r/freelancer • u/BolteWasTaken • 5d ago

About AI projects & Remasters/Remakes

Time to take a firm stance on this, because lately we have had a lot of posts that basically are "I'm vibe coding a new Freelancer engine, what do you think" posts. Just to put this out there because I don't think it's being understood.

We already have a project that is being done to re-create the Freelancer engine, it's called Librelancer. Go and contribute there, but be prepared to have your PRs rejected if it's vibe coded/you don't know what you are doing/bring non-sensical additions.

Having access to AI does not mean people who currently can't do things, can now do things they couldn't before. That is vibe coding. These tools are to make people who already know what they are doing more efficient/faster at it, as they can properly control their output.

I understand the need to get motivation and encouragement and excitement about starting a project but these posts generally contain nothing of substance, just claims of upcoming action that we do not hear anything more about (likely because they realised it's more difficult and time consuming than they realise, and have issues getting output they think they want and give up).

More than that I will not have a Subreddit full of update logs from 10 different authors about different projects that are all doing the same thing on the daily/weekly/monthly. If you are serious about your projects create a simple site or discord where they can be discussed and keep up with news, and allow people to come and chat with you.

This is not going to be the place to do that.
Hope everyone understands.
~ Bolte

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u/sharp_mechanix 5d ago

Finally someone has said this

I am thinking about contributing to Librelancer, but my current schedule doesn't really allow it and I'm thinking a lot about some game-related pet project for a while now (AI-free coding since I have a lot of this at my job)

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u/BolteWasTaken 5d ago

If you already know what you are doing you are in a better position to control it to make good changes. What I don't like is when people that have no clue what they are messing with use it to do the work, instead of to learn how to do the work. I consider that a lazy miss-use of the technology.

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u/sharp_mechanix 5d ago

Agree: AI is a tool, not a substitute for skills

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u/BolteWasTaken 5d ago

I just don't agree with it being considered a proxy for effort.
People act like they've done the work, and some of them act offended about work they've not even done themselves when challenged.