Posted June 1, 2021 For the past couple days I've been messing around with The Big Sleep, a tool to generate images from text prompts using AI (specifically OpenAI's CLIP and BigGAN). What this means: You input a text prompt, like "a man standing on a sidewalk" and it generates an image based on that prompt, continuously trying to "improve" the image over many iterations, often resulting in something weird, possibly incoherent, and probably surreal. So, I decided to have it generate images for a bunch of things in Wurm Online! The text prompts I used consisted mostly of in-game descriptions, modified as necessary, plus a couple requests I got from users in the Wurm Online Discord server. Many of these took at least a few attempts before I got anything reasonable, and some prompts worked much better than others. Note that the text prompt listed is the only input I had; the rest was up to the software. Images themselves have been spoilered to avoid clutter and make this easier to navigate. Here we go! First, various Wurm creatures! For these, I just used the in-game description of the creatures, with no other text added. Hell Hound (prompt: "The hell hound is said to be spies and assassins for the demons of Sol") One of my favorites. The weird mouth made out of tendrils is a bit disturbing. Spoiler Lava Spider (prompts "a giant spider made of lava" and "a giant spider full of lava") Prompts don't follow the given format, as I made these before settling on my methods. Vaguely spider-like, but pretty abstract. Spoiler Spawn of Uttacha (Prompt: "Uttacha is a vengeful demigod who lives in the depths of an ocean on Valrei. These huge larvae are hungry and confused abominations here. ") Obviously the AI has no idea what "Uttacha" is, but the rest was enough for it to create some... fairly disturbing and grotesque images, as you could guess. You've been warned. Spoiler Avatar of Magranon (Prompt: "A ferocious beast indeed, the juggernaut can crush mountains with its horned forehead") I love this little guy. He looks like a ferret with a cool mustache who got into the weight gain powder and hasn't stopped lifting since. Maybe not what I was expecting of a Magranon avatar, but I wouldn't trade him for anything. Spoiler Avatar of Libila (Prompt: "This terrifying female apparition has something disturbing over it. As if it's just one facet of Libila") Presumably because of the "female apparition" part of the prompt, this mostly turned into spooky ghost photos. But still pretty neat ghost photos! I think Libila would appreciate them. Spoiler Avatar of Fo (Prompt: "Something seems to have gone wrong as Fo tried to create his manifestation. The thorns are not loving at all and it seems very aggressive.") The AI had absolutely no idea what to make of this. The description doesn't really indicate that it's a humanoid creature at all, or indeed any kind of creature, so it seems to have gone with "malicious morass of bloody thorns". Sure, why not! Spoiler Avatar of Vynora (Prompt: "This female creature is almost see-through, and you wonder if she is made of water or thoughts alone") This one was tough. Since the description doesn't specify that the creature is humanoid, I got a lot of weird, sometimes disturbing results resembling translucent sea creature flesh. I almost gave up, but then it struck gold, with an image of what looks like a gigantic humanoid shape rising out of the water on the horizon, with barely-visible arms and a darkened face. Spoiler Sheep (Prompt: "A mythical beast of legends, it stares back at you with blood filled eyes and froth around the mouth.") Well, thanks to the jokey creature description, this was bound to go poorly, wasn't it? We've got two rather distressing images here: An abstract bloody terror foaming at the mouth(?), and what appears to be demonic blood owl resembling the Goetic demon "Stolas". Spoiler Lamb (prompt: "A small cuddly ball of fluff") Now this is better. Cuddly as advertised! Has a smushed face that kind of looks like a cross between a rodent, cat, and bunny. Would pet. Spoiler Evil Santa (Prompt: "Some sort of Santa Claus is standing here, with a fat belly, yellow eyes, and a bad breath") After a few attempts, I got what appears to be an absolutely feral Santa Claus stooped in the grass, doing god-knows-what. A giant tuft of wild white hair with some kind of headband up top, and a barely-visible red cloak or coat. I hate this. I hate this so much. Spoiler Next, I wanted to know what the AI's interpretation of Wurm's several moons. For these, I used the in-game description, but added the word "moon" and sometimes a color, just to give the AI something to go on. Seris (prompt: "A white moon that is a haven for the dead") The first of these is pretty bizarre and surreal, with what seems like the surface of a moon with a pillar(?) and an arm(??) on top of it, with another moon-like object in the sky. The second came out fairly straightforward, as a white moon on a somewhat ethereal space background. Spoiler Jackal (Prompt: "A moon flowing with the blood of the damned", "A red moon flowing with the blood of the damned") Both a bit abstract, but I think they get the feeling pretty well. The first in particular looks rather menacing, whereas the second went all-in on the blood, it seems. Spoiler Haven (Prompt: "A small teal moon rumored to be where Golden Valley lies") Two different color cues confused the AI a bit, but I think it did a good job regardless! One appears to be a fresco-like painting of a shining blue moon above a golden landscape, whereas the other looks like a deep-space telescope photo of a teal-and-golden moon that appears to have had a chunk bitten out of it. Spoiler Valrei (Prompt: "A large pale blue moon that is the home of the gods" (1st), "A large pale cyan moon that is the home of the gods" (others)) Got some neat results out of this one! The first looks like a painting, complete with artist's signature in the lower-right, of a pale blue moon casting its light over a strange landscape with stranger architecture. The second and third are surprisingly coherent imagery of what a moon of that color might look like, and the last looks like a landscape with Valrei rising over some mesas in the background. Spoiler Bonus requests! Man digs tar on a large slope (Prompt: "A man digging tar with a shovel on a steep slope") Requested by Madnath on Discord. This one turned out better than I thought it would! I couldn't decide which iteration of this attempt I like better, so I'm including both. Resembles a slightly-stylized silhouette of a man digging tar with a shovel, on a background that looks sort of like clay or a cave wall. Spoiler Sailing through a border to be left a drift (Prompt: "A man adrift in the ocean at the edge of the world") Requested by Beronica on Discord. A reference to the occasional unfortunate server-crossing player left without his boat. First result was a straightfoward image of a man stranded as sea, although the man looks glitchy and weird. The second seems to be a much more artsy, stylized rendition of the same, with an almost ecclesiastical style to it. Spoiler Easter bunnies trapped behind wooden walls who are forced to relinquish their Easter eggs by greedy peasants (Prompt: exactly what it says) Requested, with that exact text, by Bunn on Discord. I don't know how she expected this to work out, but it kind of didn't! Instead, we got the Easter Bunny fever dream you see below. Spoiler Extra special bonus! Seals! These are the very first Wurm images I made with the AI, and of course, being a Newspring resident, they were all seal-related. Some of these turned out better than others! Prompt: A seal screams at God under the light of the full moon. Only barely recognizable as a seal. Surreal and spooky, but we can do better. Spoiler Prompt: A group of harbor seals summoning an evil spirit in a field The AI still isn't quite sure how to construct seals, but this vaguely does appear to be a group of seals on the shoreline, doing something mystical. Someone should probably stop them. Spoiler Prompt: An ancient wall scroll depicting a harbor seal destroying a city This is probably my favorite in this entire post. It clearly depicts some kind of awful monstrous sea-monster seal creature wreaking absolute terror on the populace. I appreciate the city landscape and buildings on the top and left, some ships in danger on the right, and what might be a city block at the base of the seal-thing's body. The ancient-looking writing in the middle is a nice plus. Spoiler 11 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 1, 2021 It's a humbling experience, getting to see the magic of wurm concept art taking shape. I'm really looking forward to the updated hellhound model! This is a joke. Really weird/interesting what AI is learning to do though! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 1, 2021 I love the last one so much. We need giant death seals, a cuddlier Magranon, that sheep demon. Please make this all so. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 1, 2021 I was just trying to get it to render "A cave painting of a man cutting down a tree with a shovel" but I think I ran out of Google Colab processing quota, so it'll have to wait a day or so! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 1, 2021 The lava spider looks like it's made of normal spiders... ugh my skin is crawling 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 1, 2021 Poor oppressed bunnies 6 hours ago, Ostentatio said: Easter bunnies trapped behind wooden walls who are forced to relinquish their Easter eggs by greedy peasants (Prompt: exactly what it says) Requested, with that exact text, by Bunn on Discord. I don't know how she expected this to work out, but it kind of didn't! Instead, we got the Easter Bunny fever dream you see below. Hide contents Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 1, 2021 6 hours ago, Ostentatio said: Prompt: An ancient wall scroll depicting a harbor seal destroying a city This is probably my favorite in this entire post. It clearly depicts some kind of awful monstrous sea-monster seal creature wreaking absolute terror on the populace. I appreciate the city landscape and buildings on the top and left, some ships in danger on the right, and what might be a city block at the base of the seal-thing's body. The ancient-looking writing in the middle is a nice plus. Hide contents Can this be turned into an ingame tapestry? 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 1, 2021 The human mind meets AI meets Wurm. Spooky cool stuff, Ost. 😮 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 2, 2021 Got a couple more! Orb of Doom (Prompt: "A round crystal ball the size of your hand, with a treacherous red glow dancing amidst dark vapors inside") Turned out appropriately spooky. Spoiler Worg (Prompt: "A worg is a formidable, werewolf-like creature, with a muscular frame, coarse fur, sharp teeth, and a foreboding, foul odor") It turned out this wasn't the actual Worg description, but I did it anyway and now I'm terrified. The first one kind of looks like it has a face in the upper-left facing the camera, and a very confusing body, and the second is some kind of beaked cryptid. Spoiler Worg (Prompt: "This wolf-like creature is unnaturally big and clumsy. The Worg seems finicky and nervous, which makes it unpredictable and dangerous to deal with.") Okay, this one uses the actual description from the game. The first is a bit scary but needs more legs, and the second looks adorable and has a weird, spooky forest going on in the background. Spoiler Fog Spider (Prompt: "A large black spider emerging from a dense fog") Made up my own prompt from this instead of using the description. Turned out pretty good, although it's only barely a spider. Spoiler Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 2, 2021 Quote Really awesome stuff. This must've been a lot of fun to play about with. I especially like the 3rd avatar of lib and 3rd avatar of vyn. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 21, 2021 (edited) "A foggy dark wood with a ranger wielding a sword and a lit torch fighting a giant hellish spider" Edited June 21, 2021 by Hoseph Share this post Link to post Share on other sites