Artificial Intelligence? Yes, I use it… A lot.
There. I’ve said it.
Gramepa uses AI.
I use it to make images.
I use it to experiment with ideas.
I use it to create characters.
I use it to make videos.
I use it to write, rewrite, brainstorm and generally make a spectacular mess of things before eventually producing something I’m happy with.
And I’m absolutely fine with that.
In fact, I rather like it.
But isn’t that cheating?
Well… No. At least, I don’t think so.
I’m not entering an international painting competition and claiming I’ve spent six months lovingly painting a masterpiece with a tiny brush. I’m making gaming content.
The whole point of Gramepa is to play with technology, experiment, create stuff and have a bit of a laugh along the way.
AI is simply another tool in the toolbox.
I’ve been messing around with computers and technology for decades. I started programming in BASIC when computers were considerably less clever than they are now.
I remember when getting a computer to do something vaguely interesting felt like wizardry.
Now I can tell one what I want and it can occasionally produce something brilliant.
And occasionally produce something that looks like it was designed by a committee of drunken potatoes.
That’s progress.
AI doesn’t replace the creativity. It changes where the creativity happens.
This is probably the bit that gets misunderstood.
When I use AI to create something, the interesting part isn’t necessarily the button I press.
It’s the idea.
What am I trying to make?
What should it look like?
What’s the joke?
What’s the story?
What’s wrong with the first version?
What needs changing?
What would make it funnier?
What would make it more Gramepa?
What happens if I take that idea completely sideways?
AI can help me get from an idea in my head to something I can actually see, hear or play with.
And that is enormously powerful.
I don’t pretend AI didn’t help.
This is important.
If something on Gramepa has been substantially created or assisted by AI, I’m not going to pretend I personally sat in a candlelit room and painted every pixel by hand.
That would be rather silly.
If AI helped make it, I’ll happily say AI helped make it.
Because the interesting question isn’t:
“Did you use AI?”
The interesting question is:
“What did you do with it?”
Think of it like any other creative tool.
A photographer doesn’t apologise for using a camera.
A filmmaker doesn’t apologise for using editing software.
A musician doesn’t apologise for using a synthesiser.
A game developer doesn’t apologise for using a game engine.
A graphic designer doesn’t throw their computer in the bin and reach for a quill.
Tools change.
The creative process changes with them.
AI is simply another tool that has arrived in the toolbox.
And it’s a ridiculously interesting one.
And yes… sometimes I use it a LOT.
Some Gramepa content might contain a tiny bit of AI assistance.
Other things might be almost entirely AI-assisted.
Sometimes I’ll start with an idea and let AI help me explore it.
Sometimes I’ll create something from scratch with AI and then edit, direct, modify and reshape the result.
Sometimes I’ll use AI because it’s the quickest way of turning a stupid idea into something I can actually show you.
And sometimes…
I just want to see what happens.
That’s probably the most Gramepa reason of all.
Is everything on Gramepa AI?
No.
Far from it.
There’s plenty of real gameplay, real footage, real screenshots, real photographs, real experiences and real opinions.
The AI stuff sits alongside all of that.
It’s part of the creative mix.
Think of Gramepa as a rather untidy workshop.
There’s a computer over there.
A camera somewhere underneath that pile of stuff.
A microphone.
Some video editing software.
A few decades of gaming experience.
Several questionable ideas.
And now there’s an AI sitting in the corner going:
“Erm… Gramepa… are you sure you want to do that?”
Usually I do.
Does AI make mistakes?
Oh, bloody hell yes.
It can produce six-fingered hands.
It can misunderstand instructions.
It can make things look spectacularly stupid.
It can confidently tell you something that isn’t true.
It can completely misunderstand what you meant.
And occasionally it produces something so bizarre that you have no choice but to keep it.
That’s part of the fun.
Using AI well isn’t simply pressing a button and accepting whatever comes out.
You have to look at the result. Think about it. Reject things. Correct things. Try again.
Sometimes you need twenty attempts to get something right.
Sometimes the first attempt is brilliant.
And sometimes the AI decides that a perfectly normal human being should have the anatomy of a garden chair.
You learn to check.
So why use it?
Because it’s fun.
Because it’s fascinating.
Because it allows me to experiment with ideas that would otherwise be difficult, expensive or simply impossible for one person sitting at a computer.
And because I’ve always been interested in what technology can do.
That’s really what Gramepa is about.
I’ve been gaming for nearly fifty years.
I’ve watched games go from Pong and early home computers to enormous open worlds that look like films.
I’ve watched technology repeatedly change what is possible.
AI is simply the latest chapter.
And I’d rather have a play with it than sit around complaining about it.
So yes…
I use AI.
I use it quite a lot.
Sometimes I use it badly.
Sometimes I use it brilliantly.
Sometimes it does something I didn’t expect.
And sometimes it produces complete bloody nonsense.
But I’m not trying to fool anyone.
I’m experimenting with a new tool.
I’m interested in where it goes.
I’m interested in what I can make with it.
And most importantly…
I’m having fun.
Because at the end of the day, that’s what Gramepa is supposed to be about.
Gaming. Technology. Creativity.
And occasionally making a complete arse of myself.
Welcome to the workshop.
