EDIT: As I sometimes do, I'm locking this post now that it went bigger than I intended

I'm so tired.

I was excitedly going to spotlight this game, Mech Builder, on @indiegamesofcohost tomorrow. Such an amazing idea, exactly the type of game I've wanted to come out, bought it and enjoyed the tutorial. Such a great idea for a solo-dev, taps into a really satisfying loop. And really clever, using 2D drawn assets instead of it needing to be a 3D game.

Of course, a few hours later, I realize that the dev used AI Art to make mech designs, then traced over them.

I was rooting for this game so hard. I wanted to be its biggest cheerleader. Day 1 of it being released and I had excitedly showed it to a bunch of people already, even before drafting the IGOC post. And now I feel like an idiot for not spotting it sooner.

What pisses me off the MOST though is this: Steam ALREADY ALLOWS AI Art games! All Valve asks is that you fill out a short form on your store page that divulges what you used AI for. This dev, as of writing, hasn't added that at all. He claims that only whiney haters care about AI use, and yet chickened out of being honest and upfront in the Steam store description.

If you're gonna use AI Art to make your art-centric game, at least have the guts and the dignity to be upfront about it and see how your sales do.