[Need Advice] Struggling whether choosing using AI or Daz3D to create first project

[Exe19]

[Deleted-

 

[osanaiko]

Gameplay and story are more important than art.

AI generation will only give you a creation speed boost if you don't care about consistency of characters / clothing / background. It takes a long time (image editing and re-re-re-redoing the generations takes a looong time for me at least) to fix the constant small and sometimes large variations between the series of images. It's also very difficult to get certain specific details right - due to the training data so many of the available the models desperately want to recreate "smiling sexy portraits" of anime girls, not various poses or expressions or scenarios.

Daz is a complex tool with many frustrating UI quirks, but it has a high skill ceiling so you can end u creating excellent renders if you take the time to learn it (or learn on the way! there's a lot of older games where you can very clearly see the improvement in renders over the course of the development history.)

Making a game is a huge amount of work, so the most important thing in solo indie game dev is: how will you stay motivated? You won't get far if you are working on something you don't personally really really want to bring into existence.

By that final criteria, what image style to YOU prefer? you'll be spending 1000s of hours working on those images.

 

[OffWhite Studios]

I’ve been using SD / AI for my game and have managed to achieve a (somewhat) consistent art style and characters, even with more complex poses. Here’s how I approached working with it as my main art tool:

1. Stick to One Model
Choose a single model with a specific art style and use it for everything. This ensures consistency across your project. For NSFW games, models with Pony as a base tend to work well. Mixing too many different models or LoRAs can make it hard to maintain a uniform style.

2. Keep Character Descriptions Simple
In my experience, less detailed prompts yield more consistent results. For example, I might use something basic like:
“blond hair, short hair, blue dress, medieval.”
Overloading prompts with specifics (e.g., highly detailed accessories or intricate designs) makes it harder for the model to replicate characters consistently. While this approach sacrifices some customization, it ensures reliability in the results.

3. Avoid Overly Detailed Outfits
When designing characters, I aim for simple clothing. For instance, if a character has red earrings and a ruby necklace, it’s a hassle to replicate those details in every image. Instead, I prefer single-color outfits with minimal accessories for ease and consistency.

4. Batch Images and Avoid Over-Prompting
Rather than overloading prompts or relying heavily on tools like ControlNet for perfect poses, I let the model do what it does best. I generate large batches of images with a basic prompt and select the best results. Fighting the model to get the “perfect” image often isn’t worth the effort.

5. Use Inpainting Strategically
I primarily use inpainting for upscaling or making minor adjustments—not fixing flawed images. If an image isn’t close to perfect from the start, I find it faster to generate a new one rather than spending too much time repairing it.

6. Inpaint for Facial Expressions
One area where inpainting shines is creating a variety of facial expressions. I’ll generate the body first, then inpaint the face multiple times to get a range of expressions for the same character. This technique works great for adding personality to characters.

I think SD can be a great tool, but if you have a very specific vision for your game and specific assets you need, it's probably not there yet. For assets like my character sheet, I built them in photoshop using free PNG's then did a few low denoise passes in SD to match the art style to the rest of my assets.

 

[R1k0]

It's a dumb topic, choose whatever you're comfortable with.

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[Gunizz]

exe19 I really don't understand. You write "I have some 3D and Art knowledge in Rendering, Lighting, Cinematography, Composition, focal point etc etc and knowing Blender and a bit of Daz3D, but no knowledge of animations at all."
So you already have all you need. Animations are not mandatory. VN are novels, a good story does not need animations. Concentrate on what you can do and do it at your best. There surely will be some twats complaining about the lack of animations, or because you insert a kink they don't like, or it's missing a kink they pretend. Just tell them to go fuck themselves, problem solved.
If the plot is engaging you'll get attention. The plot, the personality of the characters are the most important factor. The quality of images also can attract first time players, but if the plot sucks they'll soon dismiss your VN.

Then when you have reached some stable income or popularity, if you have time, you can learn new skills to use in your VN. Adding animation is one of them but the current level of DAZ animations in VNs is so low that they can be easily forget. Here we're not talking about professional animators using Blender or Maya.

P.S.: AI images still suck for a VN in my opinion.

 

[668 Neighbor of the Beast]

exe19 I really don't understand. You write "I have some 3D and Art knowledge in Rendering, Lighting, Cinematography, Composition, focal point etc etc and knowing Blender and a bit of Daz3D, but no knowledge of animations at all."
So you already have all you need. Animations are not mandatory. VN are novels, a good story does not need animations. Concentrate on what you can do and do it at your best. There surely will be some twats complaining about the lack of animations, or because you insert a kink they don't like, or it's missing a kink they pretend. Just tell them to go fuck themselves, problem solved.
If the plot is engaging you'll get attention. The plot, the personality of the characters are the most important factor. The quality of images also can attract first time players, but if the plot sucks they'll soon dismiss your VN.

Then when you have reached some stable income or popularity, if you have time, you can learn new skills to use in your VN. Adding animation is one of them but the current level of DAZ animations in VNs is so low that they can be easily forget. Here we're not talking about professional animators using Blender or Maya.

P.S.: AI images still suck for a VN in my opinion.

Nailed it 100%

 

[maiie]

I’ve been using SD / AI for my game and have managed to achieve a (somewhat) consistent art style and characters, even with more complex poses. Here’s how I approached working with it as my main art tool:

1. Stick to One Model
Choose a single model with a specific art style and use it for everything. This ensures consistency across your project. For NSFW games, models with Pony as a base tend to work well. Mixing too many different models or LoRAs can make it hard to maintain a uniform style.

2. Keep Character Descriptions Simple
In my experience, less detailed prompts yield more consistent results. For example, I might use something basic like:
“blond hair, short hair, blue dress, medieval.”
Overloading prompts with specifics (e.g., highly detailed accessories or intricate designs) makes it harder for the model to replicate characters consistently. While this approach sacrifices some customization, it ensures reliability in the results.

3. Avoid Overly Detailed Outfits
When designing characters, I aim for simple clothing. For instance, if a character has red earrings and a ruby necklace, it’s a hassle to replicate those details in every image. Instead, I prefer single-color outfits with minimal accessories for ease and consistency.

4. Batch Images and Avoid Over-Prompting
Rather than overloading prompts or relying heavily on tools like ControlNet for perfect poses, I let the model do what it does best. I generate large batches of images with a basic prompt and select the best results. Fighting the model to get the “perfect” image often isn’t worth the effort.

5. Use Inpainting Strategically
I primarily use inpainting for upscaling or making minor adjustments—not fixing flawed images. If an image isn’t close to perfect from the start, I find it faster to generate a new one rather than spending too much time repairing it.

6. Inpaint for Facial Expressions
One area where inpainting shines is creating a variety of facial expressions. I’ll generate the body first, then inpaint the face multiple times to get a range of expressions for the same character. This technique works great for adding personality to characters.

I think SD can be a great tool, but if you have a very specific vision for your game and specific assets you need, it's probably not there yet. For assets like my character sheet, I built them in photoshop using free PNG's then did a few low denoise passes in SD to match the art style to the rest of my assets.

Do you have a particular UI you recommend?

 

[OffWhite Studios]

Do you have a particular UI you recommend?

I just use Forge. I know there are a lot more powerful UI out there, but it works for me. I feel that if I pick the right model, it will be able to make what I need naturally or with a Lora. For my process, I generally just have rough idea of the position I want, and then I see what the model does well. I pick the ones it knows and try to work with it not against it. If you need really specific images, then other UI might offer the additional control.