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Update []: Stephan Berendsen, CEO of BBG Entertainment, has given Time Extension the following statement regarding the use of GenAI in the recent Manic Miner trailer:
"We finished the build just in time for Gamescom and were running out of time for the press release and the trailer, so our artist created the trailer with the help of AI for the animations to speed things up. We just thought it looks nice, but we understand the concerns the community has about AI and we will keep this in mind moving forward.
Our artist spent a lot of time creating the graphics and nothing was 'vibe-coded' here.
Our intention was and always will be to celebrate Matthew Smith and we want to make sure that moving forward we can just focus on that."
Original Story []: BBG Entertainment is relaunching Manic Miner, the classic 1983 platformer created by Matthew Smith.
Billed as a "faithful, pixel-perfect recreation of the classic", this new version is coming to PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and Mac. It will include all 20 original levels, and the ability to toggle between "classic pixel graphics and a modern reinterpretation".
The latter option will showcase "beautiful new backgrounds with parallax scrolling and atmospheric effects", while the controls have been "completely revamped" for modern-day systems.
There will also be a global online leaderboard, a rearranged soundtrack (featuring classic works by Johann Strauss and Edvard Grieg) and an"extensive interactive history of the creation of Manic Miner."
Matthew Smith has given this project his full authorisation, but I'd be curious to know if he signed off on the trailer, which looks very much like GenAI, if you ask me.
The use of GenAI in the world of retro gaming revivals is sadly only growing, presumably due to the fact that it allows such projects to be put into production with smaller budgets; recently, System 3 denied using the controversial tech in assets for its upcoming James Pond collection.