I’m working on an online game that’s going to feature all manner of invertebrates, and will definitely be giving a huge shout-out to INaruralist and ChatGtp as essential collaborators. While strict scientific accuracy isn’t a requirement, I intend to keep the content as close to factual as possible.
The content will include a lot of “bug cards”, which will look something like this.
If this idea thrills you, drop me a line.
A guessing game?
I am inclined to think so given the Spiel part of the title.
no, a territorial/set collecting game, inspired by “Wingspan” and related games.
how is chatgpt “collaborating”?
It is really good at answering question like “list 100 major types of invertebrates,
and 20 species in each type, and descriptions of each species.”. unfortunately
not as simple and directly as that, but I feel like I bypassed 4 years of undergrad
study.
Cool! I like the concept. How exactly do you play?
That’s still under development.. I have a general plan and a lot of experience
with digital game implementations, and a modest understanding of game design
principles, and a few original games under my belt.
I’m hoping to collect some followers here who will help playtest, and in
the process point out all the factual flaws before they are poured in
concrete.
And BTW, this is strictly not a commercial project.
It is just astounding what these models can do. For example, one I’m using https://reve.art/ is particularly open about some amazing details. A prompt such as
“A macro photo of Drunella grandis” produces this image:
and this description of what it actually fed itself to generate the image
“A macro photograph captures a living Drunella grandis (western blue-winged olive mayfly) perched on a brown tree branch. The mayfly’s translucent wings are spread horizontally, displaying iridescent blue-grey coloring. The insect’s segmented body shows distinct dark markings, with six jointed legs gripping the textured bark surface. Fine details of the compound eyes, antennae, and wing veins are visible against a softly blurred green forest background. Extreme macro photography with shallow depth of field and natural lighting highlights intricate subject details.”
Or if you want to have some fun:
that is quite clearly NOT an Atypus or even a mygalomorph. i wouldn’t trust chatgpt to ‘help’ in ANY way.
and the ‘mite’ is a pseudoscorpion.
Idk if I’d trust chatgpt for scientifically accurate photos (although does do look pretty cool). I’m sure there r plenty of macro photographers willing to help (including me, although I’m not that good at photography. Plus I could only help with Indian species, since that’s where I live). Not to mention lots of graphic designers on the Inat Forum itself who would love to chip in!
After using chatgpt was mentioned, I lost all the interest to the game. There is Wikipedia and iNat for species lists and stock photos and iNat again for photos. It’s like citing google search as essential collaborators instead of authors.
For everyone interested in bug photographing games, check out Shutterbug, a small game jam entry. I thought for a moment that the topic is created by its authors, as the premise is similar. It also has a unique interface (which is unfortunately not always working).
Chatgpt is really really good at telling things it makes up using a bunch of words that when strung together “sound reasonable”. I put no faith in it. The more you use that garbage the more garbage is generated.
Sorry, no interest.
I like the concept, but I am wondering, why use chatgpt? Especially with all the great macro photographers who would probably love to help with something like this, as @austin_ajit mentioned.
I would love to help, but as an artist and as an ameteur photographer, and also as someone who already knows a lot of people who have lost job oppurtunities to AI, (An old co-worker, a graphic design major, couldn’t find any jobs in the time I knew them due to AI) I have a pretty poor relationship with generative AI and would ask that you use images created/photographed by people.
hmm. well, count me in the “very disappointed” camp for seeing that AI is being used to generate images for this. also, to suggest that using generative AI to give you lists of organisms is like bypassing 4 years of education (be that education from an institution, or from other lived experience) is quite insulting, IMHO. the AI does not, and cannot, know what is real and what is not real. because of this, it cannot effectively educate you.
I would rethink this approach. I think the idea itself is cool, and I don’t mean to be overly harsh, I just don’t think AI is the way to do it for all the reasons already mentioned here. at the very least, the final product should not be produced by AI - it should be produced by you, and/or other real-life human beings!
the “trapdoor spider” in the image isn’t a trapdoor spider, either!
edit: d’oh, you already said that. it’s one of those days!
that’s exactly where Inaturalist (and you) come into the process, to validate and correct what chatgpt produces.
In this case, only the name “Mite” is a fabrication. There’s
apparently no widely used common name, so it suggested
the name based on size.
Good question. I posted here a while ago looking for human collaborators and got zip.
In any case, this is primarily a game, not an educational tool, but I’d like the game to have as large a basis in reality as possible. I’m taking inspiration from “Wingspan” which includes hundreds of “Bird Cards” like this; the details may not be strictly accurate, but the flavor is correct.
Compare this to the follow up game “Wyrmspan” which has the same vibe, but based on Dragons rather than birds, and obviously, less based on reality.
chatgpt produces incorrect information using uncredited sources and at great environmental cost. no thanks.
pseudoscorpion is the common name.
It’s a common name that covers a huge number of species, but you raise an interesting question about how common names should be used. Some very familiar species have lots of different common names and you have to pick one, and many less familiar species have no common names - “they’re all whip spiders”.
