Discussion: AI-looking art has made me way pickier about puzzle images
Hot take: I do not mind a puzzle being hard, I mind when the image looks generated.
I travel a lot and love doing puzzles as a screen-free way to unwind at night, so I end up browsing tons of listings and thrift-store boxes. Lately I keep seeing covers that try to be "pretty" in that overly smooth, hyper-detailed way, but nothing makes sense when you actually stare at them. Windows that do not line up, type that is almost readable but wrong, shadows going in three directions, and faces parked squarely in the uncanny valley. It immediately kills my desire to spend 6 to 12 hours on it.
Don't get me wrong, surreal or stylized art can be great. I mean the images where the closer you look, the more your brain slips on the details.
I feel like puzzle companies are hurting themselves by pushing those kinds of pictures. Puzzles are about rewarding careful looking. If the picture has no coherent visual logic, it stops being a satisfying challenge and just becomes annoying.
Anyone else avoid certain styles now, even if the cut and piece quality are good? Any rules of thumb for spotting a problematic cover before you commit?