Kate (Katarzyna Kuczyńska) and Martin (Marcin Kuczyński) of Game Machinery have a new project on Kickstarter, Defiant. This RPG, in Martin’s words, is “a tabletop RPG set in a modern, urban-fantasy world. You get to play as supernatural aristocrats – angels, old gods, dragons in human forms, and demons. You are a part of the local establishment, governing and protecting the city that would have otherwise been destroyed by the raging Apocalypse. Defiant is a game focusing on social interactions, personal goals, and desires, all the perks and issues of being in a position of power and responsibility.”
At EN World, I conducted an interview with Martin about the game. During that interview, we discussed a great deal about his art technique. Due to the length of that piece, I edited that portion out to share here as I’ve talked about RPG artwork several times (here, here, here, and here) making this a good fit.
EGG EMBRY (EGG): I backed Defiant because the concepts, the free quickstart, and artwork grabbed me. Especially the artwork. Can you talk about your artistic influences and what inspired the imagery of Defiant?
MARCIN KUCZYŃSKI (MARTIN): We spend quite some time figuring how we want the game to look. How the game’s graphic style is supposed to help get the message across. We live in a world focused on the visual side of things, and words can only get you so far. We knew that Defiant was supposed to be a modern setting, that all those supernatural Lords and Ladies were living in a world similar to our own. So eventually, we decided to go in a new direction when it comes to visual style. We wanted the illustration to feel like Instagram posts, like luxury brands commercials.
Then again, we needed a way to clearly show that while modern, this isn’t exactly our world. So we went with a distinctive color palette, to make the illustration stand out and feel “out of this world.” To emphasize the supernatural, unreal side of Defiant. And that’s basically the thought process behind the artwork in Defiant.
EGG: On the campaign page and your books, you mention that you use AI and photos to create your artwork. Would you be willing to share some of your art process?
MARTIN: We rely heavily on stock photos as the source material for our illustrations. We modify and merge them using the standard techniques to make a scene look precisely to our liking. Then we change some of the proportions and use several different filters to make the material look more drawing-like. I’m fascinated (if a little terrified) by the progress AI has made in the last few years. I was curious whether we could use AI’s help to create better illustrations in a shorter time. And after some research and a lot of trial and error attempts, I managed to use the available scripts and train them with already made illustrations to help out with the process.
Sometimes it’s the little things, like getting the face proportions more comic book-like. You could do this manually, but AI lets you change a batch of a dozen pictures in a matter of seconds. Other times, it’s the case of turning the model’s head, changing their facial features, or giving them new faces altogether. And finally, AI may help you achieve a more drawing-like feel of the artwork, changing the way the lines are drawn, etc. And all of that can be achieved with GAN-type AIs (working similarly to ThisPersonDoesNotExists, etc.) – fun to use, but from my layman perspective, just a step in the AI evolution. New types of AIs already emerge and may prove even more useful.
EGG: What programs and other resources do you use to create your artwork?
MARTIN: As I’ve stated before, we relied heavily on stock photos. My drawing skills are mediocre at best. I know just enough to see how bad my drawings are and not merely enough to know how to make them look better.
From here, it’s 99 percent Photoshop. When talking about AI, I probably should’ve mentioned Adobe Sensei as well – an AI engine that’s embedded into the newer versions of Photoshop. But most of the work is still done manually – you cut, paste, liquify, change the tones until everything looks about right. Then you run a set of actions we designed for the “Defiant Look,” add textures, etc.
GAN-type AIs help during the process. I believe that we used them in about 70 percent of the illustrations to some extent (changing the pose or proportions, making the artwork feel more drawing-like, etc.). And after all is done, you’re back to the basic tools, doing minor modifications, getting rid of any artifacts the AI might have created, etc.
EGG: Defiant is not your first RPG. In Poland, you’ve published two RPGs. What are they? Have they been translated into English?
MARTIN: The first one – “Poza Czasem” (Beyond Time), is a fantasy game set in a magical, Celtic world. We actually sold the rights for the English translation of the game a few years back, and perhaps one day, it will become available for the audience around the world.
Our second game, “Armie Apokalipsy” (Armies of Apocalypse), is related to Defiant in a way. It tells a story of angels invading our world as part of the Apocalyptic force. The ruleset is entirely different than in Defiant, but some of the elements of the world probably sound very familiar. We do not plan on translating it to English. We might revisit the idea behind the game somewhere in the future, though.
EGG: Thank you for talking with me, Martin. For fans interested in this game, their Kickstarter can be found here and the free quickstart, Defiant Awakening, can be found here.
Defiant RPG from Game Machinery
End Date: Thu, July 15 2021 8:00 AM EDT.
“An urban fantasy ttrpg about the mighty, modern-day aristocrats: fallen angels, demons, ancient gods, and dragons. Now in print!”
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