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https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/stellaris-director-insists-ethical-use-of-ai-is-very-important-to-us-after-generating-voices-in-latest-dlc

Ah, yes. Ethics, the cornerstone of capitalism.

The question is, which type of ethics are they referring to?
Virtue ethics perhaps? Maybe they're a huge believer of Kant's works? What about Deontology?
Personally I subscribe to egoism.
You can't just say you're trying to be ethical and not define what being ethical even means.

My best guess though is that like you suspect, they're simply lying. Marketing has obviously said that this buzz word will increase share prices by a certain percentage.

That's so cool! I'm still new to the forums but it would be super interesting, atleast for me, to be able to ask what drives people to design videogames. The answers probably differ per person.

The answer will probably differ from person to person, but I'm willing to bet the underlying reason behind that answer will usually be the same.
And that reason being that they enjoyed video games, so they decided that they wanted to try their hand at making their own. That seems to be the typical reason why anyone takes up any sort of creative endeavor.

Basically: "Oh hey, that looks cool. Let me try!"

I recently played Otogirisou for the SNES, which recently got a fan translation.

It's a visual novel, but unlike the more modern ones, it gives you a whole bunch of choices right from the get go. If anything, it's much more akin to a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book, with a few sounds and visuals to compliment it.

It was really fun as well. So much so, that I played through it three more times in the same day.
The story can change a LOT depending on your choices. And there seems to be some RNG with regards to what choices are available to you.

If the virus copies your session tokens, it might be a good idea to change the passwords of every account you're currently logged into. 

By the way, thanks for telling us what happened.

Oh my, I hope you manage to get it sorted out soon.

Do you know how it might've happened?

For the Verb Coin, have you considered just copying Deponia?

Have a little handle at the top of the screen, you click it and it brings down the inventory, and there's a little floppy disk in the corner that lets you access the save/load menu.


EDIT:
Alternatively, you can just put in the same inventory screen as the BASS template.
I mean, there's no rule that says that the inventory for the Verb Coin HAS to be brought up with a right mouse button. If anything, having the inventory be consistently at the top of the screen for all of the templates, might be just what you're looking for.

@Danvzare Would you be willing to make a blue cup inventory item that the player starts with? Just for old time's sake. 

Here you go:

I'm rather proud of how this one turned out.

Just tell me if there's anything you want altering. 

By the way, I love the demo.

Holy crap! 
That's impressive!

That is truly impressive.

I've never counted the games I've played. But I'm sure it's close to five digits. That being said, I'm certain that the number I've completed doesn't even reach the four digit mark. So having not only finished over 3000 games, but having counted them as well (and knowing that those are ONLY the adventure games). You sir have won my respect. 

Very well put @Rik_Vargard although I would like to add, that just because we can't do anything about change, doesn't mean we have to like it or take it lying down.

I mean, we're all here because we love point and click adventure games, despite time, technology, and tastes having long since moved past the genre.

It might be a futile battle, but life is futile anyway. So if you don't like change, then why not fight it for the sake of fighting it? 
I'd personally prefer to die fighting for what I believe in, then to live in a perpetual state of yielding acceptance. Although I wouldn't want to do either in a blind state of ignorance. But that's just my values.



Also considering you touched upon it, I suppose now would be a good time to go into a philosophical debate about the desire for progression, and whether there is a reason to continually do so.
A topic which is quite vast, although I only have surface level knowledge of.

i am not trying to hide anything, i said most of the art designs are 3d models i never said i did not use any ai or am trying to conceal it

Really?
Then why did you say this:

the character and some of the assets were made from actually 3d models, rather then fully hand drawn, so i get why u feel like its ai-ish

You stated that you'd understand why it would feel "ai-ish", and that it's because it uses 3D models. Wouldn't someone who's not trying to conceal anything, just come right out and say "Oh, that's because I did use AI to help with the art." You clearly and intentionally implied that AI wasn't used, and now you're trying to gaslight us. 

The reason i am not outspoken and did not title it with partial ai development, is because some people take it to a witch hunt that all ai is bad

That's understandable. 
And I don't blame you for not mentioning it at first. Heck, that's the main reason why when I first heard someone calling out your artwork as AI, the first thing I wanted to do was jump in to defend you. It's also why I wished you good luck in your endeavours.

Thank you for finally being honest by the way. 
(I'm going to ignore the rest of your flimsy attempts at defending yourself. Just take the win and move on, ok. Don't dig a bigger hole for yourself.  )

Now time for that input that you wanted.
I think your screenshots look nice. You obviously need to use something other than a default pose for the main character, and you're going to need to put in a lot of effort to make sure the interactable objects fit into the scene. Also I really think you should zoom into the picture and actually photoshop (or should that be Gimp?) the little errors in the backgrounds before putting them into your game. If you're going to use AI as a tool to help you, then don't use it as an excuse to be lazy. If you want a list of things to fix on those backgrounds, I don't mind helping to point out the errors. 
It'll make the whole thing look nicer. And when using AI, you really want people to say "What? Really!? I had no idea it was using AI!"
Also I'd recommend using Inpainting for that skull-and-crossbones flag. 

I would say, the downscaling has left them quite fuzzy. If you're going for a classic look, that's something to avoid. But with painterly backgrounds and 3D characters, what's the benefit of low-resolution? Unless it's, perhaps, to conceal AI artefacts?

Well sometimes you want to create a low-res game with proper painted backgrounds, much like the old VGA Sierra and Lucas Arts adventure games, such as Monkey Island 2.
...
Oh wait, this is a high resolution game with low-res backgrounds... and said backgrounds have some extremely odd choices that usually only an AI would do. (I could list them out if you want.)
Hmm, I think you're right and it's to conceal AI artifacts. 
He's probably using the Img2Img function to improve the overall composition, meaning the general layout is his. But that's just a theory.

Mind you, if he's somehow able to make a fully playable game using AI generated backgrounds, while ensuring that the interactable objects fit into the scene, then I say good luck. But only as long as it's both completely free and he comes clean about it.
Something I can say that I learnt from experience is that when you get caught out, just be honest. It's better if you explain it yourself than letting someone else do it for you.
We might seem to be anti-AI here, but you'll find that there's a lot more nuance to it than that.

Then again if you aren't using AI. Sorry for the accusation. Although it's kinda your fault for drawing the oddest looking skull-and-crossbones that I've ever seen (among many other strange mistakes that no one would make, not even me and I'm terrible at art).

@Danvzare the gem looks great. Is it using the color palette from earlier in the thread? If not, that's the only change I would suggest. 

Yep, it's using the palette.

I think the gem looks better with the contrast. Maybe even a bit more contrast.

Ok, will do.


More contrast, and still using the same apollo palette. 

@Danvzare we still need an inventory item image for the gem to be picked up, if you like.

How are these?

If you'd prefer a different shape or colour, just say and I'll redraw it. 
I think they look a little flat, but I suppose that's just the nature of cut gems.

@cat @RootBound and @Danvzare seem to be the main contributors so far

Cat and RootBound, yes, definitely. Me... all I've done is made a single simple inventory icon. 

That being said, I'm still for making all of the inventory items. Just tell me what to make. 
Or if there's some other way I can contribute.

I personally just use FreeTube nowadays. No ads, subscribing actually informs you when a new video comes out, it has a download button, and it has a way to actually block certain Youtubers from showing up in your recommended list (I've finally been able to get rid of all of those annoying influencers).

Only problem is, it's for PCs only.

[Dragon Quest VIII]

I never tried the game so I'm not sure, but if you're sure that it's a Windows game that it probably was, or also possibly a hybrid game that contained both DOS and Windows versions on the same disc.

I just don't understand the floppy part. There is no corelation between DOS and floppy disks. A LOT of DOS games came in CDs.

Yep, I'm absolutely certain it's a Windows only game (as certain as the sky is blue and the world is round). 
I bet if you download that version you found, you'll see that it's a Windows game.
I suppose there is the possibility that like you said, it's a hybrid game with both DOS and Windows versions (like GTA and Dungeon Keeper), but I've not found anything to suggest that's the case.
As an example, this site here lists it as a Win 9X game, with no DOS version listed. It's also where you can download that DosBox version with Windows 95 preloaded onto it. It's a bit of a pain to figure out how to do it though if you can't read Korean, but I managed to figure it out, so I'm sure you could.
So yeah, you shouldn't assume a game must be a DOS game just because some people got it running on DosBox. There are plenty of forks of DosBox, some of which are made to play Windows games. 

As for why I brought up the floppy part. I know that a lot of games back in the day used to release the DOS version on floppy disk and the Windows version on CD, with them both being sold separately (I think that's the case with Sim City 2000). So I just thought that I'd bring up that it was unlikely to have a DOS only floppy disk version due to how big the game is (it's small, but still nearly 30MB), meaning that if there was a DOS version, it'd probably have to be on the CD with the Windows version (like GTA and Dungeon Keeper). And since I can't find any CDs with both a DOS version and a Windows version (only a Windows version), then presumably there isn't a DOS version.

That being said if you manage to find and download a DOS version, please send it my way. 

As for the screenshot. Is that Dragon Quest VIII?

Correct! That's fast, in memory of the great Sugiyama Koichi and Toriyama Akira.
Your turn is next.

I think I've had my turn long enough. And I don't have any games in mind. So I'll let someone else have it. 

I'm glad I was able to instantly recognize Dragon Quest VIII though, despite having not managed to finish the game. 

[Dragon Quest VIII]

Also it's a Windows game not a DOS game.

Actually the Korean page (and some Chinese forums) I've found mentioned using a specific launcher build of DOSBOX to run it, so it should be a DOS game (it might have been released also for Windows though).

It is possible that whatever war digital distribution service you got it from already had the game bundled with the launcher so it seemed to work seamlessly as a Windows app.

Nope, it's definitely 100% a Windows only game. I did find a version of it which came with a special version of DOSbox with Windows 95 pre-loaded onto it (which is probably what you found). But that was the second version of the game I found (the Korean version), which I only looked for because I wanted the CD music (the first version I found, had cut out the music and FMVs for space reasons).
The original version I found was on the Internet Archive and it was the original Taiwanese version, and it was on a Warez CD that predates DOSbox by around five years. Both versions are clearly Windows games.
You just have to throw in a DirectDraw wrapper and it works perfectly. (Although you can run it without a wrapper if you don't mind some major graphical glitches.)
I've found no evidence that there was ever a DOS version. (By the way, what kind of DOS game requires DirectX? Pictures of the back of the CD case on what I can only assume is some sort of Chinese knockoff eBay, clearly says in English that it requires DirectX 5.)

Oh, and I've also extracted the Korean version from that virtual DOSbox harddrive in case you're wondering. It's exactly the same as the Taiwan version, except one of the files has a slightly newer "last modified" date. But only by a few weeks. It's the file that contains the intro logos.

By the way, if you removed the FMVs and the music, the game would still require around 20 floppy disks. So I can say with absolute certainty, that there isn't a mythical DOS version sold on floppy disks. So if there was a DOS version, it'd have to be packaged on the same CD as the Windows version, which there isn't. So I think you're just getting confused because you saw that it's been bundled with DOSBox, and didn't realize that it's a special version of DOSBox that's being used to emulate Windows 95 and a disc drive with a CD in it (to get the CD music working).
By the way, if you want proof of what I'm saying, I can send over the game. You don't have to take my word for it.

(Sorry for the long reply. I just thought it was best to state everything.)



As for the screenshot. Is that Dragon Quest VIII?

Gilbert should get the turn.  He found the correct name.   

Agreed.

Your turn Gilbert. 

Hmm, this is a toughie! 

Another screenshot please? 
And is the name Solomon's... something?  or is it completely different? 

Sorry that I missed this. 

Here you go:

The only other images I'll be able to give now, are of other levels.

Also "Solomon" does not appear in the name at all.

And here's a hint. While I can't find a copyright date, it seems the game came out in 1998. I'm basing this on the "last modified" date of the files (which ranges from 22/05/1998 to 19/11/1998), the other games it's typically packaged with in Warez CDs (where I was able to find a copy thanks to the Internet Archive), and on the version of DirectX  that it recommends on the back of the CD case (which I managed to find an image of online).

I've cheated and used reverse image search so it doesn't count.
Turn out this game is very very obscure.
The only relevant page was in Korean, it showed a Korean name on the title screen but had an English name inside bracket, which I didn't even know whether it's the correct English title  (or whether the game was released in the west).

BUT the company name was in Chinese, so after further research, I found that this was an old Taiwanese DOS game (and the company is still around doing well), but the original Chinese title was completely different.

Anyway the name I could find are:

Spoiler

恰哥與肥佬 (Original Chinese title, translate to somewhat like "handsome guy and fat guy")
Pocket Runner (Shown from the Korean page)

[close]

Heh, you found it. 
Also it's a Windows game not a DOS game. But other than that, you've got everything spot on. The game was never released in the west to my knowledge. (Well not officially at least. Does piracy count?)

Although now I'm not sure if I should give you the turn. I mean, you did do a lot of research and it is a VERY obscure game.

I'll let you and Frodo decide.

Holy crap, that's impressive! 
And here I thought MY game was big. Just how long have you been developing this game?



Ok, moving on from that. Here's the things that I've been doing in developing my game (which is pretty much what I do for all of my games).

I've had a bunch of different starting points selectable from the main menu. Basically start from Act 2 and start from Act 3. Which set up the necessary variables. If all of the parts work individually, then presumably they'll work together. (I've also tied their visibility to the debug mode, so I don't even have to remove them when I'm finished with the game.)

Another thing I've been doing is quickly going through the part of the game I've just made (basically speedrunning it) to make sure it's completable. Then playing through it slowly, trying to interact with everything while taking notes. Fixing those problems I encountered. And Then getting a family member to play through it while I watch and take notes (it's nice to have a laptop handy, since it's quicker and easier to type, but you might prefer pen and paper).

Next up I'm planning on doing that exact thing, but to the entire game from start to finish, rather than each individual part. So that's a quick run through, a slow playthrough, then alpha testing. Making notes, and then fixing those problems between each playthrough.

After that I plan to get a friend to playthrough the entire game without my oversight, with them giving me any feedback that they might have at the end. I have to ensure the game is as bugfree as possible for this beta testing phase, to ensure they can complete it. (If they meet a game breaking bug or simply get stuck, it might put them off, and they might never finish it.)



But that's just my process. Naturally it's different strokes for different people. That being said, looking through the other responses, it looks like I'm not alone in this approach to development.

That being said, the bug fixing phase really is the part that kills my enthusiasm. I just detest testing!
Thankfully my brother loves testing. And having that source of feedback, critique, helpfulness, as well as someone that is always excited to see what you're making, is by far the most useful thing you can have when developing a game. 
I'm quite lucky in that regard.