Its literally *the* first impression people get of your work. It doesn't matter if its *in* the game, it still tells every prospective player that you as a dev are okay with using stolen assets, and thats not even getting into the ecological effect. If you can't make good placeholders, make bad ones, just actually MAKE them. STS2 literally uses ms paint drawings as placeholder art for all their stuff, theres literally royalty free assets you could use as well so you wouldn't even have to make anything and avoid stealing. Right now, all i see is an incremental game that looks like it might be fun, but I'm not gonna touch it with a 10 foot pole as long as that slop is in there.
That’s fair. My priority before the november launch is building the game itself. The current banners are placeholders so I can spend my limited time on gameplay and content, ensuring players get the most value for their money at launch. I understand that some people dislike ai generated assets, and I respect that. They will be replaced as development progresses and I have time to focus on polishing.