August Progress Update

Heyo, wonderful people!

This coming update (September, fingers crossed!) will be without any added AI. This has caused delays as I've had to level up my rusty doodling skills with actual formal(ish) training. But why have I decided to let go of AI?

1. I like drawing!

I look back on my high school doodling era with joy. Something about the delayed gratification of putting pencil scratches together to represent a cool idea is very satisfying to me. I am filled with pride when I look back on my work. It's not as good as AI art, but with some consistent practice, I can close the gap!

2. AI is precise/fast/cheap. Pick one or two.

If I want to create an image of a character from a different angle, a lot of details would be fucked (We actually tried this with a visual of Violet getting blown from under her store counter). If I tried to create a specific idea, it would give me an approximation of what I asked for, even worse than if I hired a manual artist. No fine-tuned creative control! Not unless you paid another guy to fix it. At which point... why not just hire a manual artist to do it from scratch?

3. I don't want to hurt people.

I'm not an especially moral person. But somewhere along the way, I actually felt bad about the AI art discourse and all the people being hurt by it.

4. I'mma stream this bitch!

I think a consistent streaming schedule would keep me committed to the game. I don't think people would love to see me write or code, so drawing it is! That's what gets greater attention, though I'm not expecting a great amount of it. Even two or three consistent watchers will keep me on my toes.

Uh... I'll probably get started on that whenever I get out of this dung hole country (that shall remain nameless until I get out). I literally can't stream with this crappy internet speed.

5. I have enough money to hire people now.

If needed, I can hire artists from third-world countries like where I'm from to fulfill the game's needs. I'm not in the desperate situation I started from. I can now afford to ethically source girlcock juice from free range futas!

All of these reasons by themselves are not compelling to me on their own, but their cumulative effect changed my mind. It is not an impossibility for me to use AI again sometime down the road, but for now, I don't think it's the right move. I'm not going to wait for the mirage of AI improvement to eventually fix all its issues. I'm just going to pick up a stylus pen and draw.

Not everyone has asked for this. A lot of people have told me they don't care and think AI art should mean I'll be able to pump out updates faster. I'd have to disappoint these people, who probably represent most of my fanbase now. But hopefully you now realize that was never in the cards to begin with.