June Already?

Well, it's been a little while since I posted. 

But then, it's been a fairly tumultuous first half of the year. 

Thanks to finally getting an official ADHD diagnosis. It's been... strange. 

nyhow... "How has gaming been during that?" I hear you asking...

Other than a little slow? 

I've published "Crucible" the Sci-fi ruleset I've been working on, alongside Legions over on wargame vault, under Hyper-Squirrel Games.

Lookee Lookee!

 

Work slowly continues piecemeal on our own sf world setting - Kaereth the Fractured Crucible. It's a blend of all sorts that we want to include.

 The main two things I've been focusing on after publishing Crucible has been finishing off the hex-terrain I've designed and been printing. 
I may get pics up eventually, and eventually plan to have links on wargame vault/cults/myminifactory depending how it goes. 

I've also started working on 2 new rulesets, and continuing tinkering with a third. The first two being:
 "White Smoke, Iron Hail" for the American Civil war, and 
"Title to be determined" for the Vietnam War based off of the core mechanics in both Legions and Crucible respectivley.
And third is 
"Space title to be determined" Starship combat rules. 

At the end of the day, it's more about playing them the way I want to play them than making any money or thinking whatever I put together is better than anyone else's rules. 
I mean, people have been giving me money for the two rulesets - given they are pay what you want, so any amount is optional.... And weirdly that still surprised me.

Still. Onwards and Upwards.

Ady.

What has it been up to? Burnout & Publishing... odd bedfellows.

 The past few months I've been in the grip of Burnout, related to my ADHD. It's great fun. 

Anyway. that aside (and don't get me started on NHS re-organisations, we'll be here all day....)

One thing I did do while I was trying to keep going was tinker with AI. 

And shock-horror! Skynet didn't take over! 

Though there were... robust debates... shall we say on some wargaming forums about using AI and generative AI art

 

I've found it useful as a first-pass editor for Legions while I've been working on getting it to a publishable state.

I've also found it very useful for getting images out of my head and ready - and I mean QUICKLY. While my focus was at least cooperating with me.

 In an hour I can go through dozens of iterations of an image, and as long as the AI doesn't have a moment it's ok. 

Different models give different results - but then, I suppose thats due to the different modelling in the background and the image learning they have. One for example defaulted to a 40k Imperial knight type silhouette whenever you asked it for a mech. 

Mind you... that's the same one that got a little confused and obsessed with crotch guns at one point.... That's one that's not being forgotten any time soon....

 Still. Everyone has their opinions on AI and what it will be used for, or even if it's worth it.

Me? Its a tool. and it's a tool that helps me with the various brain weasels I have.

 

Is it perfect? No. 

Would I prefer a human artist to do the cover? Yes. 

Can I afford a Human artist to do the cover, and pay them what there worth (None of this "for your portfolio", or "for exposure" crap, for an image that I'm not quite sure what I want other than a very rough outline on what is essentially a Hobby Project? I wish I could. 

Add in the problem that the longer an image takes to produce, the more likely my ADHD brain is to want something different.

So, I've actually published LEGIONS on Wargames vault now. with an AI generated cover image, and some AI generated art on the counters.

Wargames Vault have implemented a filter option - part of the publishing setup is to say whether the work includes AI generated content - So, I look at it as they have made a pragmatic choice - Let the end Customer decide.

Which I think is how it should be. If using an AI cover image costs me downloads then so be it.

 

Anyway, as I've said - I've published Legions here: https://www.wargamevault.com/en/product/544376/legions-fantasy-battle 

Crucible (Sci Fi) is almost ready - I just want to do some more playtesting with the "publishing" version of the rules - just in case, and I've actually got started on the starship combat game.

So, overall. AI has helped me, while in the middle of ADHD burnout actually do things. Some of which I've been putting of for a VERY long time.