Jason Koohi

Congrats on the release!!

Had to rewire a few animation scripts to make them easier to trigger from dialogue. But to keep my spirits up I gave myself permission for precisely one new frame of animation for a cigarette tap on this guy. Kinda lovin the idgaf energy.
#pixelart #indiedev #VISEGUNNE #gamedev

I'm at the point where I think the inclination to classify games into strict, narrow genre "orthodoxy" is hurting game discourse. It's fine in passing probably, but it often turns into mindless group-think that robs audiences of their own thoughts. Games are designed with unique goals and aims.

My old ass version of FLStudio is like ~10 years old. I want to upgrade it but I also don't want to risk breaking some weird VST configuration. I do need to investigate migration to a new machine one day, though.

So in our first stage, I've tried to have the music -mostly- sync up with the in-game action, but I forgot I added a new enemy battleship sequence and it messed up the timing, so I'm trying to add 35 seconds to it... somehow... without messing up the ending. Looping tracks are so much easier.

And I wholeheartedly believe my own accumulated imperfections make my art and music interesting, tangible, and meaningful. It took my whole lifetime to reach that conclusion. But when I consider how "perfect" AI art/music seems, or how blandly corporate its writing is, I'm glad to have rough edges.

And that imperfect process is what makes any project have a soul that people give a damn about, rough edges and all. It's an expression of your lived experience. In my case, to reproduce it with a machine would be to accept my lifetime of accumulated imperfection. Good luck living that ChatGPT.

I mean, shit, the number of times I face limitation when writing dialogue, having anxiety, wondering if VISEGUNNE will succeed? Did I animate this character well enough? Do we need an NPC there? Do we even need NPCs?! And it's my imperfect humanity that tries to compensate and smush it all together.

The project I'm working on is what it is because of the sleepless nights, the planning, the sweating over 1 pixel's position, the frustration at picking a DX7 bass sample to make my music sound funkier, or when I just said this part of the piece is good enough and moving on to the next task.

They say perfectionism is a killer and it's true. It's not to say quality standards don't matter, but I've started to reconsider the idea of more fully embracing the art I make and just... letting it be. I think there's a kind of grace (and utility) in letting yourself authentically express "you."

And speaking for myself, I'm a perfectionist, not because my art is perfect (hell, far from it!), but I want my art to be as good as it can. If you've followed VISEGUNNE's development for any stretch, I can be a bit obsessive over some aspects. But I'm starting to learn perfection ain't that great.

Now that AI generated art and music are showing up everywhere, I've personally begun to kind of embrace how human made art has very intangible but very perceptible rough edges, that you can't see but you that can feel. That make the end product tangible, raw, and real. AI can't replicate that yet.

I don't want to be someone that says hardship makes things valuable, but I think there's a kind of grit that creates tangibility in the products we consume. Vapid, corporate, bubble-gum pop culture has existed well before AI's genesis, but it does feel like we've turned on a faucet to pump it out.

Even the best musician must breath, even the best artist has a tremble of the hand, or has to step back to see what needs adjustment. Past mistakes have to be learned from or worked around, or started anew, and they're bound by limitation. And I think that contributes to why AI art feels different.

I think these accumulated imperfections are vitally what make human made art fundamentally different from AI generated art because it channels a story and expression that can be traced back to our DNA, whose proteins replicate imperfectly as well. It's innate to human life, fundamentally.

I've been thinking of AI art/music generation and how it contrasts with human made things. I just wanted to get my thoughts out for my own sake. Humans have a kind of innate accumulation of imperfections, lived experience, lack of proper tools, having a bad day, needing to breath, having an itch...

I really appreciate hearing that! Makes me feel like maybe I'm on the right track for this level. 😀

Ah, thanks so much! After doing some level work I gave myself a cheat day to focus on FX details, haha. I really hate sewer levels because I've played through so many bland ones over the years. My solution was to make these sewers have stuff going on inside, like a processing plant, so that helps.

Hey thanks!

VISEGUNNE on Steam VISEGUNNE is a single-player shoot 'em up featuring explosive, narrative-driven missions, a vast arsenal of weapons, and over-the-top visual effects. Pilot a soul-powered combat mech as you protect th...

Wishlist VISEGUNNE here:
store.steampowered.com/app/2882040/...

Got sidetracked setting up some special water FX interactions for bullet shells and explosive weapons. The spread of the falling water particles are a little different on each gun, but no one will ever notice. haha.
#gamedev #VISEGUNNE #pixelart #indiedev

omg. Tryin so hard not be triggered right now. Everything about the sprite work in that game is beautiful, not to mention revolutionary for its time. T_T

Working on a new environment (abandoned reservoir). Lots of water FX and creepy vibes which is fun.
#gamedev #pixelart #indiedev #shmup #screenshotsaturday

hey, thanks!

hey thanks. yeah all those parts shift around when idle or moving about

ah thanks so much

VISEGUNNE on Steam VISEGUNNE is a single-player shoot 'em up featuring explosive, narrative-driven missions, a vast arsenal of weapons, and over-the-top visual effects. Pilot a soul-powered combat mech as you protect th...

Oh yeah! And you can wishlist Visegunne here if you're into soul-powered giant robots.
store.steampowered.com/app/2882040/...

Working on a new environment (abandoned reservoir). Lots of water FX and creepy vibes which is fun.
#gamedev #pixelart #indiedev #shmup #screenshotsaturday

Mystroidvania?

Working on NPC portraits a little bit. I animated many of them off a similar base, but I think they round out our random NPCs you can talk to in the overworld. Bunch of civilians, PMC troops, and ally soldiers.
#gamedev #pixelart #indiedev #screenshotsaturday #indiegamedev