as some users stated, worries are not so much about individual pictures, but it could be possible to rip off whole game. 

2) Machine learning models themselves, it is known that they are trained on copyrighted materials, some of those materials are meant to never be publicly available on the internet. Multiple companies and artists are filing lawsuits against them. So in future it will boil down if it falls into derivative or transformative use.

3) Assuming AI content falls in transformative case in future - if AI used is not owned by You, then these assets are not Yours and You can’t copyright them, so even You made Your work on these assets it is not sufficient enough for the courts.

4) Logically thinking if AI generated picture is modified enough it should be able to be copyrighted, but how much modification is needed is hard to say. As some users stated they use this approach and not tell anyone that they used AI.

5) Some users stated that AI can be safe to say to be a tool to use with Your own images to assist You in asset creation rather than creating them from scratch.

Platforms like Steam seem to stay on safe side and they reject those games, quote from Valve: “As the legal ownership of such AI-generated art is unclear, we cannot ship your game while it contains these AI-generated assets, unless you can affirmatively confirm that you own the rights to all of the IP used in the data set that trained the AI to create the assets in your game,”

Recently Valve corporation updated their rules which will define how game developers can publish that use AI technology on Steam. Rules for AI generated content in games are meant to increase transparency, so customers can make an informed choice to buy it or not. As said in Valve’s post: “making changes to how we handle games that use AI technology will enable us to release the vast majority of games that use”

Under new rules developers will need to disclose when games contain AI generated content & confirm that it’s not illegal or infringing. Also need to say if a game has AI content generated “live” while the game is running, cause then there should be safety mechanisms to be able to stop their AI generating illegal content in future.

So these rules are changing fast and no clear vision is seen, but as we know money at the end runs the legal system and it could turn out as at the end big corporations will benefit from it and hurt rest of using AI. As one user stated in reddit about possible future scenarios:

1)  Worst case - Any games, products using games that can’t pay  ‘AI tax bill’ become illegal in commercial sense.

2) Reality case  - Businesses that are investing in AI are leaving anyone behind, so as AI isn’t going away in next 2-5 years every creative production team use AI or are out of business.

3) Hope case - Human generated creativity will retain it’s true value, maybe increase it. Example: will need video proof of creation process as part of validating / authenticating your product. 

#gamedev #indiegamedev #solodev #indie dev #ai art #ai artwork