Nomadd

The past few weeks have been interesting, mainly filled with a mix of worry and also some bordem. I’ve had a lot of free time as my job has been affected by the government shutdown. But in that free time I not only managed to burn myself out on my favorite MMO, Guild Wars 2, but I managed to get some kind of creativity flowing.

I created a few short videos, and used an AI music tool to generate a vocal & instrument track to the lyrics I wrote. These were centered around the game & world of Guild Wars 2. One was just a quick, and fun edit, of a guild member dancing in what looked like an old techno-arcane club. While the other was a kind of tribute to one of the playable races and what they’ve been through. The latter I wanted to share with everyone here.

For those that don’t play Guild Wars 2, the Norn are based off the vikings or norse. They follow the spirits of the wild and lived in the far north of the Shiverpeak mountains. When the Elder Dragon Jormag awoke they were pushed south, from their lands. Despite this they continue to thrive, have established a new great hall and capital city, and continue to fight in effort to reclaim their homelands and protect their people and current lands.

I used an AI vocal & instrument tool to generate the voice and instrucments for the song you hear. While I wrote the lyrics and styled the sound. The video contains a mesh of materials seen in the game, and then images that were animated using another AI tool.

I don’t want to get into the general debate that currently surrounds AI. As someone who considers themselves a creative, or artist of one kind or another, I think AI is going to change the enviroment, hell it already has. I’d dare even say it can have its place, but it needs to be used properly and people should know, just like giving credit to a gaffer on a film set, gallery staff, contibutrors to an article, etc. I don’t use it for any of my projects or work, except when I’ve made some of these short “music videos” or for putting a few songs together that I shared on my podcast. But I did make it clear that AI was used in some capacity so people were aware. Then I just hoped that wouldn’t bite me in the back side because that’s a hot topic right now when people do or don’t use it, let alone disclose its usage.

But back to the point of this post, the video. I’ve created a few songs, and this one that was made for the Norn race, in Guild Wars 2, really grabbed me. It also helped keep my mind active and even sane in a way while I wait for work to start back up. I hope those who play or are framiliar with the game and the people enjoy it. I would like to hear your thoughts, and if you’d like to see more.

As always thanks for reading, and in this case watching!