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In a recent interview with Indie-Games.eu, the co-founder and tech art lead at Toukana Interactive Zwi Zausch offered his thoughts on the current state of the gaming industry from an indie developer’s point of view. Beyond discussing the studio’s new management and building game Star Birds, Zausch shared his insights on the challenges of finding visibility, and the role of AI.
Zausch noted that the gaming industry is becoming increasingly difficult for newcomers. “The market feels flooded with releases every day,” he explained, making it a huge challenge for studios to stand out. He emphasized that simply having a solid game isn’t enough anymore; success now depends on a game’s ability to reach a wide audience. The sheer number of games, even within a single genre on platforms like Steam, has created intense competition.
He stressed the importance of collaboration among indie developers to share knowledge and support one another. Without this network, he believes it’s challenging to make the informed decisions that can determine a project’s success or failure, acknowledging that many studios are struggling, and the industry is growing more tense.
While he sees potential in AI to redefine processes and save time on various tasks, Zausch also expressed reservations about its current quality, especially in art. “I often find AI-generated art to be very generic,” he said, believing it doesn’t help a project stand out. He stated a clear preference for human-made art and assets.
Despite his concerns about AI’s creative output, Zausch is not opposed to using it for technical processes that can improve efficiency for smaller teams. “It can enable smaller teams to create amazing things more effectively,” he stated. However, he is against using AI to completely replace human members of a team. Toukana Interactive is currently observing how the technology evolves and how it can be incorporated into their workflow to assist, rather than take over, development tasks.
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