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Wegenbartho

@wegenbartho.bsky.social

Bavarian game dev. Working on: #TheMurderHotel and #TheDonnerwaldExperiment Discord: wegenbartho

191 Posts141 Follower90 Folgt
austin_walker@austinwalker.bsky.social · 2d ago

Over the past month, IGF judges and jurists have had intense, difficulty, generous, and deeply engaged conversations about AI and the games industry. This statement is the result of those conversations.

This year's IGF entries have been incredible. We've been lucky to play games that surprise, connect, and challenge us, and we're excited to vote for our favorites. Unfortunately, there has also been a significant increase in the number of submitted games developed with generative AI tools. This has set off some fairly intense discussion and disagreement across the judge and jury pools, and at this point there is no universal consensus on what (if anything) is to be done. The IGF has affirmed that we may cast our votes according to our own tastes and values. But we, a contingent of IGF jurors, feel that this trend and the games embracing it deserve stronger pushback than a vote in silence. While IGF leadership has approved the release of this statement, it's important to note that we do not speak for IGF as an organization, or for all IGF jury members. Many jurors had differing perspectives and significant reservations about this statement. Some jurists additionally voiced concern about their ability to safely sign without professional blowback, and we do not intend this letter to serve as a censure of those who were unable to sign. Above all: Our goal is to state solidarity with those who despair over the future of their art, their craft, and their industry—including those who have experimented with these tools in the past, but who now believe they are not in our best interest. We know that change does not come at the individual level, but as independent developers, we also know firsthand the value of pushing back on what an industry has deemed "inevitable." As jurists, we feel a responsibility to push past defeatism and aspire to a higher ideal. The future is not yet settled. You are not alone. We can stand together.We, the undersigned IGF jury members, believe the following: 1. That generative AI has these negative effects: Ecological harms at community and planetary levels Economic harms to working developers and artists Cognitive and psychological harms to its users Harm to the increasingly fragile information landscape Harms to labor and worker power in creative fields 2. That these harms do not depend on what is generated, be it music or writing, art or VO, marketing assets or code. 3. That AI-generated code is not an exception to these harms. Programming is a creative discipline whose labour deserves the same respect we extend to any part of making a game. This extends to the past work used to train these models without the creators' consent. 4. Finally, that the use of these tools is neither a foregone conclusion in our industry nor that their adoption has been wholly voluntary. We stand in solidarity not only with those developers who have the freedom to unilaterally reject them, but also with those who have been compelled by their employers to adopt their use, those working to establish or improve their workplace policies, and especially with those in positions of precarity who are so often those most pressured to abandon their values. For these reasons, this year we are declining to vote for any game that uses generative AI in any capacity. We urge the IGF to adopt a strong anti-AI policy for future years that disallows games containing any AI-generated work. A.M. Darke aurahack Aura Triolo Austin Walker Brendon Chung Brent Arnold Dan Floyd Everest Pipkin Gianna Ruggiero isaac io schankler Johnnemann Nordhagen Lena Raine Marielle Kho Megan Fox Noel Berry Osama Dorias Sam Barlow Tamara Duplantis Taylor Mccue
Dark Spawn | Free Demo on Steam@darkspawn.bsky.social · 2w ago

Thanks to Steam Next Fest, we reached 300 wishlists! Can we get to 400? Wishlist Dark Spawn: Infestation here 👇 store.steampowered.com/app/4853830 #indiegame #rpgmaker #gamedev #solodev #pixelart #steam #nextfest

Dark Spawn: Infestation on Steam

Dark Spawn: Infestation is a horror adventure game set in a Victorian-era inspired research facility. The protagonist got abducted by evil scientists, and has to solve puzzles and avoid strange creatu...

store.steampowered.com

Wegenbartho@wegenbartho.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I won't be posting on social media for a while since social media is not doing any favors to my mental health. Keep an eye on the Steam tab for any gamedev related updates. Thank you.

Brett Codes@brettcodes.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I wrote an essay about why I'm done using AI for coding, even if it costs me my job and career: brettcodes.com/im-done-usin... The basic gist is: AI made me a worse, apathetic programmer. I think it's bad for humanity, the planet, and the craft of software engineering. And I'm done using it.

I'm done using AI

Why I'm stopping using AI for coding (and anything else) after using it earnestly for a year and coming to understand the harms it causes on personal, societal, and environmental levels.

brettcodes.com

Wegenbartho@wegenbartho.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Recent reviews told me they are not fond with the Korean and Japanese translations, which my Publisher is mostly responsible for. I'm trying to figure out something to improve it, but I'm not sure if that's possible without bankrupting myself.

Magi@magiwastaken.bsky.social · 5mo ago

While we're on the topic of magical girls, @sonorode.com also has their demo up during Steam Next Fest and I absolutely adore Warding Witches, which is a super good bullet hell shmup that I recently already wrote about. Go check it out! store.steampowered.com/app/4690510/...

Warding Witches Demo on Steam

The Warding Witches Demo offers a classic, unapologetic bullet hell shoot ‘em up challenge while also putting defense into players’ hands. Experience an adrenaline-filled flow alternating between atta...

store.steampowered.com