AI Art vs Hand-drawn (Patreon)

Hey everyone, this will be a longer post, there is a TL;DR at the bottom if you want the summary!

How it began:

During the development of Rogue Femme, AI art was initially planned as a placeholder, and I wanted to replace the art with my hand-drawn version.

While I like drawing, I like developing a game more. And that is why not many hand-drawn characters have come to life so far, because I didn't have time for both.

Until now, I always planned to create a hand-drawn version of the game, but now I'm realizing that this might not be the best path.

Art Quality:

There is no question that a professional artist is better than AI, but this is not an option I have right now. Over the last years, the game got hundreds of AI art assets and some animated scenes on top of that.

To replace all this art with a professional would cost a lot and take years (if done by one person). Because I'm just getting by, I can't afford that.

This leaves me with the option of drawing it myself or using AI. I like to think that my art is decent, but it is far from professional and it takes me more time than a seasoned artist.

So I'm wondering: is it worth it to redraw and spend years for a quality increase at all? Or would it be a quality decrease even?

Pill Defenders:

My second game, Pill Defenders, is 100% hand-drawn, but it gets way less traction than Rogue Femme. A big reason is, of course, the early stage of the game, the lack of a following because it is new, and maybe a less popular gameplay genre.

But it still leaves me wondering if my drawing skills are good enough to appeal to enough people, or if I should stick with AI.

AI Reception/Quality:

When I look back at the first versions of my game, the quality increase of AI is crazy to me. Also, while AI art might still be more "soul-less," the difference gets smaller and smaller, and it comes down to the effort put into AI by the user.

I also feel like the average player doesn't mind AI if it is not slop (similar to asset flips). The strongest pushback seems to come from a vocal online minority, and the 'it's stolen' point rarely gets applied to AI code, LLMs people use for their own work, or the AI features now built into nearly every creative tool. There are many successful games using AI art, and many AAA games use it at least during development, and they have great reception, which underlines the feeling that most people don't care.

Steam Release:

First of all, it is not allowed to release a reskin of a game. Meaning I can't upload an AI version and a hand-drawn version of the game with exactly the same gameplay. And because I feared a backlash regarding the use of AI (even though I could swap to hand-drawn art later), I didn't upload anything and planned to wait until a hand-drawn demo is ready.

But because I don't want to wait years for a Steam release, I'm now considering uploading it as an AI version anyway. The page will be live as soon as I have replaced enough art with the reworked AI versions, and after I finally find time to make a trailer.

What is currently planned for hand-drawn Rogue Femme?

While I talked a lot about how my opinion has shifted a bit, this is what is actually planned. In short: Rogue Femme hand-drawn is on pause. The already finished hand-drawn art will be added to the gallery. If I suddenly get more time to draw again, or a new motivation boost, I might continue.

Once I have enough hand-drawn art, I would include both in the same game and let the player decide what art they want to see.

Pros and Cons:

I tried to list out pros and cons for using AI and here is what I came up with. Of course not every point is equal in weight and if I missed something important let me know in the Comments or via DMs:

Pro: More time for game development, More Content/Animations (coming soon), Earlier Steam release, Affordable, Most players don't mind

Con: Some players dislike AI art, Risk of backlash, Less personal/unique feel, Finished hand-drawn art goes mostly unused, no combat animations

TL;DR/Summary:

Originally I planned to replace all of Rogue Femme's AI art with hand-drawn versions, but redrawing hundreds of assets myself would take years, and hiring a professional isn't financially possible. AI quality has also improved a lot, and most players don't seem to mind AI art as long as it isn't low-effort. So hand-drawn Rogue Femme is on pause for now, finished hand-drawn art will go into the gallery, and if I have time later, I might add both versions so players can choose. I'm also planning to release the Steam page as the AI version rather than waiting years for a hand-drawn demo.

After reading all this, how do you feel about the direction?