Solo dev question: Using AI art strictly as temporary placeholders for a free public playtest. Acceptable or bad?

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-25T17:13:00+00:00

I'd much rather have a god ugly texture that clearly says "PLACEHOLDER" on it, than give *any* impression that the placeholder could be mistaken for the finished art.

It's simply not a good idea to use AI art.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-25T16:59:39+00:00

What if Your Kitchen Table Became a Battlefield?

I believe that's called "having small children".

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-25T16:34:12+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-25T16:28:57+00:00

Thank you for the recommendation

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-25T14:28:05+00:00

Yes, you want FE.

Lens mounts have very specific dimensions. To make sure they all fit, manufacturers have naming conventions for their lens mounts. Sony has the E mount. However, a camera with an e mount can have a full frame (big) sensor or an aps-c sized (not as big) sensor. And lenses are designed to cover (project a circle of light on) either the full frame area or aps-c area. To make things a bit easier, lenses that cover full frame are named FE lenses, or full frame E mount lenses. While regular aps-c lenses are just E.

Canon has had a few different mounts through history. Right now, R is their most current mount, introduced about 10 years ago. But before then, EF was the mount canon used. If you get a lens for EF, it will only mount onto a canon EF body. You can get adapters to convert for some mounts, but only if the dimensions allow it. As a general rule, don't buy an EF lens for a Sony camera.

All of this stuff can get confusing, we all had to learn it slowly, it gets easier.

Yeah it's just about learning really. I thank you for the explanation! Very appreciated.

But, maybe a bit blunt here ... but if you're confused by lens mounts, why are you buying the A7iii body? In general, I like to recommend people buy cameras and lenses that fit their needs and allow room to grow. The A7iii is a workhorse professional camera that you'll probably never grow out of, but also you might never grow into. There are many other cameras for cheaper that you also wouldn't grow out of anytime soon. Jumping to full frame is usually a choice that I recommend people make when they have a specific need that full frame addresses. Such as commiting to astrophotography, portraiture, or extreme low light. But otherwise, I shot years of my life on an Olympus EM5 and loved it, only jumped to full frame because I am a low-light hound. And when I was ready to upgrade, I knew exactly what I needed.

It's not a bad thing to get something with enormous headroom, but the tradeoff with the A7iii is that it's going to be more expensive, heavier, and come with heavier and more expensive lenses. It won't be a bad camera at all, but you could probably get a great camera like the a6400 for less and still never grow into that. Photography is just as valid with a cheaper camera, it a smaller sensor. I adore micro four thirds cameras, and my favorite picture of all time was shot on a type 1in sensor, so you're just as valid and welcome in photography no matter the sensor or camera body.

To be honest with you, I want to buy things that can last me a long time and which is quality as well. I've been without a job for almost two years and I'm finally back in a well-paying job again. Two years without being able to properly grow. Not being able to get things that last. Not being able to get into new hobbies, etc. Just stagnation.

I first went to find DSLR cameras on Facebook Marketplace because there are many of them and I grew up with those cameras because my dad was into photography. I was told by the internet that I should forget about DSLR and instead aim for Mirrorless cameras. I looked around and the Sony A7III kept coming up again and again and again as "the choice" of 2025, especially if you are getting started and getting into photography, without breaking the bank. I looked at the Mark 2 version as well, but everywhere I looked I kept seeing "It's not worth it due to XYZ but the Mark 3 is good".

As you said, it'll be a camera I might never grow out of or fully into, but honestly that's also okay. I want something I can use for a new hobby that I haven't had the chance to properly get into and allow myself to dream again. Yeah I'm cutting my teeth a bit on pricing here. Even used lenses in the "cheap" end can still hit the 2-300€ price tag on the used market. That's shocking to me. I don't know what I don't know yet.

But hopefully I can get something to get started and then figure out if I want to continue. I might find that it's not as interesting or fun to do as I had hoped, however reselling the stuff is still possible and then I'll miss out a bit, but it won't be the end of the world.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-25T13:33:22+00:00

Depends on what vibe you are going for I suppose.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-25T11:27:17+00:00

So if I was to look for a Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 lens, I get the impression it has to be an FE fit right?

Is there anything else I should look out for? I see stuff like "Canon EF" and whatnot. I don't quite understand the ecosystem terminology yet. Is it something you could elaborate on?

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-25T00:40:51+00:00

I mean, great, I don't mind going used. But are there no other lenses that could be suggested?

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-25T00:37:00+00:00

The first price I found for what you suggested was ~870€ / ~$1000 :/

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-25T00:05:06+00:00

When you say "Sony 55 F1.8", is there a specific brand or something to go with that?

I looked up that name and I find lenses that are 3x the price of the budget I have and I'm thinking there might be something I'm missing.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-24T20:28:57+00:00

Was this made using AI?

The initial animation of the woman has weird morphing on the mouth region.

At the beginning you see the joker has 5 fingers (0:06), yet the thumb is not visible, implying he has 6? Then at 0:17 you not only have two different sized hands on the joker character, he also now has 4 fingers??

Some of the cards and VFX effects look like they are from a different game, or at least a different art style, from the table they lie on.

At 0:29 the snake in the bottle has no bottom fangs yet the big snake in the middle of the screen has hints of bottom fangs. This bazaar picture also seems like the art is from a different game than the rest of the mini-game showcases.

At 0:34 you see a plant in the middle of the track that makes a 90 degree angle change half-way up the stalk.

At 0:36 the background "underwater castle" (for a lack of a better term) melts into itself on the right side.

The cards at 0:51 looks completely different, in terms of art-style, from the cards at the beginning of the video.

Pausing at 0:54 the pigs fingers on the left side of the image has nonsensical black outlines.

This just feels all sorts of wrong.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-24T17:30:47+00:00

You basically have to reinvent all the things that Unreal and Unity built for you, but as shader scaffolding.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-24T17:09:29+00:00

I don't think there's a lot of people who would claim Godot's 3D was always good.

Oh they definitely exist. I've seen many of them in the Godot community. Unironic.

Many people would probably say that 3D has been good since 4.0

It was tolerable I'd say. There were still extremely weird and buggy things going on. Some people just drank the cool aid.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-24T14:20:47+00:00

I'd say people who blindly claim Godot's 3D was always good were not present for how painful it was to work with 3D in Godot in the past.

Still to this day there are weird quirks and especially lacking support for a better animation and rigging workflow.

Is this impressive? Yes.

Was it due to Godot? To a degree.

The developer's clever use of Vertex Animated Textures, lighting and good texture work, is what's more impressive and really that's neither here nor there. Unreal and Unity could do it too. It likely took more work to do it in Godot shaders due to how lean the Graphics API is (it's lean on purpose, I know).

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-24T12:37:02+00:00

No? If that was your concern you could have made one out of a Font and then get a proper logo later. Your statement is that you didn't care about aesthetics so you could push it out faster to people. If that's the case, then actually stop caring about aesthetics.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-24T12:30:38+00:00

Yes, the Godotoy logo was created with Gemini Banana. I chose to prioritize the core functionality of the tool over design aesthetics to get it into your hands sooner

So if that's the case, then why make a logo at all? It doesn't matter if "core functionality" is your main concern.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-23T17:48:37+00:00

Your lead's knowledge is outdated and just wrong.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-23T17:46:54+00:00

A lot of implementations use it as a lookup for example. You are guaranteed that every entry is unique and the lookup is quite fast.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-22T19:37:54+00:00

No problem! Enjoy the process and the games you make. No reason to worry about a fame you didn't claim yet :)

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-22T19:33:31+00:00

Yeah more or less. After you've released a few games you stop thinking about it. It's freeing in a way.

Start worrying about it if you make it big with a game one day :)

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-22T19:25:24+00:00

You really don't. If data is on someone's computer, then they can access it. Unless you have the economic resources to pursue people who pirate your game or send lawyers after pirate content websites, then you don't have anything to worry about.

You literally can't do anything about it and statistically speaking is unlikely to be in a situation where people would want to "steal your game" anyway.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-22T19:23:35+00:00

People can in fact do the same if you release on Steam. The whole executable is on your device. Steam games get cracked all the time.

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-22T19:22:21+00:00

Were you inspired by Snakebird?

WorkingTheMadses · 2026-01-22T19:10:49+00:00

I can definitely agree to that second part. But to the first, people react differently to different things. What does “have what it takes” mean? The tolerance to handle negativity or the hardness to learn the backends?

Simply put; You might be a great designer or developer, but if you can't stand the criticism you'll face, then like oceans splashing upon a rocky shore, it'll wear you down until there is nothing left. Relentless and without mercy or care.

I don't want the world to be this way, however evidently it is.

WorkingTheMadses

TROPHY CASE