milk cat

I cannot express to you how FAST it has gone. I grew up in a world that does not exist now. We're starting on the path to reverse it, globally. You might not know how much solar has EXPLODED in the last decade or two. It's gone from a side thing, a weirdo novelty that was just Not Viable... to whole countries investing in infrastructure. but we have to keep fighting big oil and fascism everywhere we can in order to keep on this road to a new better less scorching burning earth.

(poorly in the sense of not aestethically pleasing to common people tastes despite being interesting in concept and all the other nuances included)

Two diff versions of Vultra 💖

and then as soon as it came out, accusations started rolling in about generative ai usage. a lot of very credible accusations, with too many examples to be able to handwave as baseless. and i wanted to handwave them as baseless so, so badly. i was complaining in dms to a friend that it just had to be a witch hunt. i didn't want to believe that this world i'd given my time and money, that i loved so much, could possibly have been made with generative ai. there wasn't a disclosure on steam, and gen ai had never been mentioned on kickstarter, and it was a little indie company, so surely they cared for the human element in the creative process--they wouldn't deceive their supporters by omitting how their game was being made, right? even if their art lead had history working with gen ai and was a proponent of its use, there was no way. right?

but then they replaced the art in question without saying one way or another that it was generative ai, just that "individual illustrations had been corrected". and then they merged every thread on the steam forum bringing up gen ai allegations into a single thread and deleted it. and then a couple small game news outlets covered the controversy, agreeing that the art in question was pretty damning.

and so i asked for and received a refund. bc i don't support studios that use generative ai at any stage of the process, let alone for the finished product. and it really sucks. you know? bc i love this world, and i love the writing, and i'd already invested so much into it: time, energy, care, money. but it matters to me that i live up to my principles, and making an exception for one game--even one i was really looking forward to--doesn't outweigh the harm that generative ai does.

this isn't to pat myself on the back or anything. it's an acknowledgement, i guess, of how much it can suck to want to play something or watch something and that thing you want to play or watch going against your own principles, and needing to grapple with the decision to continue regardless or to detach and see other people continue to have fun with that thing you were hoping to enjoy with them.

My belated contribution to the Frogwares Fanweekend 2026.

"I'm always watching you"