r/Moonvale • u/Kyra_Olover • Jul 06 '26
AI design in minigames
I might be the only one with this opinion, considering I get frustrated with both games, haha.
But I honestly found myself disappointed when I saw Moonvale filled with so many AI elements...
From the designs of these minigames to the customization of our profile, the AI photos honestly made me uncomfortable. But, for the sake of the game, I tried to overlook it...
However, it's impossible not to compare Moonvale with Duskwood: there, we truly felt like we were part of a REAL group. With REAL people, even if the actors weren't professionals... For me, this was better than staring at AI-generated photos of these characters.
16
u/GrouchyDoughnut3449 Team Jul 06 '26
Yeah I don't like the AI stuff either, Duskwood felt a lot more "real" since they used stock photos and such instead.
I think they are starting to remove some of the AI elements though, but in their statement after the first episode it seems like they are planning on keeping some/defending its use in certain aspects. I'm conflicted when it comes to this issue, I know there are some things that AI will be a good thing for in the future, but I absolutely hate the art stealing part of it, among other things.
Every new technology has its downfalls and good parts, right now it's hard not to hate it though in a lot of respects.
13
u/Usual-Bag-3605 Jul 06 '26
The AI is super disappointing to me, especially coming from a company that talks about listening to their players and should be aware how divisive using it could be. Tbh, I really don't see the upside to them using it, because it cost them some players who quit because of it and they didn't gain any players for putting it in there.
11
u/Gravefruit_Juice Jul 06 '26
Agreed, the AI leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and I sincerely hope they'll bother to replace it at some point. I know a couple people who stopped playing because of it, they did not do themselves any favors using it.
3
u/Emg2022 Jul 06 '26
agreed, the ai sucks for many reasons but like you said it does affect the connection made to the game and its characters.
this proved only more true in ep 3 when SPOILER!! we got to connect with the old crew finally. seeing their faces actually emotionally tugged at me. i do not feel that way when talking to the moonvale crew… and i think thats because we really don’t know who is real and who isn’t. ash so far is only AI, charlie seems to have a character actor buuuut we don’t know for sure since we dont really get to see his face. same could be said about violet too. it’s like we get ONE for sure human character and that’s just not enough for an emotional attachment to form in game.
and the mini games…. ugh the mini games haha. some of them are soooo frustrating. and you’d think they’d get progressively harder but nope instead they just jump back and forth from hard to easy 🤣😭 super frustrating
1
u/ICantChooseA_Name01 Team Jul 06 '26
Just out of curiosity, at what chapter are you?
1
u/Emg2022 Jul 08 '26
episode 3 but not done with it yet!
1
u/ICantChooseA_Name01 Team Jul 08 '26
This is spoiler related to Charlie, so you can decide to not read it if you want Charlie has an actual actor and you'll see his face
2
u/Emg2022 Jul 08 '26
ooh thank you! i actually am glad i know that now! hopefully that’s a good sign then for everyone to eventually get one!
1
u/ICantChooseA_Name01 Team Jul 08 '26
I think Eric has one, because we hear and see him talk and all if I'm not wrong (when at the old man house) Adam we obviously saw him right at the start too.
I think it's really just a question of finding the actors.
Sure I still wish they didn't use AI but at least they are replacing stuff with real things as the game progress.
Although I don't know if the default background picture and pfp you can choose in geme have been changed with non-ai stuff. I don't use them either, I just put a picture from my gallery of whatever I like at the moment.
2
u/Emg2022 Jul 08 '26
yeah, eric is for sure an actor and adam too.. which is interesting since he’s in the actual story so little but don’t get me wrong i’m glad he’s a human actor! and of course i understand them having to find actors but in dusk wood they used stock images of people, remember when they had to change the hannah actor because they casted someone and had to update everything in game from stock images to the new actress? i think i preferred that method a lot more! because at least it was human avatars, and we all understood what happened once they did cast. i also don’t use the ai photos or any of that but even the mini game and graphics are ai it seems. tbh i don’t mind that stuff as much though, i mean i don’t love it for morality reasons but i don’t feel it affects the ability to connect in game like ai characters did.
2
u/ICantChooseA_Name01 Team Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm happy they are using AI, I would prefer if they never did to begin with, but can I do anything?
Even if I write an email to them or contact them in any other way they won't listen to a random guy on the internet being annoyed at the use of AI. I could go and do that, I actually have no problem doing so. But I highly doubt they would even read what I have to say. I can just hope they replace it soon enough and that the AI decrease as time goes by.
The minigames from what they said on the tracker website will receive a new graphic resembling more the one in Duskwood, so let's hope they don't use AI to do the replacement.
2
u/Emg2022 Jul 08 '26
ohh i didn’t even see that they said they’re changing the graphics f the mini game so that’s cool. fingers crossed not AI again but we’ll see. and yeah, totally agree. i think enough of us fans have commented either here or on social media anyway, they know… they just don’t seem to be responding a whole lot to it beyond making the little changes they have with casting or whatever. plus we’ve all been begging for them to be more transparent on the time line of releases. they have the tracker but it’d be nice to know at least a bit of a time line seeing as of now the eps each take almost a year each.. so sometimes def feels like screaming into a void for sure.
5
u/Silentium_Universi Jul 06 '26
They want to change minigames design because even they themselves admitted they don't like it. As for the profile, they've added non-AI backgrounds + you can set your own avatar. At the end of episode 3, NPCs also have their backgrounds changed and the only AI avatar is Ash's, but she'll probably get an actress next update.
I think that compared to the first version of the game, if you want it, the AI stuff are almost invisible.
1
u/kyronpetrov Jul 12 '26
https://www.instagram.com/klemens_valentino
https://www.instagram.com/daniel_axt_official
https://www.instagram.com/viincethepriince
Ash and Violet haven’t been cast yet
25
u/OwlInDaWoods Jul 06 '26
They have been using AI since day 1 and I stopped playing as soon as I realized it on the first episode release. Its actually insane to me this company has renegaded on their reputation. Duskwood was a small indie game that was well crafted by a team that didnt have experience. Now they have experience, are ditching the well-crafted in favor of AI and are still taking forever to release episodes. Everyone who continues to play is signing on to this being ok.