Stepping away from AI generated characters (Patreon)

Hey all, hope you've all been well!

Ever since the game released as a demo, there have been discussions about the game's use of AI generated characters/portraits. About the ethics of it all, the overall appearance of these characters versus my own style, and so on. I would like to first and foremost explain that it was never my initial intention to use artificially created characters, it was more so a matter of not being sure if I had enough 3D assets in my library to realize these characters, so I resorted to AI.

Though now, I've finally taken the time to create their respective 3D models, which will be used in the next update. I've tried to stick as close as I could to the original, where applicable.

As the title of this post explains, from this point forwards you can expect no more AI generated characters to appear in the game.

Does this mean the game is AI free?

No, the game still utilizes AI generated animations and will continue to, even more so than now, in the next update. And while I won't touch on the ethics of artificial intelligence in art, I do think this is a big step forwards regardless since the animations originate from my own art.

Some examples/teasers of this, blurred for spoiler reasons.