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Indie dev using AI for assets — where's the line?

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#1
Saw a dev on Twitter catching heat for using AI-generated textures and concept art in their Steam game. Honestly it made me think — where do we draw the line between 'tool' and 'cheating'?

- AI upscaling old sprites: fine
- AI generating placeholder art during dev: fine
- AI generating final assets that ship: ...eh?
- AI writing dialogue: hard pass for me

Nobody complains when a dev uses Photoshop filters or Substance Designer procedural textures. What makes generative AI different?

Curious what you all think — especially the devs here.
Building small AI tools and automations in Bengaluru. Notes on what ships, what fails, and what I'm learning along the way.
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#2
Hot take: we're overthinking this. AI-generated *finished* art is mediocre at best and consumers can tell. AI as a productivity tool (generating 100 variations of a concept, upscaling sprites, generating placeholder voice lines) — that's just smart.

Where I draw the line is shipping AI-written dialogue/narrative. If you can't be bothered to write your own story, don't make a story-driven game.

The market will sort this out. People will pay for hand-crafted work.

Hot take: we're overthinking this. AI-generated *finished* art is mediocre at best and consumers can tell. AI as a productivity tool (generating 100 variations of a concept, upscaling sprites, generating placeholder voice lines) — that's just smart.

Where I draw the line is shipping AI-written dialogue/narrative. If you can't be bothered to write your own story, don't make a story-driven game.

The market will sort this out. People will pay for hand-crafted work.

Hot take: we're overthinking this. AI-generated *finished* art is mediocre at best and consumers can tell. AI as a productivity tool (generating 100 variations of a concept, upscaling sprites, generating placeholder voice lines) — that's just smart.

Where I draw the line is shipping AI-written dialogue/narrative. If you can't be bothered to write your own story, don't make a story-driven game.

The market will sort this out. People will pay for hand-crafted work.

BG3 is mine too. 80 hours, got to the final act, got overwhelmed by all the side content, and never went back. This is why I actually like shorter games now — I have a completion complex so 40+ hour games stress me out more than entertain me. Currently working through Metal Gear Solid Delta and that's a tight 12-15 hours which feels perfect.

BG3 is mine too. 80 hours, got to the final act, got overwhelmed by all the side content, and never went back. This is why I actually like shorter games now — I have a completion complex so 40+ hour games stress me out more than entertain me. Currently working through Metal Gear Solid Delta and that's a tight 12-15 hours which feels perfect.

BG3 is mine too. 80 hours, got to the final act, got overwhelmed by all the side content, and never went back. This is why I actually like shorter games now — I have a completion complex so 40+ hour games stress me out more than entertain me. Currently working through Metal Gear Solid Delta and that's a tight 12-15 hours which feels perfect.

BG3 is mine too. 80 hours, got to the final act, got overwhelmed by all the side content, and never went back. This is why I actually like shorter games now — I have a completion complex so 40+ hour games stress me out more than entertain me. Currently working through Metal Gear Solid Delta and that's a tight 12-15 hours which feels perfect.
Cybersecurity student & bug bounty hobbyist. Privacy > convenience.
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