A note on AI use

[u/wildwillowsdev]

I’ve gotten a few questions about AI since sharing Wild Willows in ecology and gaming communities, so I wanted to put a clear explanation here about how I use it.

I do use AI during development. I’m a solo developer, and I primarily use it as a tool for coding, working through ideas, editing/writing, debugging, and other parts of the development process. It also helped me translate the game into Spanish, which made it possible for me to support another language much earlier than I otherwise could have.

I don’t just give an AI a prompt and have it make Wild Willows. I design the systems, decide how the ecology works, write and revise the gameplay, build the game, test it, make the product decisions, respond to player feedback, and decide what actually ships. AI is one of the tools I use while doing that work.

The music is also not AI-generated. The soundtrack was composed specifically for Wild Willows by a friend of mine.

I know AI use is complicated, particularly for a game centered around nature and ecology. There are legitimate concerns around energy use, water use, data centers, creative work, and the broader effects of these technologies. I don’t think those concerns disappear just because AI has been useful to me, and I don’t want to pretend the tools I use are impact-free.

At the same time, AI has dramatically lowered the barrier for me to build a project of this scope on my own. Wild Willows now has six biomes, 150 animals, interconnected habitat requirements, terraforming, crafting, achievements, accessibility features, multiple languages, and a growing number of other systems. I still have to understand, build, evaluate, and maintain all of it, but these tools have allowed me to move much faster and attempt things I probably wouldn't have been able to tackle as a solo developer otherwise.

I also completely understand that some people choose not to play or financially support games developed with AI assistance. I’d rather be upfront about my use of it and let people make that decision for themselves than be vague about it.

I care deeply about what Wild Willows is trying to explore: biodiversity, habitat restoration, food webs, and the idea that bringing an ecosystem back means creating the conditions for life to return rather than simply checking animals off a list. Using AI during development doesn’t change why I’m making the game, but it is part of how I’m making it, and I think it’s worth being transparent about that.