Robin Ward was recovering from a broken arm when he fell in love Ruttri is deadHosted on a free browser game itch.io, an indie game salesfront. He reached his producer, Jeremy Johnson, and said to him, “It should be a big deal.” At the same time, the ward says, he “knew why” it could not be.
Browser version of Ruttri is dead Using AI-based art for their images, a central part of the puzzle game that works with players to examine dozens of people and fill their complex family tree. At the time, the largest platform for PC games, Steam did not allow the use of generic AI in the game released using storefront. In addition, the ward and Johnson agreed that they felt that it was “immoral to sell the artwork made in this way.”
Johnson originally released the game for free, despite spending 11 months, which was originally a global game jam project, together in 2023 together in less than a week. In the lack of tight time of the jam, and at a time the generative AI was well known, he had reached a friend, who was ready for midjorney and was ready to ask him.
The pictures were perfect. Both Johnson and Ward stared at the image of a young girl in the original version of the game (Which is still available for free) – Ward calls it “demonic”. Other paintings have twisted hands which were cheaper at that time a teletell of generative AI.
But despite expanding the game for about a year, Johnson says “never thought of really” to change the art and puzzle aspects, adding the story and puzzle aspects. Not being an artist himself, he focused on the photographic quality of the existing artwork, and he knew that he would never be able to rent a model and a cameraperson to re -make it.
And although he was doing a lot of work in the extended version, he was not expecting the response that would eventually be found. He said, “I have released other things – not sports, not necessary, but the things I spent a lot of time and energy, and then they came out and no one cared,” they say. So although he spent a lot of time RuttriesHe did not want to invest money, which he did not expect to get back.
When he released itch.io version RuttriesHowever, it was surprisingly popular. It spread to the forums and reddit, and it attracted some attention to the Games press. Due to the AI ​​artwork, he did not charge it, although he included a donation link and stated that he created around $ 2,000- $ 3,000 from more than 10,000 players.
And one of those players was a ward. After reaching Johnson, he agreed that the ward would rebuild the game and rent an Illustrator to change the AI ​​artwork and make it for the steam release. The Illustrator he brought on Henning Ludwigsen says that he used AI art as a kind of concept sketch. Ludvigsen then conducted his research in the era and style and the picture should have been provoked, eventually about 40 illustrations in about a year of work.
“I am not a great fan of liberal AI,” they say, their peers in the depicting industry have seen lack of work, especially concept artists. “(Companies) leave the move now (using AI), which I think is not great.”
When it comes to finished products, however, he still sees the generic AI as “not doing it normally well” among the players. Big video game companies like Tech to Interactive have noted that players not only avoid sports that use AI, but also react negatively in online and rating, Call it “Players’ disadvantages, revenue … and a potential avenue for reputation loss.” Johnson mentions the case of Sian Worlds, the developer behind Mist, Obtain backlash To use “AI Assisted Content” like texture assets in your latest game.
Ruttri is dead Johnson says that being transparent about its use, it seemed to skirt these issues due to being transparent about free release. Wards also say that “in this case, this’ no game will be ‘vs’ is a game.” “Johnson agrees that without the use of AI-borne artwork, the initial version would never have been released, which means that the last full version with Ludwigsen’s work will never exist. Ludwigsen himself says that he really enjoyed the paintings”, seeing that he is not a major admiration of AI art generation.
“I think some people would say, ‘Okay, I will like that there is no game in this matter,’ and I think they deserve their opinion,” Ward, “says” environmental concerns And scrap the work of artists for training corpus as possible arguments for that approach. “But I finished playing something that I really loved,” they say.
The game was released on steam in January 2025. “Most people are like,” I am very happy that you get rid of AI, “ward says. Although some have said that they prefer more photographic quality of art generated, Ludwigsen’s work is undeniably an upgrade, from unwanted fingers to the increased stability in the design for the characters seen in many photographs, which makes some more understanding.
Ruttri is dead It is now an important and professional success, which would not have happened without both generous AI and a human artist. Both ward and Johnson noted that the game took an unusual route in its current position. But with the increasing proliferation of AI tools, it is possible that more games will end on the same path.
