Correct me if im wrong, but isent AI cg all automated? It removes the human creativity and hard work from it, and when you got people who do 100% of their own art by hand, those who use Ai cg is like spitting in their face.
Ive seen people who use Ai cg expect the same reputation and payment for their games when they've put no where near the hard work or effort into them like those who did it all their self. It's similar to minimum wage people wanting the same pay as people who went to school and learned a trade. It shouldn't be allowed.
I have very strong opinions on this since I've been doing both AI and traditionally rendered graphics for years now so here's my take: AI *can* be easier, but if it's any good, it isn't automated. I provide a 90% automated version of Athena's Revenge to patrons as a "preview". It's probably 80% garbage. If I wanted to make it good, I'd have to put a lot more work into the prompts and generate dozens of images until I find just the right seed that produces acceptable results. Sometimes you can take hours to get the results you want if you ever get it. This is version I throw out there for those interested in giving feedback for the writing/story ahead of the the real game graphics that take much longer to produce.
If you see an AI game that looks good, that developer put work into it. Probably not as much work as traditional rendering in net, but creativity and thought went into production.
For me, I've been using a hybrid approach for years. It has allowed me to be more productive and as a result Warlord is my third game in 3 years of productive (with a 4th already started). Just as an example of the "hybrid" approach, take the following image from Tragedy of Medusa:
Looks pretty traditional, right? But the sky texture is AI generated. There are plenty of ways to do a sky texture and many are free, but I love the way this turned out. Further, let's say the scene requires lightning. I can in-paint one in (took some effort to get right):
Doing lightning from scratch is a pain in the ass in blender.
In Warlord I use AI all over the place... the most obvious is the "in-between" images that are entirely AI. But I also use AI to do the 3D motion effect on most of the images and do to effects like fire (which there will be more of in chapter 14). Hell, this very chapter (chapter 13) has effects using AI that I promise you've never seen in a VN before (the MC fight animation in the outpost). Using AI in Warlord has allowed me to make consistent monthly releases while working on two games at once and still maintaining good quality (IMHO).
I think saying "no" to AI just because it's AI is a mistake and will close you off to some really good games in the future.
Sorry for the rant, but there's a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation out there.
