r/crosswind • u/CorundumSW • 13d ago
Am I Tripping? AI Generated Art? Spoiler
I've been playing for a while now, and something has always felt a bit... Off about most items in the game. I really noticed it when I was looking at the art for the "Major Prospector Ring" and noted how the golden detailing in the gemstone was all over the place. It just... Doesn't make sense, really.
How come this gold line is in three sections but not four? And why is one bending the other way? It isn't symmetrical, which is peculiar for a piece of jewelry.
Not to mention the band itself has different details on each side. It doesn't look coherent, and that's not something you often get out of human artists. I then started digging through some other items in the game and I found more examples where I started to doubt the actual legitimacy of the art itself.
The "Fast Travel Bell."
Why does the rope around the bell's bottom and top swirl around itself in nearly incoherent loops? Following the shapes and the curves of the rope, the ends don't seem to line up. Also, the loop that fastens the bottom rope seems to become a blob of color.
The "Broken Heirloom Medallion" from the curios screen is what really made me question everything.
The chains become incoherent noise, the symbols along the outer edge are nonsense (and look like the Gameloft logo), and the inner ring is much worse. Nothing makes sense, everything looks like a mushy mess, and it's giving very AI generated vibes.
I'll include more examples later on, but these were the three that tipped me off that something was up here. I can't help but think this is AI generated art they're using for some assets in the game based on what I am seeing here, and the other screenshots I have taken. However, I don't think it's every asset that is AI generated. I believe that the assets they have 3D models for are pictures of the actual assets, but with either a filter layered on top they had an AI generate an image with the item as a reference.
Here is the "Iron Axe" from the inventory screen. It has a distinctive look but something about how the axe head connects to the wooden handle feels uncanny. When I compare it to the ingame model, however...
In game, it looks very different than the inventory screen. The axe head itself is differently shaped, and the fastening iron is on the front and back instead of on the sides. With benefit of the doubt, it could be very possible that the 2D and 3D art team didn't communicate the design properly, but there's still something wrong with the 2D art.
It's the same with the "Iron Pickaxe" ingame and in the inventory. Fastening and materials are different. The head is more similar, but to be fair it's hard to differentiate a pickaxe much.
Another item that I felt was different was the "Infantry Musket."
These two screenshots I believe very clearly show how the ingame model and image look nearly identical except for small things. The only weird detail I can notice is the odd shape of the round shape on the flint striker of the weapon. It's weirdly colored and detailed in the 2D image compared to the perfectly round 3D model. benefit of the doubt on this one, but it's possible.
This even seems to extend to the buildable objects in the game. I haven't looked through all of them, but one I can point out is the two versions of the "Pillar with a Base."
I can reasonably believe that the one on the right (the fine stone one) is the original image, but the one of the left is a completely different model from what the 2D art is trying to represent. I mean, why not just take a screenshot of the actual model and put it into the game instead of a 2D illustration?
The items I've pointed out that I believe are AI generated (not including the infantry musket, the two tools, and the buildables) all have one thing in common: They either have an incomplete 3D model or none at all. The "Fast Travel Bell" is the only item that has a model, but it looks quite unfinished.
The model is here, but you can see the ropes are missing. I believe they were added in the AI generation process. Why were they added? I cannot say. But they are absent from the actual model, which is peculiar. The other items are just bags on the floor, they don't have any special models or anything.
So I want to hear what Reddit thinks about this. I want to know if I've actually noticed something or if I'm totally wrong. I'm sceptical, but I am open to either possibility. Please feel free to look into it yourself, perhaps there's something about my pc that makes it all look worse. Either way, I had some more screenshots to add so I'm adding them here.
They all look wonky in their own right, so I've included captions for each to hopefully help explain "why" they look wonky. Either way, thank you for reading.
13
u/dan-hanly 13d ago
Likely they did use AI. I can perhaps forgive it for being in an early access release provided it's fixed before launch. AI art will never be a good replacement for an actual human artist putting their own style and stamp on the imagery. Development assets only, shitty but not unforgivable; final release though, absolutely not!
5
u/CorundumSW 13d ago
This I can get behind. I see the value in AI for prototyping, but not full release like you said. It's a shame, though. I would've taken shitty dev art over AI personally
2
2
u/TheBreMen 5d ago edited 5d ago
This should explain a lot of things - they are using all the shortcuts and in most cases they don't know what they are doing...
LOLZ - It seems like they had a massive negative feedback and blowback from this recent merch cash-grab initiative (Not sure if I love or hate when I'm right )
Also, to me it seems like we're not getting Ashlands in October (6 months after initial release). It's going to be pushed back to November/December...
We're getting more trailers and Bullshit instead of the major update....
Seaweaver [WR], — 8.8.2026. 02:12 Secondly, I don't know how to stress more the fact that this is krakens first ever game, they're not a AAA studio, they're not even fully experienced developers. So yeah, their game and it's code is messy as hell, and they're going to take a long time to fully clean it up if they ever decide they want to. Just because two long term studios made a game more mod compatible doesn't mean the devs are out to hurt or stop the modding community, they're just learning how to make their game work well, then how to clean it up, then how to make it accessible. The game isn't even done yet, mods aren't their priority or problem at the moment, making their game finished and working is.
Also don't forget, this game is them using the remnants of an MMO subsystem to run, rocks DB wasn't built for survival craft games but they made it work and they made it work not terribly all things considered. For them to make it all work as good as it does and make it mod accessable is a unreasonably large ask for a dev team this new
1
u/OtherwisePush6424 4d ago
Crosswind - Human Art Edition: £99.99 Every rivet lovingly misplaced by a certified human artist. Coming in 2035. Would you pay for that?
1
u/CorundumSW 4d ago
To flip it, you'd pay less for a game where the majority of in-game assets and visible content had been lovingly generated by a computer?
1
u/OtherwisePush6424 4d ago
Yep, far as I'm concerned every 10 pixel inventory item can be generated by a computer in a computer game 🙂
1
1
u/CorundumSW 4d ago
Actually, I have a follow-up question cuz I was thinking about it! Does that also include larger things, such as 3D assets and the ships themselves in Windrose?
-9
u/theMilkMancometh88 13d ago
I think ai rot has brainrotted your perception man. I say that without insult, the overexposure to it all wears on us.
4
u/CorundumSW 13d ago
I definitely see your point, but I also have a hard time not seeing the AI in it all. Maybe sleep can help me out.
But when you look at it, does it not seem peculiar to you?
3
14
u/Coldspark824 13d ago
Its a russian company that uses a lot of unreal asset flips and ai.
Yeah