Classic Point and Click Adventure Games Reimagined with AI Image Generation

I adore point and click adventure games. They have captivated my imagination for decades and I still pick up the mouse to relive some of those glory days. Exploring rich new worlds and settings, collecting weird and wonderful objects, solving sometimes obscure puzzles and well, ‘clicking’ furiously when stuck was all part of the process.

There have been a few remasters created in the last few years, including Day of the Tentacle and Full Throttle, but I do wonder how other games would look if they too were modernised or if new sequels were commissioned.

AI has opened up a vast new area of possibility and although it can be quite controversial, especially if you are an artist fearing how your images are being used to form part of a final AI generated without you even knowing. On a more positive note though, it is certainly another tool for creating concepts and ideas and we can encourage a few experiments today.

I wondered, what would AI bring to some of the classic games I played and would the images created have any resemblance at all to their original incarnations? So let’s have a little silly fun together, and review some of the results AI image generation has given us, inspired by classic point and click adventure games.

Broken Sword

Broken Sword released in 1996, starting off of course in Paris in the fall. Here AI has set the scene, although late in the evening. There is a cafe featured, birds flying as per the intro video from the game, the Eiffel Tower appearing clearly in the background (well it’s Paris of course) and a mysterious figure standing to the right. Is this Khan who George Stobbart had a few run ins with? The hairstyle certainly hints at this…

Sam and Max: Hit the Road

Sam and Max: Hit the Road released in 1993, a dog detective and his trusty although maybe more than just a little bit insane rabbit friend. AI has certainly taken the animal concept deep and rabbit Max could potentially be even crazier in this version. AI also took the road to heart as well as it features heavily in the shot.

Simon the Sorcerer

Simon the Sorcerer released in 1993, featuring Simon the young wizard who was catapulted into a strange new world. AI I gave a few goes at this title and I requested the red robes from the sequel and the visual results in their entirety are varied in style. An owl looms close to Simon in a few images when I asked for a wise owl to feature, sometimes overly large, although I wish I had pushed for the Swampling now. Swampling Stew anyone?

Discworld

Discworld by Terry Pratchett released in 1995, with our mesmerising hero Rincewind the wizard starring and a librarian who just happened to be a gorilla. I later realised, the librarian is actually an orang-utan, but you get the idea. I am not sure if the wizard Rincewind was fully realised here, but I appreciate the gorilla sitting proudly in the library. Would you ask to loan a book from him? Maybe for a spell hey.

Beneath a Steel Sky

Beneath a Steel Sky released in 1994 and one of the stand out aspects of the title was the cyberpunk surroundings and of course companion Joey the robot. Well here is Joey and I have to say this is one of the most impressive shots using AI…

Day of the Tentacle

And last but not least, Day of the Tentacle. This was a challenge for AI, it was quite confused by the ‘tentacle’ aspect of this title – yet, there is still a certain charm with some of these images. Does it look like a purple tentacle trying to take over the world? The single eye certainly adds a new menace.

So there you have it folks, what do you think? Would you like any of these styles to be used in a future point and click adventure game? Can you recognise any of the aspects within the AI generated images?

It has been a joy to play around with AI image generation, however the errors within the shots, especially with finer details like faces and fingers are often a complete mess so half the pleasure was actually admiring the errors as well as the successes.