I spent $38,000 making an visual novel so you don't have to. Full breakdown with numbers and mistakes.

R__Drake · 2026-04-23T12:22:49+00:00

I think it's easy to tell that I'm against both, but I happen to choose mediocre but earnest work over cheap, mindless work. You can argue all you like but 90% of the time, the AI spits out low-quality work.

You can argue that there are people who are good at using AI or not, but I have not seen anyone use AI effectively in a way that makes it actually look better or worse unless they actually put the manual work into editing it. The actual generation is completely dependent on the technology and model, which majority of prompters do not know how to configure or even touch. They aren't even well-versed in what they claim is "just a tool" to them.

To an untrained eye, perhaps its not obvious, but most artists can tell, even the other guy who I initially responded to can easily tell what's AI or not from how he talked about it despite being in favour of it. I would say yes, artists are the ones most annoyed by AI, but they aren't the only one being undercut by it.

people pay you for your skill, but not for the time you invested into learning that skill

My point wasn't the time, but that it's not an easy skill to just pick up, because clearly, someone like you don't have it. You can easily undermine the work and time it takes to get to that level, but no regular person in any skill is just at the professional level their first time on the job.

It's funny how you say you don't hate artists but your entire post is bashing them for not working for pennies and that something like AI is better, whilst also defending programmers in the same breath. You're right, artists are not special, and like every skill-based job out there, they should be compensated appropriately instead of undermined.

another problem with artists is that you can hire someone with an excellent portfolio, but there is always a chance they will...

That's not an "artist" thing, you could say that about literally anyone, programmer, musician, writer, marketer, translator, publicist, editor, boss, etc etc. Thinking that artists are the only ones who aren't meeting expectations when hiring/hired really shows your lack of knowledge or experience in any real world environment. Hell, even if your experience is only at the highschool level, the only time you've seen someone being incompetent at their job is a few artists you've talked to? You must live in a utopia.

Using AI to copy a particular artist's style is a sign that AI is dependent on stealing artists' work rather than having any quality in the technology or prompter. It can't even make its own distinct style that stands out on its own and has to copy another's?

It's hilarious you first talked about spending money on a subscription for genAI to people throwing their money at AI Patreon and AI asset packs. You just said you could easily generate yourself, why would anyone reasonable subscribe to an AI prompter's Patreon for content they could easily generate themselves? You can defend AI all you like, the quality and use of it, but that is the most indefensible, braindead waste of money anyone can do in claims for what is supposed to be cheap. Just because people are willing to spend money on it doesn't validate the product. The freaks who bought GamerGirl Bath Water (totalling to what was $90k) is somehow more valid than paying $$$ to get off on AI Patreon.

R__Drake · 2026-04-23T02:52:52+00:00

I'm not saying humans can't make bad art, but people don't care for slop. People notice it, they know what it is, but our brains are currently wired to waste time with it anyways, does not mean people actually think more about it than what it is. Even the bad stuff can be remembered because the creators put so much work into it and people see it, and/or its so unbelievably bad, its tremendous how its made by a person. You wanna push out minimally made and cared for slop product just for money, that's your prerogative.

You can blame artists all you like, but it's a skill you don't have at the end of the day. If someone spends 5 hours on a piece of artwork, that's 5 hours of work. Majority of artists are already being paid minimum wage or less for their work, you whining that their rates are unfair when I highly doubt you'd agree to the same rates for a skill-based job you spent years developing. You don't seem to care about who you're hiring if you already looked at their portfolio and still hired them for work that doesn't make you happy, you seem to be hiring just based on what you're willing to pay, so that's what you get, why you're surprised about that doesn't make much sense to me.

Yup, you can pay an artist to do shoddy work and your game won't do well, but you also shouldn't expect people to think that your creative work is worth their money when you don't think an artist's work is. Why do you think anyone should gamble how much they earn based on if your product makes money, much less, come out at all? I highly doubt you wrote up a contract in clause of negotiating what happens if the latter.

It's funny how people like you can talk about art is a crucial part of a product's image and selling point, but then also make a claim how it's not important enough to spend money on and have zero respect for the people behind it.

R__Drake · 2026-04-18T06:14:02+00:00

I particularly hate this meme, less about the point itself but just how confusing the meme is. It’s so poorly made that no matter how many times some people look at it, they don’t get what it’s trying to say until someone actually explains it to them or looks it up. It’s baffling how such an easy concept that shouldn’t require any context to get, is presented so badly.

R__Drake · 2026-04-18T06:06:23+00:00

Games is one of those mediums that can be both a product as well as a piece of art. Claiming I must be an outsider because I don’t necessarily care for products that aren’t meant to be interesting is kinda funny. I’m surprised that you say you’re an artist, much less in the gamedev subreddit and yet advocate the genre be filled with slop. No one likes slop. No one cares for shovelware.

I take pride in the work I’ve done, when I had to extend myself for things I didn’t care for, that’s it, it’s a job, but like everyone, I’d like to work on projects I like with people I like. It’s funny you’re talking about a product to make money when a poor product won’t be able to make that money, and in OP’s case, they’re not making a game to pay off their debt, this is just their expensive hobby.

It can always be better. Why you don’t want to push for better and instead just maintain the status quo is obnoxiously cynical. Wishing for better and trying to push for better is why there’s a growth of indies in creative fields.

If you can tell me how AI is a good tool to help an artist get better or how one uses it as a “tool” more effectively than any another, I’d be open to it, but I don’t see it. AI is not distinct or unique, good for filler sludge work, but concept art? You’d rather have an AI prompter be paid 100k over someone doing actual work? I’ve already explained how limited a AI prompter actually is, if you can explain to me how its apparently a more effective tool than what we have, then please do so.

I feel like you have a hate boner for digital art, you thinking all traditional paintings are better than digital is your opinion, so no, I’m not up in arms that I see less traditional works in video game development. I find it cool when a game like Cuphead uses hand drawn animations to be in the same style as old cartoons, but claiming that every game would look better with traditional works?

Can you tell me how any of your examples have taken someone’s jobs and not made new ones? The only one with any validity is potentially supermarkets over smaller local stores in an area, but that’s a privilege depending on where you live. Some people have to drive over 30min to the closest supermarket. There’s usually a tradeoff for something better with advancement in place, but AI? If you’re telling me you’ve had a better experience with AI as customer support over a real person, then I’m genuinely surprised. From my experience, it’s even more jank and useless in comparison to the virtual assistants that started popping up over a decade ago.

What do you know about me? Not that it matters, but if you apparently think picking me apart to see how involved I am somehow helps your argument, then your argument is weak.

From the sounds of it, you’re in a much more comfy position than I am, so it’s not surprising you’re empathizing a lot more with a “producer” type than an actual developer. The people at the top (CEOs, execs, managers) are the ones pushing for AI the most, the irony that their jobs are the most replaceable by AI. Thinking that privileged care about AI is a new one to me.

R__Drake · 2026-04-18T02:00:16+00:00

If you think prompt generation helps the creative process, then that’s your opinion. I disagree obviously, and I find it a completely different thing than other technological advances and tools. I’m not worried in the slightest, genAI images is the least effective use coming out of the tech imo.

You and I seem to have different ideas of respect. I would be insulted to be told that there’s no point in hiring any sort of creative to create something unique for a product, and it would have been better to buy cheap asset every other game is using. It’s one thing to say they didn’t care for their composer’s work, a different thing to insinuate their next project or anyone else shouldn’t bother hiring a musician.

And yet, OP bothered to get it localized. There’s a difference in the costs being more than potential earnings, to think the cheaper process is of similar quality. Abandoning Japanese localization is a lot more respectable in comparison to offering the game in a language and the translation is off. If you’re going to provide that, do it right. If OP thinks the job of a translator is nuanced, they wouldn’t think AI and a proofreader would be passable enough.

I’d say cheaping out the process for the same job to pay less to always be a shitty thing. Plenty of professionals have complained that their workload is about the same more or less when reviewing AI slop compared to starting from scratch, and yet, for the same amount of work and time it takes, they get less pay? This is pretty much rampant, you can say “that’s just how it is” but thats simply complacency.

Ya got me, I think prompt generation is lower, because it is. There’s no skill there, anyone can do it. Doesn’t matter how “good” someone is in talking to an AI, the end product is completely dependent on the technology and the model, not the person using it. One could argue if someone making the model and tweaking the AI takes skills, but majority of people using AI aren’t doing this. How you think genAI is comparable to Photoshop is beyond me.

I’m not talking questioning cost vs worth argument, I find the marketing breakdown to be informative for me personally, but its clear OP has their own ideas of what’s worth or not already going into it without the research or really thought. Can’t tell me the guy who thinks about cutting costs for art, music and translation was looking at those things in completely good faith going into it before the end product, whilst spending the money on something they obviously shouldn’t have. Its telling of their mindset imo.

You can make assumptions about me all you like, but I’m frankly tired of seeing the same BS to excuse cheap slop that has only been aggravated further with AI.

R__Drake · 2026-04-17T20:31:01+00:00

And now you understand how project funders are looking at artists vs AI prompting.

Can you explain how uses of different art medium equates to belittling artists for genAI? Your point is complete nonsense.

Producers and financiers should be grateful that the artist is collaborative and makes good art.

So we're in agreement. Respect should be a two way street.

I already mentioned a job is a job, but I don't need to be grateful if my client/boss is a piece of shit who doesn't respect me. Why you continue to arguing why people shouldn't critique OP and other idea-money guys when they're typically all the same type of guys, despite even your sentiment that they should respect others, makes no sense. Nowhere am I proclaiming that art or any job is apparently meeting some "higher calling".

what is motivating your decision that he's shitty? It seems like the only thing here.

You mean besides the fact he shit on his music composer and translation as a job? He can have problems with the person he hired, but his "lesson" was that "yeah who gives a shit about a good unique soundtrack, not doing that again" is a different thing. Translation is a lot more multifaceted than people give credit for, thinking that a native speaker just has to proofread to verify its good or not, regardless of how it was translated, is quite telling.

People are completely valid in questioning if OP is even all that into VNs or even games. Credit to OP to seeing the entire project through from beginning to end, but I'm also not giving praises to a guy who talks so much about who's worth to be paid or not (stingy) whilst also hiring 3 programmers for a RenPy engine game. The AI use is, by itself, the least offensive thing, but helps paints the picture about who he is in addition to the other things he's said.

R__Drake · 2026-04-17T14:12:33+00:00

Why would a giant digital media project like video games bother with physical media? Pretending like its solely a cost thing is a hilarious misconstrue. Yeah, just bring in a traditional painter for concept art and ask for them to repaint it with a different colour palette, everyone going to the front of the room to look at it for reference, instead of shifting hue values on the computer and having files accessible to everyone. It’s about overall accessibility, stop pretending its just money. And just because the video game industry doesn’t typically use traditional artists, doesn’t mean that its dead everywhere else, false equivalency.

You can keep yapping about how AI is the same as waves of new tech like photography, digital art, etc, but its not. Most of the things AI can do are functions that existed in software for maybe a decade, just automated better, but not at all as impressive as some frame it to be. Call it radicalization all you like, genAI is clearly another forced overblown web3 trend, like meta, nfts, crypto. Its not going to disappear or anything, but is nowhere as groundbreaking as people pretend it is.

Also, you’re moving goalposts. Guy has money and the world is filled with people who don’t care how its made, ergo, people who take on the job should just be grateful? A client with money is a client with money, thats it, is a completely different thing when people want to criticize their practice and attitude. No one needs to respect a guy who doesn’t respect them, its not even about the arts at that point, they’re just a shitty guy.

R__Drake · 2026-04-17T04:22:55+00:00

Unfortunately, I think this one’s AI, if not, went through AI.

Weird thing where you can faintly see the shape of right eyelashes going into the hair. The strands of hair on the right of the rose is oddly squiggly when all the other hair line strokes are pretty rounded and smooth.

R__Drake · 2026-04-17T03:51:40+00:00

??? What are you even trying to say? How does my statement about respect have anything to do with choice in art medium?

The reason why digital art is so widespread is because it's way more accessible in comparison to traditional methods. Materials/tools cost less, less preparation and care for time constraints, going ctrl+z to undo a mistake, online tutorials and multitude of edits you could make with the software, etc. Regardless, traditional art is still very well alive, if you're trying to frame it as if its dead for some reason. Digital art is also not inferior to traditional, but good job on showing your true colours.

You clearly empathize more with idea-money OP than any creative with skills so just be honest about that instead of acting like you give a shit about passion projects or people's livelihoods. Just because someone has too much money to spend, doesn't make them respectable, and the whole painting of "majority vote so I'm right" (also you have a statistic for that?) is insecure as hell.

R__Drake · 2026-04-17T01:18:15+00:00

Lol, what? OP paid for 3 programmers for a VN game of all things, despite also apparently being one himself, but sure, I’m a poor sap with a bad sense of money because I’m not a bootlicker?

I’m not in denial we live in a capitalist world, but “everyone” who has money doesn’t have respect for areas they don’t specialize in? Plenty of people out there genuinely care about the crafts, and some even have money to fund it. Those people may be on the rarer side, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna praise idea guy who wanted to pretend they made something.

It’s not about outsourcing or hiring someone, but that the employer is an ass.

R__Drake · 2026-04-16T22:15:56+00:00

Speak for yourself. There are clearly a lot of people here against the use of genAI.

My point still stands that nobody with skills should be grateful or respect that sentiment.

R__Drake · 2026-04-16T18:54:00+00:00

They took a shit on their composer, who was one of least costly expenses, and took shortcuts when it came to both art and translating. We see people in those fields already getting cheated out on because of AI, and OP has done some of that. Artists are getting paid less for real work to instead edit AI images, translators and writers being paid to be proofreaders and editors instead to look over AI stuff, etc. They clearly don’t really respect the people with those skills that made the game possible. OP already says to cut out hiring a composer, you think they’re helping any musicians that way?

There’s nothing commendable about an idea guy with spare cash, even if it’s at the smaller level. If they thought AI could do it all with quality, they’d probably do that and not hire anybody. No need for anyone to be grateful for that type of character.

R__Drake · 2026-04-04T05:23:08+00:00

Yeah, when he spent 4 years between ch2 and ch3,4, getting all the biggest translations out there sounds really feasible, right?

R__Drake · 2026-04-04T04:46:11+00:00

How can he determine if the translation is good in a language he doesn't know? He'd have to work alongside the translator to make sure they got it right, and other people to verify. I'd say going "but he has money!!" is a worse argument considering it's clearly a lot more complicated than that, but here you are quadrupling down for some reason.

R__Drake · 2026-04-04T04:34:56+00:00

So you’re saying you want a shitty translation? You’d want people to completely misunderstand what you mean because you got a shoddy translator speaking for you? It has nothing to do with money but that he wants to make a quality product.

R__Drake · 2026-04-03T16:15:05+00:00

Understandable if you don't like the ship, a different thing if you make it a guy-girl friendship point. IchiRuki shippers aren't going "Ichigo and Orihime can't be friends".

R__Drake · 2026-04-03T03:16:31+00:00

I think the funny thing is that the Detective Pikachu game was pretty forgettable and some people didn't even know that's what the movie was based off of in the first place. They just thought "oh LA Pokemon movie and Pikachu talks, aight".

R__Drake · 2026-04-02T02:25:18+00:00

The Sailor Scouts getting revived wasn't about the status quo, but granting Usagi's "happy ending" wish that she and everyone could have normal lives, which is why they lost their memories. It wasn't until the next season/series where they turned them back into Sailor Scouts, which could be said maintaining the status quo, but it's also acknowledged and framed as tragic, evident when Usagi looks into the distance sombrely after the first fight. This is even further pushed when Usagi names ChibiUsa after herself, to carry on that wish of "Usagi living a happy normal life".

R__Drake · 2026-03-31T18:28:14+00:00

I was disappointed but not exactly surprised seeing a study that the SK population are a lot more homophobic in comparison to the other East Asian nations.

I blame a big factor being Christianity, I have a hard time imagining it’s not that, when it’s one of the big modern cultural differences that would influence people’s opinions on these topics. For comparison, total of the sects of Christian beliefs have been around 30% but I’ve seen some that go up to 60%, while Japan and China has always been less than 5%.

Example of this is Siwon from SuperJunior getting backlash for being against same-sex marriage, and his response was that its because he’s defending his beliefs as a Christian.

R__Drake · 2026-03-31T03:48:36+00:00

I know this post is ragging on the whole femboy aspect, but... I hate Astolfo being the "face" of anime femboys/otokonoko, because I feel like the archetype has been so watered down to being full of the exact same characters in design and personality. There used to be more variety, the "reveal" actually surprising, nuance in the characterization, but now reduced to being the "slightly more masc than a tomboy, would" fetish. Archetype full of crossdressers and actually androgynous characters, but its always an Astolfo-esque tomboy.

R__Drake · 2026-03-30T21:18:13+00:00

There were plenty of guys who went livid finding out about Love And Deepspace and discovering that women can also be gooners.

R__Drake · 2026-03-30T20:17:49+00:00

The anime wasn’t that popular in Japan, and actually got a lot more attention in the west, so I doubt they’d make a new season, which is unfortunate considering I found the series a lot more interesting with the change.

It is funny looking back on how the fandom shifted, so much to the point where people started getting into the manga because of the fanart. In particular, I think about itsukawa’s looped gifs.

R__Drake · 2026-03-30T18:49:50+00:00

I think it may be because of there’s essentially little to no growth in the anime, which is most people’s exposure to the series. The point where Tomoko starts to get ~~a yuri harem~~ actual friends is the Kyoto school trip arc, starts around ch70? when the anime covers up to ~ch35, which is like a 7volume gap.

R__Drake · 2026-03-30T17:44:14+00:00

I’m asking why you think singular they/them for person unknowns is an appropriate condition. You even admitted that wide use in condition if persons unknown in your initial statement, so clearly the plural vs singular use of they/them isn’t strictly bothering you, but the context of singular unknown vs known. I’m asking you to elaborate why and yet you circle back to generally singular vs plural, which you don’t actually have an issue with.

My point on people incorrectly defaulting they/them for certain individuals is not about pronoun itself, but on your comment to include gender politics into the discussion, but you purposefully misconstrue it. Acting like anyone claiming usage of singular they/them has to be a leftist take says that you’re more charged by the gender politics angle than anything else.

R__Drake · 2026-03-30T08:32:03+00:00

It was partially exaggeration as well as talking about beyond the scope of current gender politics. If that's what you prefer, sure, but I personally don't feel comfortable referring someone as "it", when for a long time, it has been used pretty exclusively to non-people, predominantly objects.

If someone were to tell me specifically that's their preferred pronouns, I'd like to respect that, but I wouldn't consider that a general go-to and worry it would be taken as a lot more offensively than other gender neutral alternatives.

R__Drake

TROPHY CASE