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AI assisted graphics: Character modeling
As a fun little prototype, I wanted to see how much work would it be to use AI character design and graphics as much as possible for a 2.5D point and click style game.
Echoes of Somewhere
An experimental freeware 2.5D adventure game featuring AI-assisted graphics.
Each episode within the series offers 1-4 hours of classic point-and-click gameplay, featuring a self-contained story.
What is this about?
How it all started
Updates
Development Blog
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Footsteps audio refactoring
I upgraded my rather simple footsteps audio system to a fully fledged surface type / character type retrieval setup that I can expand in the editor. The old system had hard coded arrays, but this new one is user editable directly in editor!
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AI assisted location: Hamburger restaurant
In the first big puzzle hub, one of the non-linear storylines takes you to a hamburger restaurant. There will be a big, hamburger related puzzle in there! But this week, we talk about creating the AI assisted location.
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Closeup camera angles
With Magnific now being able to upscale all the way up to 16x I wanted to try closeup camera angles for the game.
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Animated hotspot icons
I was working on the Steam Deck compatibility of the game this week and the main pain point was the hotspots. As I was fixing the code, I decided to try to make the hotspots animated!
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Accessibility options
I am big into accessibility. It was now finally time to get started on accessibility options for Echoes of Somewhere.
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Project 1 year anniversary!
Happy birthday! Echoes of Somewhere has now been in “active” development for a year. Lets look back on the year!
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Echoes Of Somewhere demo release on itch.io
I have been actively working on the project for one full year now. And to celebrate this milestone, I am releasing a short Echoes Of Somewhere demo of the game for Windows & Mac OS!
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Preparing for demo release
The beginning part of the game has been almost ready for release as a short demo for quite a while. But it was missing some polish that I am working on now.
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Talking about Echoes of Somewhere
I have an Echoes of Somewhere presentation I have done a couple of times around Europe. You can now watch it here in full.
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Magnific AI
The lower resolution background images for the game are upscaled with Magnific AI to massive 4k+ resolution.
News
News on AI
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Steam’s stance on generative AI: The AI paradox
For the longest time there has been murmurs that Valve has been rejecting games with generative AI content from their Steam store. Let’s take a look into it!
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The Adventure Game Hotspot Podcast
I was recently interviewed on the Adventure Game Hotspot podcast. We talked about Echoes of Somewhere and the potential and the limits of using AI for game production.
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Premortem Games interview
A really interesting gaming news site, PreMortem Games posted and interview about Echoes of Somewhere.
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Article on Adventure Game Hotspot
A website focused on covering adventure games, Adventure Game Hotspot, , wrote an article about Echoes of Somewhere. The piece is very interesting as it includes reactions to the game from the adventure game developer community.
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a16z shoutout
Echoes of Somewhere was briefly featured in a recent Andreessen Horowitz blog post about AI in games.
In the media
Media Reactions
PC Gamer
The project convincingly shows how an individual artist with limited resources can use these controversial, questionably ethical tools to punch above their weight when developing a game.
80 Level Talent
A massive 2-part breakdown, describing the pipeline behind the project, discussing the process of creating characters and environments using artificial intelligence.
Meet the
The Developers
We are working on this on our free time, so this is our hobby. There are no milestones or deadlines.
Jussi Kemppainen
AI, Art, Story & Design
Lauri Konttori
Story consultant
Bjørn Jacobsen
Audio consultant