BigBen2000

Transfer your consciousness into Runner shells, customizable gameplay archetypes designed for survival. Craft your perfect playstyle using the cores, implants, weapons, and mods you scavenge on your runs.

I caved in. Now playing

I am a lead game developer on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Last year we shipped an indie RPG. It was beautiful. The environments were stunning. The character designs were unique. The textures were immaculate. We made them with AI. Just a little. 40% of the assets. Maybe 60%. Okay, most of them. But the vision was human. The prompts were handcrafted. That's artistry. Someone asked if we used generative AI. I said no. They asked again on the submission form. I checked "no" again. Checking boxes is not the same as lying. It's administrative efficiency. We were nominated for an indie award. Two indie awards. We won both. Game of the Year. Debut Game. The community celebrated. We celebrated. Then someone on Twitter found the metadata. The metadata that said "Midjourney v6." In 847 files. I called it "a pipeline artifact." Artifact means mistake. Mistake means not our fault. They asked why we said no AI. I said we interpreted the question differently. Differently means incorrectly. Incorrectly means strategically. The awards committee asked for clarification. I clarified. I said yes, we used AI. But only for "ideation." Ideation means the entire visual style. But the word sounds harmless. Harmless words are important. They stripped our awards. Both of them. I was shocked. For some reason, lying on the submission form was disqualifying. I called it "a technicality." They called it "fraud." Same thing. Different framing. The community turned on us. They said we stole an award from real indie devs. I said we ARE real indie devs. We just used tools. Tools that replaced the artists. But tools nonetheless. Someone asked why we didn't just disclose. I said disclosure wasn't required. It was literally required. On the form. That I signed. Saying no AI. But required is subjective. A journalist asked for comment. I said we were "disappointed by the decision." Disappointed means we got caught. Decision means consequences. Consequences are for other people. Usually. The awards went to the runners-up. Games made by humans. Humans who spent years on their art. Without AI. Like animals. I don't understand the backlash. Every studio uses AI now. We just admitted it. At the worst possible time. After lying about it. Publicly. On a legal document. But otherwise, very transparent. Someone said we should apologize. I said we'd "reflect on the situation." Reflect means wait for people to forget. People always forget. Usually. Our Discord is in flames. I muted notifications. Muting is self-care. The refund requests are up 400%. I called it "engagement." Engagement means attention. Attention means relevance. We're very relevant right now. My co-founder asked if we should have just told the truth. I said truth is complicated. He asked how. I said "the AI disclosure landscape is evolving." Evolving means we make up the rules as we go. He looked concerned. I scheduled him for a "founder alignment session." He stopped asking questions. We're already planning the next game. This time we'll use even more AI. But we'll call it something else. "Procedural asset generation." "Neural-assisted workflows." "Computational creativity." Same thing. Different words. Words are the real art. The art the AI can't replace. Yet. I've been in game development for 12 years. I've never seen a community this ungrateful. We gave them a beautiful game. They gave us consequences. Very transactional. Not very indie. Thank you for playing our game. Playing means you already paid. Refunds require effort. Effort is friction. Friction is retention. The circle of indie development.

Whatever.