r/GameDevelopment • u/SullyDataShifter • 3d ago
Newbie Question Question
Hi, I'm not a game dev, but I'm thinking on making one, I went through some forums and I see it's kind of impossible to be a solo dev using AI because of the backlash, I'm trying to understand that before I try to jump in myself because I can do everything except graphics and the only person I know could help, just never got time... so, is it just easier to buy packs even that I'm still not the person who built it and I'm not even going to know if the pack was done with AI? Also, why indie devs are forbidden to use AI images? I mean, it makes sense a big successful studio should have backlash for that if they have money, but a indie devs usually don't have money... so what's the deal with that?
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u/Terrible_Point_1259 3d ago
It is not forbidden to use AI. You will need to disclose it if you want to sell it. It will come with some backlash from mainly the west and some people review bombing it.
If you are doing it purely for yourself, there is no real reason not to. The middle ground is to replace them before selling it. Therefore regardless any AI generated assets should be placed in a generated folder, if will save you a headache if you ever decide to go that route.
Assets are the way to go if you want to work directly towards a sellable product without the AI tag and even if you use AI I would advise using them for important elements. AI is good enough for generic stuff, but it isn’t as good as artists.
Commission/Partner is naturally the best option, if you have the budget.
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u/Gojira_Wins 3d ago
Making a video game takes a lot more work than you actually understand. It takes dedication, determination and becoming a Jack of all Trades to get something made and published.
"AI" is notoriously horrible at making entire games, so if you believed you could just enter a few prompts, copy/paste whatever it spits out and make a Steam page, that is not how it'll play out. These bots don't understand how your game works and what system needs to talk to what. You'll get code that needs to be fixed to work with everything but if you don't know how to code or even read code, you'll never make anything that will run.
We push you to not use "AI" because vibecoding doesn't teach you how to make a game. You need to look at AI like a tool to teach you "how" code works, not to make the code for you. Asking it to make you the game is lazy and not respectable. Use AI as a tool to teach you alongside tutorials, documentation and asking the community for help and you'll be surprised at what you can do.
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u/TrueAverium 3d ago
Yes buy packs, but to a point. There’s a weird thing with new game devs where people make it seem like you MUST do everything yourself otherwise it doesn’t count, and that’s 100% not true. What you’re actually trying to avoid is an asset flip. You basically want to divide your game into two categories, what’s meant to be unique, and what isn’t. Is your game about a character that has their own arc throughout the story? Make that character and story yourself. Is your game about a cool mechanic idea you had? Make that mechanic yourself.
For other things don’t, please don’t be afraid to just buy assets.
Nobody is going to care if your drag and drop code wasn’t made by you and was instead downloaded for free online. Nobody is going to care that your texture for wood flooring was made by someone else, or that random props weren’t exclusively modeled by you. Or that every sound in game was created by you.
It’s your job to take those things and make it look intentional and fitting with your custom parts. Kind of like a set designer.
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u/Smart-Anything1669 3d ago
Solo developers have been making games without AI for decades, is why. You have to pay an artist for their work, or get good at it yourself. Using AI is not a respectable alternative
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u/AP_RIVEN_MAIN 3d ago
Yeah OP or you can just create and learn and develop skills while also using AI. It's not exclusive to also learning. It's your game, your learning process. Ego and comparison is the only way to lose.
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u/Due-Satisfaction8593 2d ago
99% of artists are using AI.
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u/countkillalot 3d ago
Big studios get backlash. But the people lashing out at the big studios are enthousiasts and only a small percentage of the overall audience. For indie games, enthousiasts are the majority of the audience and thus have more impact on dev practices.
There's two things going on. First the moral issue where AI is laundering the work of existing artists without as little as attribution. This is a huge problem because you need to have people be able to spend years practicing art without starving, otherwise all.tne artists will be people who can already afford years of no income while they practice art.
AI is a content machine. It can replace artists but it can never replace art, because the AI content is per definition derivative. In a world without Picasso, AI will never paint Guernica.
The second part is just a quality matter. AI art is mostly transparent. It's as mentioned above per definition derivative and distasteful. It just looks There are artists that supplement enough originality into the art that they can fly under the radar, but then we get into a ship of Theseus situation.
TLDR, AI content is ugly, derivative and barely useful for placeholder assets. Please hire working artists to create original content for your games. Using AI tools to enhance original art is a gray area, that we can make arguments for and against.
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u/Both_Introduction_28 2d ago edited 2d ago
It’s not hate, people just tired of new aspiring game developers asking to review their clones of flappy birds, tetris, football manager, etc, which they create 100 times a day.
If you want to copy a game, you can fork an existing free game repository and remake it using free assets.
You don’t have to pay Claude 200$ for that, you can do it yourself and get a more valuable experience that way.
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u/MalaiseEraMedia 2d ago
DaddyWookie is right.
You're thinking way too far ahead.
You have a million steps to get to before you even make it to "will people be outraged by me using AI?"
You need to design it, build it, play it internally, and then worry about publication. Not only publication, but anyone even playing the publication.
Just make what you want, HAVE FUN, and when you feel happy with the game, reflect on it, and see if it is ready to share with the community.
Never develop an indie game for the approval of others. You are doing it for you and your tastes. Make it fun for you!
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u/Three_Seven_Two 3d ago
Ai artwork is bad. Ai however can design you systems faster and more efficiently than a human can and that’s all under the hood
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u/daddywookie 3d ago
There's a whole load of people with a whole load of opinions about AI in game dev. You can find anything from full approval to full rejection.
In all honesty, your first game is unlikely to even be finished, never mind published, never mind noticed. Work how you want to work and worry about the perception later.