Developers of Bleak Faith: Forsaken, Archangel Studios, have confirmed using AI to create art for their game.
Update 3/13/23: Archangel Studios responded to us in a follow-up article regarding the AI issue and Epic Games assets.
Currently sitting with Mixed Reviews on Steam, Bleak Faith: Forsaken has had a rocky start. Over the weekend, PCGamer reported on claims of stolen assets from the iconic masterpiece Elden Ring, with the developers responding in a Steam forum thread that the animations are on the Epic Games Store and that “Any other question or concern should be taken up with Epic themselves.” However, what’s arguably more interesting, is that the developers also used AI models to help generate some of the in-game art for icons.
User @HolographState on Twitter was commenting on a recent post by the Bleak Faith developers about some issues plaguing the game since its release when it was realized that some of the images for the Perks looked curiously like AI-generated images.
Later, the developers would go on to confirm the claim by stating:
“We hear you about it, we’re working on new icons currently. It was somewhat of an oversight but also a decision that came from an honest place. We value the feedback however and will have redone perk icons up today!”
As a small indie development team, it makes sense that they would leverage any amount of help they could get developing their game; however — it does bring up an interesting topic about the use of AI-generated imagery inside of games.
AI Use in Game Development is Common
While AI has been used in a variety of ways to help develop games, from NPC behavior to helping build procedurally-generated elements in worlds, using AI for arguably more “human-driven” endeavors like game art or voice acting is something that’s still a point of contention amongst gamers and the gaming development community.
It should also be reiterated that the developers of Bleak Faith: Forsaken, Archangel Studios, is an indie studio. With likely a limited budget and human capital, it’s understandable that some shortcuts may have been taken to fully develop the game.
We reached out to the game developers for comment but have yet to hear back.
For more news like this, visit our News Section.
