Springtime

Plant flowers as a little robot!

made for the Ludus Ex Machina game jam

controls:
- wasd or arrow keys to move
- m to mute
- hold jump to jump higher

credits:
- graphics generated using VQGAN+CLIP (sflckr library)
- game idea prompt  generated by InferKit
- music, coding, and everything else by Corrupt Spaghetti

Thoughts on AI art:
While there are many unethical ways to use AI art,  one of my goals for this project was to showcase some of the more acceptable uses:
- character/environment design inspiration
- placeholders images in prototypes

I like the older AI image generators because of how crusty and weird they are. The way their output only somewhat resembles the prompt feels ethereal and almost dreamlike.

That being said, I really don't like the way current ai tech is going. It can be a very interesting and useful tool, but the unethical sourcing of training data, and the way corporations are using it to screw people over, have completely turned me off of using it in the future.

ai generated prompt
"My game idea for the Ludus Ex Machina game jam is called Springtime, and it's about taking time to smell the roses, and reflecting on our place in nature. I've been playing with playing with these themes and notions for a couple of years now, and some of my earliest game ideas came from playing in nature. I'd think, "Why are you wasting this beautiful world on buildings and roads?" Or, "Why don't you just spend more time taking a walk in nature?""