Hey Corona, there are many topics you touched on that are indeed important to clarify.
Regarding the use of AI and whether we are going to stop using it: the short answer is no. The long answer is more complicated than that, but let me try to keep it brief and easy to understand without getting into all the associated nuances. There are several things I’m working on for the next patch that simply wouldn't be possible without AI—specifically, different storytelling methods than those used until now.
Furthermore, I am trying to recruit. This is for two reasons: first, I want to give back to the community. I’ve felt good in the conversations I’ve had so far with different studios and freelance artists just thinking about the possibility of being a source of income for someone else. All the funds we’ve earned to date are being held in reserve for exactly that: to recruit artists. I’m not paying Viv, Alex, or myself. This weighs on me a bit because they’ve been with the project since the beginning and deserve it, even though they say they prefer it this way. But let that sink in for a second.
The second reason is that I want to keep improving the game, and for that, I need people. Artists, programmers, GUI designers, etc. I want TrueClash to be a story that sticks with you, a game that leaves a mark, something good, even if it's only for 100 people. Without AI, I wouldn't be able to recruit external help right now; I’ve tried to start this project without AI before and, for numerous reasons, it wasn't possible.
Last but not least on this topic: I’m tired of talking about it. Especially considering that in our recruitment process, 95% of the messages we received were practically identical, to the point where the phrasing and topics were the same, including strange and clearly robotic sentences (likely ChatGPT). If it’s unfair to artists who spent their lives drawing, it should also be unfair to writers, teachers, proofreaders, linguists and translators, yet there doesn’t seem to be the same level of importance given there since everyone uses it to review and enhance their texts instead of paying a teacher or taking a course to improve their writing skills. (including those affected by it)
AI or not, our game is full of soul, hard work, and manual refinement of images by myself and Alex; we spend days and weeks at a time working on these characters. I can share with you that Harry's current design took us well over three weeks to finish. Why? Because AI usually generates 'standard' characters that all look the same; I have limited skills and, above all, I wanted to represent real people, not identical-looking dolls.
From conversations I had with different studios, they usually say they can make one to two character sprites per week.
And if you'll allow me to vent, this struggle is becoming quite frustrating for us. It’s hard enough on its own to find artists who want to join a project and feel in sync with it. But in our case, because we use AI, it becomes even harder. Many artists don’t want to be part of a project that uses AI (even if their involvement is specifically meant to reduce the reliance on AI itself). Others who are willing to do it don't want to be publicly associated with it—they’ll take the money, but they want to stay in the shadows. For us, that just doesn't work. Even so, we still have some artists and studios who are interested and will be sending us mockups, but the reality is that it makes our selection pool even smaller.
On top of that, not only is there misinformation on the topic from both sides, but there are also unfounded negative associations caused by the creative laziness of a few, which ends up generalizing everyone else.
Despite all this, I understand your difficulty. Will we be able to move away from AI entirely? I think not as it depends on many things—from the artists who apply and their work ethic, to (especially) whether the people who support us actually like those changes. The more support we receive, the more people I can recruit to help us (and not just artists).
Do I know that our project has a harder time reaching more people because it uses AI? Of course I do. I’m fully aware of that. But it wouldn't even exist without it. The only thing I can say is that if you want an experience full of human soul, effort, and love: stick around.
If that isn't enough, I more than understand you. It’s not up to me to define what is right or wrong, especially since that often changes from person to person—we just have to respect each other.