Hey, I ABSOLUTELY agree with you. It's kinda discouraging for newbies...
Of course, I see many people grinding it out on their own (apparently, it's not cool anymore to use AI?)- but I think it makes it really restrictive. Disclaimers are okay, but straight up rejecting something just because, say graphics or vc is AI is silly. Don't we end up losing hidden gems because of it?
Yeah I absolutely and there are some that are okay with AI just seems like many aren't. But idk how you can make a call on if ai was used or not. Also how would you know how ai was used i think everyone uses it tbh. Especially for things like debugging. Also why not use all the resources we have available to make the best possible game. I know i certainly wont be developing with one hand behind my back.
I'm not sure I understand your suspicion that "everyone uses it." The people who dislike AI aren't going to use it. I use GDevelop, they added AI features and I turned it off immediately (by that I mean, clicked the option to hide the "ask AI" button). Now you might find a rare case of someone pretending to hate it but then using it in secret, but that is very unlikely. People who want to use it secretly will usually just not say anything.
There can be reasons not to use "everything available" - those of us who don't want to use it often cite ethical reasons around data scraping and real world resource consumption. Making the best possible game isn't worth it if I'm causing harm to others.
You are absolutely right! Flat-out rejecting a project just because it uses AI tools risks burying "diamonds in the rough" that possess immense narrative substance. In the case of my project, a VN titled MOS (I won’t reveal the full name yet as I haven't "gifted" it to the itch.io world—though you can "catch" some details on my site), I use AI as a modern brush to visualize a complex literary universe. However, the work is far from "blind generation." Every graphic element, beyond the generation effort which isn't as short as it seems, goes through numerous iterations of AI processing followed by manual refinement in GIMP to align with my "artistic" vision (many elements actually start from my own sketches, etc.).
For an independent author "without time and/or financial resources," AI is the only way to visually support a script exceeding 1 million words in 7 languages (and yes, translated via LLMs), featuring over 1,200 visual assets. I’ll admit, as an illustrator, I range somewhere between "abysmal and decent"... but the time required to move from "Phase 1" (roughly 15-30 minutes) to "Phase 2" takes me anywhere from an hour to "far too much time" or... right back to "Phase 1." Ultimately, the essence of a Visual Novel remains the "Story" and the "Author's Presence"; technology should be a bridge, not a wall. I’ll take the risk!
By the way, does anyone have a suggestion on how a publisher (a compromise between a "minor" graphic artist and a "major" writer) could otherwise realize a VN that encompasses over 12 published novels, intended to be presented in a "more visual" form? And why not, if I’ve been a "gamer" since the dawn of video games, shouldn't I move to the next level too?
To conclude, a sort of "parable"... Jesus Christ asks a doctor to take his place and interact with his chronic patients. The doctor, as kind as he is devout, grants the request. The first patient enters with terminal cancer (stage 4 metastases). Jesus approaches him, places a hand on his head, and says: "You are now healed! Live your life 'as in heaven'!" The patient leaves and, in the waiting room, the others—noticing there’s a new doctor—ask: "How is the new guy?" He replies: "An idiot. He didn't even take my blood pressure!"
And here is a Romanian linguistic twist: In Romanian, "cancer" (the disease) is phonetically similar to "ca’n cer," which means "as in heaven."
Perhaps this text was also created with AI, or perhaps it wasn't?
