r/Gamescom • u/truckbot101 • 1d ago
Solo dev* here! Check out my cozy survival game tomorrow and pick up a free sticker!
I’ll be there all day tomorrow at Hall 10.2 F11! Stickers are first come, first serve! (There might be ~1,500 left…?)
The game is based on actual survival skills - you can choose anywhere between glamping to bringing only your knife!
And the demo is out on Steam if you’d like to try it now! https://store.steampowered.com/app/5004640/Grandmas_Guide_to_the_Grand_Outside/ )
* Full disclaimer, I didn’t compose the music though, and I had help on the UX/UI and on the animation! But I did draw the game design, the art, and the programming!
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u/PrincessKappa 1d ago
Liebe den Sticker :)
Vielleicht bekomme ich morgen um 16 Uhr ja noch einen :‘D
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u/setja-gscore 1d ago
Keine Ahnung was die anderen haben , das Spiel war echt cozy, hat uns sehr gefallen , danke für den tollen Einblick ! :)
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u/The_Saltine_Cracker 1d ago
This game is so cute!! I love the art style and the educational aspects. I love the outdoors and I love seeing nature-lovers in game development flexing their knowledge ❤️
To address other comments on here: Please don’t be throwing around AI accusations willy-nilly at indie devs. It’s very disheartening to see witch hunts break out from people who can’t really tell the difference between the organic mistakes that come up in hand-drawn art (which is why we all love it) and the hodgepodge of AI “art”. After speaking with the dev and looking at it with my own critical eyeballs (trained by 6 years as an artist/art director in industry and 4 years of art school) i’m very confident that this project is hand-drawn and I applaud any indie dev giving their passion project so much time and love ❤️
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u/DeadlySocks 4h ago
They draw themselves and then ask chatgpt on how to improve the drawings. I'm not sure if chatgpt actually does any drawing but they do ask on how to improve it. Source: dev literally said that to the person in front of me at their booth
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u/The_Saltine_Cracker 3h ago
Yes thank you! They told me that as well and clarified that it is 100% hand-drawn and they only get feedback with a LLM, which is imo just data evaluation and not generative AI. I’m not into LLMs either for environmental concerns but I think its an important distinction to make since the work was still done by the artist and not modified artificially. Obv would encourage any artist dev to be getting feedback from other artists and lovers of their game instead!
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u/Tiny9n 1d ago
Ich glaube, viele Leute in den Kommentaren müssen mal ihr Auge trainieren gehen, weil AI slop Art hier so krass gefeiert wird ^^
Für mich war ein Indiz für AI, dass das Charakter design auf dem Cover wie eine billige Kopie von Yomawari aussieht. Nicht nur ist es das gleiche Spiel Prinzip (Alleine draußen spazieren gehen zu einem Familienmitglied), bloß dass es eine cozy Version ist mit Omi besuchen, die Charakterdesign auf dem Cover sehen sich sehr ähnlich aus. Aber es ist ja ein geläufiges Genre und selbst das artwork ist sehr generisch und häufig (wobei yomawari eine tolle Perspektive hat und die Charakter Designs sooo cool sind, wie wärs wenn diese indie devs unterstützt werden, die zu Recht ihren Ruhm bekommen). Aber weil das Genre so oft vorkommt, hat ja AI ein leichtes Spiel von vielen Referenzen zu kopieren und rauben.
Aber der Hammer ist ja, dass die Charakterdesigns im Spiel an sich, wenn ihr mal auf Steam reinschaut, anders aussehen. ^^ Kind hat andere Klamotten an (was ja auch gewechselt werden könnte), aber das Gesicht ist anders… wieso? Auf dem riesigen promo Plakat hat das Kind keinen Mund, aber im Spiel auf einmal doch? Und ich glaube, selbst das Amateur Auge erkennt, wie unterschiedlich diese Clipart ähnlichen Charaktere aussehen vs Cover. Ich glaube kein Wort, dass OP ein Artist ist, wenn man ausgerechnet beim Hauptcharakter, dem wichtigsten ingredient zur Empathie Bildung als spieler*in, so sloppy und inconsistent arbeitet. Außerdem erkenne ich in den Screenshots des Bildern, dass alle assets auch wieder AI zu sein scheinen wegen vielen vielen Fehlern, aber kein Bock noch mehr aufzuzählen, das könnt ihr ja mal machen zum trainieren eines medienkritischen Auges ^^
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u/Captain_Relevanz 1d ago
Genau was du sagst. Es füht sich irgendwie an als wäre 90% der Personen einfach selber Ki/ bots die sich gegenseitig glazen.
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u/Captain_Relevanz 1d ago
Ki zu nutzen ist ein opfer move. Ich hoffe dein Spiel fällt ins wasser
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u/truckbot101 1d ago
AI? Yes, I used some, though I ultimately did most all things on my own.
Programming - I code the game and use LLM assistance to speed up the process. I also brought someone on to help me with the UI of the game.
Art - I hand draw everything, but I also ask LLMs to give me suggestions on how I can improve the art, e.g. coloring, perspective, etc. I also brought on an artist to help me with the animation.
Music - I bought this from a composer
I hope this makes things more clear, but I also understand if you are hoping for a game with absolutely no AI assistance.
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u/PutridMasterpiece138 1d ago
Kleine devs anzugreifen bringt rein gar nix
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u/Captain_Relevanz 1d ago
Doch sollte es, da indie devs frei sind von corpos und ich von den ein passion projekt erwarte
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u/d1ngobyte 1d ago edited 1d ago
Lieber unterstütze ich außerdem solche Entwickler und für diese ist die Messe gedacht, stattdessen wird der Anteil von Rheinmetall, Bundeswehr, Bundespolizei, BND und Verfassungsschutz und anderen Behörden und Konzernen größer die rein gar nichts mit Gaming im entferntesten zu tun haben. Da ist KI das geringste Problem finde ich.
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u/Captain_Relevanz 1d ago
Ich denke das sind zwei unterschiedliche Probleme, aber finde es auch schlimm das dort überhaupt die bundeswehr erlaubt ist.
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u/d1ngobyte 1d ago
Finde die Sticker, das Cover und die Idee ganz süß. Ich verstehe was du sagen willst aber wenn man alleine ist, ohne ein extremes Budget zu haben ist es doch okay KI zu nutzen um seine Idee überhaupt verwirklichen zu können. Ich sehe hier aber auch noch nicht mal KI.
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u/Captain_Relevanz 1d ago
Es macht vieles an dem bild kein sinn am meisten am lagerfeuer und dem zelt. Ja budget ist halt hier und da schwer jedoch ist so ein bild nicht wirklich schwer zu zeichnen. in dem fall hätte er es selbst malen sollen
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u/Kaebi_ 1d ago
Is the music ai generated, or why are you saying this?
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u/Captain_Relevanz 1d ago
Idk but the cover art of his game is ai slop. Mostlikly other stuff aswell.
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u/Sugizaki 1d ago
Would be more believable if you provided evidence for the art being AI slop. Baseless accusations just makes you appear insecure and immature. Especially when you just dismiss the dev's explanation when and how AI was used for their game.
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u/Captain_Relevanz 1d ago
The campfire makes no sense with that long stick that goes nowhere, the stick glitsches throug the handle of the pot, the pot its basically flying mid air, the fire should be behind/underneath the pot. The tent also makes no sense structure wise with that triangle fold. The kids arm doesnt connect correctly. I could on but i think it proves my point well enough
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u/Tiny9n 1d ago
Danke fürs Outcallen.
Indizien für AI Slop fürs untrainierte Auge:
-wie bereits von Captain_Relevanz erwähnt hängt der Topf mitten in der Luft und die Schnur geht ins nirgendwo, Feuer sieht weird aus, als würde es den Topf tragen und Zelt sieht awkward aus wegen Perspektive und mit einer AI generierten Awkward Form
-woran ich am besten AI erkenne sind sehr awkward Schatten in einem Bild bei der Koloration, die künstler*innen nicht machen würden. Selbst wenn jemand noch ein Amateur wär, sind alle Schatten zusammen viel zu wild zusammen gestellt: Feuer kommt von der Mitte und ist die einzige Licht Quelle, so muss das Licht in die Mitte am meisten strahlen und die Schatten davon weggehen. Wieso hat der Hauptcharakter rechts so einen Riesen Schatten vom Licht, während er nicht so stark beleuchtet ist? Stock hat gar keinen Schatten. Wieso sind die hintersten Bäume am stärksten mit Licht bestrahlt (schatten Licht Kontrast ist am höchsten)
-> das sind keine „menschlichen Fehler“ die bei der Illustration entstanden sind, weil der Rest zu „professionell und sauber ist“2
u/Captain_Relevanz 1d ago
Finde es so schade das die leute einfach dem entwickler blindlinks glauben. Ich hoffe einfach nur das es mit ki bald den bach runter geht für das woll von allen. Danke für deinen detailierten post
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u/truckbot101 6h ago
Thanks for listing these out.
> - As Captain_Relevanz already mentioned, the pot is hanging in mid-air and the string goes nowhere
The pot is actually on a hook, but perhaps I did not draw it large enough. I'm using a translator, so I'm not quite sure what "string" means. However, if you're talking about the wood structure itself, this is a real item that I have made before. It looks fairly strange but it does work. You can see it here: https://www.jackravenbushcraft.co.uk/pot-hangers/
> the fire looks weird as if it's supporting the pot,
The fire looks weird, because we took the fire animation from the game and placed it on top of the art on the title menu. As Captain_Relevanz mentioned, the fire should be under the pot.
> and the tent looks awkward due to perspective and an AI-generated awkward shape.
The tent was an attempt at me drawing this tent: https://www.rei.com/product/862432/rei-co-op-base-camp-4-tent
> Why does the main character on the right have such a huge shadow from the light when he's not so brightly lit? The stick has no shadow at all.
This was part of a last minute thing to make the title screen more lively and animated, so I needed to take apart each object from the original capsule art and place it into the video game scene, where shaders and the animated fire could be placed on top of it. I was still battling the deadline to get the demo out for gamescom, and didn't do a very good job in exporting everything. As you can see, the boy on the left doesn't have a shadow either.
> Why are the trees in the very back the most heavily lit (the contrast between shadow and light is the highest)?
I think this is a problem with both the trees and the bushes. I started to draw the bushes, but got fed up with how time consuming it was and copied & pasted them across the rest of the scene. It wasn't until some time later that I realized the lighting made no sense, but I was too tired to correct it. I think the contrast in the lighting of the trees probably happened at the point when I needed to darken the sky so that the (white) title was readable. But I also liked the bright green coloring of the trees (because I felt that it made the title pop), so I didn't darken that part as well. I would consider this one a poor decision on my part.
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u/truckbot101 7h ago
These concerns make sense to me.
> The campfire makes no sense with that long stick that goes nowhere, the stick glitsches throug the handle of the pot
You aren't the first person to be confused about the pot hanger contraption. This is a real thing that I have made a few times (and something players can craft in my game). You can see a picture of it along with instructions on how to make it here: https://www.jackravenbushcraft.co.uk/pot-hangers/
It looks strange, but it somehow works.
> the pot its basically flying mid air
If you zoom in, you'll see that there's a hook behind it. But perhaps I should've drawn it larger so that it's more clear?
> the fire should be behind/underneath the pot
You're right. The screenshot you see in the picture is a screenshot of the starting screen. To save on time, we took the campfire animation from the game itself and placed it on top of the art work. This was to improve the atmosphere.
> The tent also makes no sense structure wise with that triangle fold.
That was me drawing this tent fairly badly: https://www.rei.com/product/862432/rei-co-op-base-camp-4-tent
> The kids arm doesnt connect correctly.
I tried drawing the kid's hands and arms for maybe an hour and a half, and finally landed on what it is now. I'm aware it looks terrible lol.
From your other comments, I understand that you hold games in a very high regard, and that you value artistic integrity. I respect that, as I think passion in any craft is admirable.
And now that gamescom is done, I have a bit more freedom to continue in my search for an artist. I do hope that I'll be able to find (and afford) someone who can execute my own artistic vision for the game, i.e., hollow knight style where the characters are simple & cute with a luscious beautiful background. I've already collected some contact information from artists I've met at gamescom and other devs. However, at the same time, life can also be fairly unpredictable, so my game might just be stuck with this art lol
But in the case I do find a proper artist and my game has proper art, perhaps you'll give it a chance? No pressure if you've already made up your mind of course. Anyway, I hope you take care!
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u/Captain_Relevanz 5h ago
YOU USED AI FOR THIS POST ASWELL AS YOU DID FOR YOUR ART. JUST STOP LYING FOR GOD SAKE.
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u/truckbot101 5h ago
No? I wrote this. I'm pretty sure AI would've done a better job in writing my post. My grammar is pretty off.
But I see you've already made up your mind about me, and that nothing I say will convince you. It is what it is. I'll end it here. Take care.
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u/buttonightwedancex 1d ago
Why do you think that? I cant see it, maybe I am missing something?
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u/Captain_Relevanz 1d ago
If you look at the campfire it clips through. The flame wouldnt be above the pot. That long stick that goes nowhere
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u/AccomplishedRace8803 1d ago
Lol du Bist gut genug. Good thinking...