Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone’s Stardew Valley released in that beautiful period where AI didn’t exist. Nowadays, AI is everywhere, so prominent that even human-made art and even articles are accused of being AI-generated.
In a new interview, alongside discussing the possibility of adding a cheating mechanic in future updates, Barone explained that they won’t use AI for any of their games. Both Stardew and Barone’s upcoming Haunted Chocolatier are both creative endeavours, and they don’t want to offload their creative spark to a machine.
Speaking to Game Informer in a paywalled interview, Barone explained that they can see the purpose of AI tools for “very specific, zoomed-in cases, maybe”. However, the tools will not be used for any of the indie dev’s projects.
“You’re offloading creativity to an algorithm,” he said, “which I think is always gonna undermine the pure and authentic human element of what you’re doing… “So for me, as someone who wants to express myself in an artistic way, I wouldn’t ever want to use AI for any sort of creative thing, because it’s beside the point of what I’m doing. My goal is to express myself in a creative way. Why would I let an AI do that for me?”
Barone explained that, in their opinion, human creativity “should take priority over a soulless machine”. While they can see why AI tools can assist in some tasks, generating creative works simply is not what they want to see.
“At the very least, let another human being express themselves if you need help. That’s probably what I would say. There are plenty of humans out there that would like an opportunity to express themselves,” the indie developer said.
In recent months, there has been significant pushback against AI in game development and outside of the industry. Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios has confirmed it will refrain from using the technology for Divinity following pushback from fans. Additionally, Warhammer studio Games Workshop has banned the tech internally to respect human workers.
The pushback against generative AI is clear, and warranted. While there are many systems in games that have used a form of AI for decades, generative art, sound, and writing is a step too far for many gamers. In the indie space, the tech makes even less sense as the indie scene thrives on human creativity.
Right now, ConcernedApe is working on two projects: Stardew Valley’s 1.7 update and the full release of Haunted Chocolatier. In the same interview, Barone revealed he’s currently spending five days a week working across both titles.
Stardew Valley 1.7 doesn’t currently have a full release date, but it will include “lots more” content. Barone has not confirmed everything coming in the major update, but it will include a new farm type.
