Why we do not use Generative-AI at Short Leg Studio

Short Leg Studio games are Generative AI Free

AI is everywhere right now. Companies are advertising their latest AI offerings in products just to be able to say “AI” in the labeling. Hype cycles are not new. In fact, understanding them can be a valuable way for people to identify useful new innovations and when to adopt them.

At Short Leg Studio, we have to make decisions about not just what games we make, but how do we want to make them. We have made a decision to be “Generative AI Free”. When it came down to it, there is one simple reason behind our stance.

We enjoy making the content for our games. The initial concept, ideas, art, music, sound, code will come from us, not from a prompt.

In r/gamedev you will consistenly run across the Idea Person. This is someone that has an idea but no skills or capability to figure out the next steps to exploring it. So they turn to the internet and try to find someone to make it for them.

Starting from a prompt, to us, is no different. Creativity happens when working from the idea -> reality. A Generative AI prompt turns this into a derivative calculation for a machine.

One of the most important (and human) parts of working through these problems is the learning that happens arriving at a solution, even when that solution is wrong. It’s that struggle that helps us improve in our ability to create new ideas. The next time we face a problem, we have more experience and knowledge to draw on to find different solutions.

Games are fusion of many creative disciplines coming together to create a unique experience for the player. When a player enjoys a game, they are connecting with the hours of effort and work that was put into creating that experience. We choose to not give up that ability to build a connection with the people that enjoy our games. That is the reason we decided to make games in the first place.