Is AI in our industry really that bad? (Dungeon Alchemist)

So there was this Steam sale last month and even though I really don't use my gaming laptop to play games, I did go ahead and pick up a few cheap games I could play when on the road. While I was at it I noticed that Dungeon Alchemist was something I saved as a "want" in Steam.

I think it was $35, possibly as part of the Steam sale.....it's $45 now. I'm not one to throw down that kind of cash on a tool I'm not sure I'll use, but with all this AI hype I figure.....why not check it out. I've played with Google Bard a little bit, and I see how that could assist with some writing, but not a road I want to go down. AI art.....not just no, but hell no. What I've seen as far as AI art really looks like it's ripping off actual artists, so that's a no-go....

....but Dungeon Alchemist....maybe?

From the Dungeon Alchemist press kit: "Dungeon Alchemist is an AI-powered map making application for fantasy games that allows you to create high-quality maps easily and fast. Players pick a map size, choose a theme, draw some shapes and Dungeon Alchemist will automatically populate the map with walls, lights, doors, windows and objects. Exporting maps for print can be done in seconds, and integration with VTTs is seamless. "

I did NOT go through a tutorial or anything and just started playing with a plain map. Ok, it took the third map until I found something appropriate for what I was trying to do, but that was just a couple of minutes at best. I settled on trying to build a small cottage with an attached brewery with some bee hives and walled-off garden plots. Throw in a small outhouse and a few odds & ends as well.

The program was easy enough to use, but it was obvious that I'm just scratching the surface of what this thing can do. Don't like how the room generated? Just re-do it and it'll add different stuff. If there's an individual "thing" in your room you don't like, just click on it and delete.

While there are a lot of current options as far as room types, the dev team is making more, and it needs more.

An added option, which pretty much blew me away, is that if you plop down a token (there are only a few monster tokes right now) you can actually navigate through your map! Pretty cool feature.

You'll probably notice on the pic above that there is a big cut-away of the hill that one walled field is on. Didn't like that, but I'm a newb with the program and I know that I selected the option to have all my construction on the same level as the water.

I haven't figured out if I like how these things print out yet, because I don't have a full-color printer....well I do actually have a large format one, but I don't want to use the ink. I'm more interested in having this program for VTT use. I didn't see underground caverns.....wait one...

Oh crap, the cave creation is awesome! If I wasn't already at the end of this post I'd re-do everything with a focus on caves. Uh...yeah......I'm of the opinion that my $35 was worthwhile for making some quick caves & caverns...and I like hand-drawing my caves. I'm also a big fan of this tidbit: "Dungeon Alchemist will be updated over time at no extra cost."