The Art Behind Pixadom: A Personal Note
Hey everyone! ❤️
I wanted to take a moment to address some of the concerns raised about the use of AI-generated artwork in Pixadom. First of all, I genuinely appreciate the feedback, and I completely understand where everyone is coming from.
I'm an artist myself, and my feelings towards AI-generated art are probably much closer to yours than you might think. I've always believed that art should be created by humans. There's something special about the creativity, personality, and soul that goes into someone's work, and I don't believe AI can truly replicate that.
I want to make one thing absolutely clear: Pixadom does not use AI-generated artwork for its furniture, cosmetics, world design, environments, or any other core game assets. All of that artwork is created by me, and that's something I'm incredibly proud of. It's also one of my favourite parts of developing Pixadom, and something I have absolutely no intention of changing. Introducing AI-generated artwork into those aspects of the game would take away so much of what makes game development enjoyable and fulfilling for me.
There is, however, one small exception I want to be transparent about: the illustrations that accompany the loading tips displayed when moving between rooms. These were created with the help of AI simply because of the sheer number of illustrations needed. Creating each one by hand would have taken considerable time away from developing the game itself. They're intended as a temporary solution, and I fully plan to replace them with my own artwork in the future.
My commitment remains the same: the actual world of Pixadom, its characters, furniture, and everything players interact with will always be built around my own original artwork. That's a part of the game I genuinely love creating, and something I'm not willing to compromise on.
Where I do currently use AI is in some of Pixadom's promotional, marketing, and website materials. And believe me, it's not because I particularly want to.
I think it's important to provide a little context about what goes on behind the scenes.
Pixadom is developed entirely by one person: me. I'm responsible for absolutely everything, from programming, game design, pixel art, animations, and new features to running the website, managing the community, creating promotional materials, handling support, and everything else that comes with operating an online game.
It's an enormous amount of work, and I'm already stretched incredibly thin trying to keep everything moving forward.
The reality is that Pixadom currently doesn't generate enough revenue for me to even pay myself, let alone hire a team of talented artists to help out. As much as I'd love to create every single promotional image, website graphic, and announcement illustration by hand, doing so simply isn't realistic at this stage. Every hour spent creating marketing artwork is an hour I'm not spending actually developing the game.
And as a small, independently developed game, maintaining momentum, releasing updates, and continuing to grow are incredibly important to Pixadom's future.
That's where AI has become a useful tool for me. It's helped me accomplish things that would otherwise take considerably longer, allowing me to focus more of my limited time on developing the actual game.
I also want to clarify that I'm still very much involved in the creative process. I'm not simply asking AI to generate something random and publishing whatever comes out. The concepts, ideas, creative direction, and overall vision are still mine. I spend time guiding, refining, and reviewing the results to ensure they align with the aesthetic and personality I've worked so hard to establish for Pixadom. AI is simply helping me bring those ideas to life more efficiently.
My long-term goal is to eventually move away from AI-generated artwork altogether, including in promotional and website materials. I'd genuinely love for everything associated with Pixadom to be entirely human-made. But getting to that point requires the game to become financially sustainable first.
And on that note, if anyone knows any talented artists who genuinely love Pixadom, can work within its established style and quality standards, and would be interested in contributing voluntarily, I'd absolutely love to hear from them! Having creative people involved would be wonderful. The biggest challenge is that I'd need people who could reliably contribute over the long term, as consistency is incredibly important when developing an ongoing game. Unfortunately, paid opportunities simply aren't something I can offer until Pixadom is in a stronger financial position.
I also hope there's some understanding of just how much work goes into building and maintaining a game like Pixadom as a solo developer. I pour an enormous amount of time, energy, creativity, and passion into this project, often juggling far more than one person reasonably should. Every decision I make is ultimately about giving Pixadom the best possible chance to succeed and continue growing.
I completely respect that some people don't like seeing AI-generated artwork used in marketing, and I'm not asking anyone to change their personal views on that. I just hope that understanding the circumstances and the reasoning behind my decisions provides a little more perspective.
At the end of the day, Pixadom is, and always will be, a passion project built around my own creativity, imagination, and original artwork. That's the heart of the game, and I would never want to compromise it.
Thank you to everyone who cares enough about Pixadom to share their thoughts. Even when we don't necessarily agree on everything, I really do appreciate that people care about the game's identity, integrity, and future. ❤️
Spire