09-02-2026, 05:20 PM
Update #24
Hi everyone!
So you're probably wondering why I haven't updated in a while. Well, I'm trying not to have myself stuck on a computer screen for hours upon hours on end. I have taken pretty much a whole week off, which was needed. It's not healthy for someone to be at a screen for hours. It's just not.
I want to take some time to talk about a fairly controversial issue, which is the use of A.I. in any part of making a game. Here's the deal, I get why it's controversial right? Because when you use A.I., it's taking the "easy route" right? Cause you're not really doing much of anything, it's like having a second hueman helping you out, but take out the huemanity, and that's what you end up with. And, if I'm being real with you, I require another person to kind of walk me through things. I learn better through being hands-on and having someone else kind of help me and guide me to learning something. I have tried multiple times to learn how to code, and I don't know why, but at a certain point, I get stuck. And I get stuck usually for the same reasons every time which is, at a certain point it's like I don't know what to do or how to get passed it. Especially with GameMaker, I've tried GML, quite a number of times too and at a certain point it's like all previous knowledge just goes away.
Now, does that mean that using A.I. as a substitute for learning a good thing? No, because I'm not learning anything right? I'm just having A.I. do most of the coding while I focus on delivering a somewhat interesting game. And like I said, there is no legitimate reason to really use A.I. Because you always could do all of this yourself and I know this. I don't see me becoming an actual game developer. There is so much that is put into a video game, and I'm not afraid to admit that I'm really only good for ideas. This game has been honestly in development in my head for so many years. And, if I actually had the money I would do this the right way, which is to hire people or a team and have each person work on a different aspect of the game, whether it be coding or pixel art or whatever it is. Unfortunately, I don't make enough to be able to pay an entire team what they deserve to make on this project, because I don't know of anyone who would invest time and resources into making a game and not expect to be paid to do it, unless these people are ok with not being paid for their time and efforts (which isn't typical anyways).
So, in saying all of that, yes, I have been utilizing A.I. to make my game. And I know for a lot of actual game developers (because I'm not one and I'm not afraid to admit that I can't make a full game by myself, at least not right now. I need someone who's going to be patient with me, because at a certain point it's like I freeze up and I don't know how to get passed that.), that using A.I. is a sin in the game development community. I use Claude A.I. to do the coding. I also use Ludo ai for the sprite animations. Those 2 platforms that I use, Ludo A.I. I have subscribed to for a full years worth of tokens to get a certain animation done. Claude A.I. I put $200 towards every month (I do what they call the Max Plan, where you have more usage from that A.I.) and I use it, a lot. Ludo costs me...I think around $180 for a year I think? I don't remember right off the bat. And, if there's a specific thing I need, whether it be houses or an animation, I do go to Fiverr and I basically pay someone else to do something that I myself know would not look good at all if I tried to do it by myself. In fact, I'm paying someone $200 to basically get a bunch of houses done for the next level in my game, which is another town. I also have been utilizing spriters-resource for most of my sprites.
I'm using my hard-earned money (and yes, it is 100% completely and legitimately earned. It's not like I use A.I. at work to get my work done) to make this game. This is my money, this is no one else's money, this is my money. And I should be able to do whatever it is I want with my own money. It's a fan-game for crying out loud, it's literally just for fun. People are treating this as if this game is going to completely bomb because there's A.I. being used. And you know what, if I make another game using A.I., I've decided to not make any money from it, even if it's a completely new game, one that I've come up with, I've decided to at least be fair and not make any money from a game unless I actually do everything myself. I get it, if you're an actual game developer, this is probably really sad to you, and I get it. I do, I get it. There was one guy that I hired to do the hammer animation that Mario does in the Paper Mario games, but he got confused and made a pixelized version of Mario and didn't use the Mario on the spreadsheet that I gave to him. I gave him $90 to make this animation, and even though it wasn't exactly what I wanted, the fact that the man went through so much time, effort, and sweat to even come up with the animation to begin with, I think that's worthy of something. And I told the guy, I said "Ok, so this isn't exactly what I'm looking for, however, I'm not going to expect you to give me back my money. I may not be able to come up with a decent looking pixel sprite on my own, but I've tried animation before, and I realize that when you guys really work on animating something that it takes a lot of time to do just 1 animation. So, even though this isn't what I wanted, the fact that you spent a lot of time to dedicating to this animation and trying to make sure that you deliver something that is decent enough quality, I think that's something that should never be overlooked. So, keep the money I gave you, I do not expect any of that money back. Because I know myself that if I was to try to get an animation done by myself, it would take a very very very long time to even get close to the results that I want. Keep the money, and I truly thank you for at least trying to do what it is I wanted out of you." Because really, his animation wasn't bad at all. In fact, if I was doing a pixelated project, his animation would've been awesome to use. He really did try his best. But, it's ok, if I lose a little bit of money here and there, that's to be expected. Not everyone you hire can see your vision, and that's ok. There was nothing wrong with the sprite he created, it just wasn't what I was looking for but he put a lot of time and dedication to making that animation, and if I was him and the customer wanted his money back, I'd be a little ticked honestly.
So there you go. I use A.I. It's not the best, it's not great, but I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while now. If you are against someone using their own money to have A.I. do some of the tedious tasks, then it's very simple, don't play my game. Cause chances are you're going to hate it, and you're just going to be wasting your time. This is a passion project, and there's no amount of money to be made. It's my money, money that I worked hard for, and I will use that money in a way I want it to be used. If you have a problem with that, then I beg and plead of you to not play this game. I can't make everyone happy, and in all honesty, I'm not here to make people happy. I've had this idea in my head for a very long time, and have tried numerous amount of times to learn how to code just so I could make this game. And yes I'm only 36 years old, I have a few years yet that if I wanted to I could make a game completely from scratch with my own artwork and everything. This is just for fun, it's not that serious. So again, if you have a problem with me using my hard-earned money to make a game with the help of A.I., then do me a favor and don't play this game. Cause all you'll be seeing the whole time is "A.I. slop." Sorry but not sorry.
Ok, with that out of the way, I have a small update for you today. So this is a picture of the houses that will be part of this new town. I still don't know what I want to name this town, but, here's just a small peak on what's next for Mario and ElderStar:
![[Image: draft-1.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/rKGR3Hp4/draft-1.png)
Again, I'm sorry if I ticked any of you off, but I'm not here to win some prize. This is a fan-game, it's purely just for fun. If this bothers you, then again, please do not play my game. Please, please, please do not play my game.
-Jake (Paper Mario: The Star Princess Game Developer)
![[Image: Title-Page.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/68Drt89V/Title-Page.png)
You should check out my game when you get the chance. Updates every week, and sometimes more than one update per week: Paper Mario: The Star Princess
Hi everyone!
So you're probably wondering why I haven't updated in a while. Well, I'm trying not to have myself stuck on a computer screen for hours upon hours on end. I have taken pretty much a whole week off, which was needed. It's not healthy for someone to be at a screen for hours. It's just not.
I want to take some time to talk about a fairly controversial issue, which is the use of A.I. in any part of making a game. Here's the deal, I get why it's controversial right? Because when you use A.I., it's taking the "easy route" right? Cause you're not really doing much of anything, it's like having a second hueman helping you out, but take out the huemanity, and that's what you end up with. And, if I'm being real with you, I require another person to kind of walk me through things. I learn better through being hands-on and having someone else kind of help me and guide me to learning something. I have tried multiple times to learn how to code, and I don't know why, but at a certain point, I get stuck. And I get stuck usually for the same reasons every time which is, at a certain point it's like I don't know what to do or how to get passed it. Especially with GameMaker, I've tried GML, quite a number of times too and at a certain point it's like all previous knowledge just goes away.
Now, does that mean that using A.I. as a substitute for learning a good thing? No, because I'm not learning anything right? I'm just having A.I. do most of the coding while I focus on delivering a somewhat interesting game. And like I said, there is no legitimate reason to really use A.I. Because you always could do all of this yourself and I know this. I don't see me becoming an actual game developer. There is so much that is put into a video game, and I'm not afraid to admit that I'm really only good for ideas. This game has been honestly in development in my head for so many years. And, if I actually had the money I would do this the right way, which is to hire people or a team and have each person work on a different aspect of the game, whether it be coding or pixel art or whatever it is. Unfortunately, I don't make enough to be able to pay an entire team what they deserve to make on this project, because I don't know of anyone who would invest time and resources into making a game and not expect to be paid to do it, unless these people are ok with not being paid for their time and efforts (which isn't typical anyways).
So, in saying all of that, yes, I have been utilizing A.I. to make my game. And I know for a lot of actual game developers (because I'm not one and I'm not afraid to admit that I can't make a full game by myself, at least not right now. I need someone who's going to be patient with me, because at a certain point it's like I freeze up and I don't know how to get passed that.), that using A.I. is a sin in the game development community. I use Claude A.I. to do the coding. I also use Ludo ai for the sprite animations. Those 2 platforms that I use, Ludo A.I. I have subscribed to for a full years worth of tokens to get a certain animation done. Claude A.I. I put $200 towards every month (I do what they call the Max Plan, where you have more usage from that A.I.) and I use it, a lot. Ludo costs me...I think around $180 for a year I think? I don't remember right off the bat. And, if there's a specific thing I need, whether it be houses or an animation, I do go to Fiverr and I basically pay someone else to do something that I myself know would not look good at all if I tried to do it by myself. In fact, I'm paying someone $200 to basically get a bunch of houses done for the next level in my game, which is another town. I also have been utilizing spriters-resource for most of my sprites.
I'm using my hard-earned money (and yes, it is 100% completely and legitimately earned. It's not like I use A.I. at work to get my work done) to make this game. This is my money, this is no one else's money, this is my money. And I should be able to do whatever it is I want with my own money. It's a fan-game for crying out loud, it's literally just for fun. People are treating this as if this game is going to completely bomb because there's A.I. being used. And you know what, if I make another game using A.I., I've decided to not make any money from it, even if it's a completely new game, one that I've come up with, I've decided to at least be fair and not make any money from a game unless I actually do everything myself. I get it, if you're an actual game developer, this is probably really sad to you, and I get it. I do, I get it. There was one guy that I hired to do the hammer animation that Mario does in the Paper Mario games, but he got confused and made a pixelized version of Mario and didn't use the Mario on the spreadsheet that I gave to him. I gave him $90 to make this animation, and even though it wasn't exactly what I wanted, the fact that the man went through so much time, effort, and sweat to even come up with the animation to begin with, I think that's worthy of something. And I told the guy, I said "Ok, so this isn't exactly what I'm looking for, however, I'm not going to expect you to give me back my money. I may not be able to come up with a decent looking pixel sprite on my own, but I've tried animation before, and I realize that when you guys really work on animating something that it takes a lot of time to do just 1 animation. So, even though this isn't what I wanted, the fact that you spent a lot of time to dedicating to this animation and trying to make sure that you deliver something that is decent enough quality, I think that's something that should never be overlooked. So, keep the money I gave you, I do not expect any of that money back. Because I know myself that if I was to try to get an animation done by myself, it would take a very very very long time to even get close to the results that I want. Keep the money, and I truly thank you for at least trying to do what it is I wanted out of you." Because really, his animation wasn't bad at all. In fact, if I was doing a pixelated project, his animation would've been awesome to use. He really did try his best. But, it's ok, if I lose a little bit of money here and there, that's to be expected. Not everyone you hire can see your vision, and that's ok. There was nothing wrong with the sprite he created, it just wasn't what I was looking for but he put a lot of time and dedication to making that animation, and if I was him and the customer wanted his money back, I'd be a little ticked honestly.
So there you go. I use A.I. It's not the best, it's not great, but I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while now. If you are against someone using their own money to have A.I. do some of the tedious tasks, then it's very simple, don't play my game. Cause chances are you're going to hate it, and you're just going to be wasting your time. This is a passion project, and there's no amount of money to be made. It's my money, money that I worked hard for, and I will use that money in a way I want it to be used. If you have a problem with that, then I beg and plead of you to not play this game. I can't make everyone happy, and in all honesty, I'm not here to make people happy. I've had this idea in my head for a very long time, and have tried numerous amount of times to learn how to code just so I could make this game. And yes I'm only 36 years old, I have a few years yet that if I wanted to I could make a game completely from scratch with my own artwork and everything. This is just for fun, it's not that serious. So again, if you have a problem with me using my hard-earned money to make a game with the help of A.I., then do me a favor and don't play this game. Cause all you'll be seeing the whole time is "A.I. slop." Sorry but not sorry.
Ok, with that out of the way, I have a small update for you today. So this is a picture of the houses that will be part of this new town. I still don't know what I want to name this town, but, here's just a small peak on what's next for Mario and ElderStar:
Again, I'm sorry if I ticked any of you off, but I'm not here to win some prize. This is a fan-game, it's purely just for fun. If this bothers you, then again, please do not play my game. Please, please, please do not play my game.
-Jake (Paper Mario: The Star Princess Game Developer)
You should check out my game when you get the chance. Updates every week, and sometimes more than one update per week: Paper Mario: The Star Princess