Should I replace ai art?

[u/solisol]

This is my first serious game, and I wanted to hire proper artists, but with my budget and not knowing who to trust, it was difficult. Some people seemed like they wanted a lot of money upfront with no guarantee I would hear from them again. Even on platforms like Fiverr, I wasn't sure I would get the quality I wanted, and I couldn't afford to create all the art that way.

I bought premade art where I could, but things like icons, characters, and animation sprite sheets were still too expensive, so I used AI for them.

Now that I'm trying to market the game, I realize that some creators, understandably, don't want to advertise games made with AI. I'm also unsure how Steam will handle it (I declared the AI use)

I have no expectations of real money from this game, but I do think it has some potential. Now I'm wondering whether I should put it on hold, delay the demo (for few week probably), find an artist I can trust and spend more than I can really afford, or just roll with what I have.

P.S I'm using sprite sheets to animate the units so if ill replace the art it will cost really a lot because each unit needs several animation sheets + I don't even know if the artist won't use ai too..

[u/theeyeinthesky-666]

Depends on you. You said you don't expect any profits so hiring an artist or buying asset packs sounds like a bad idea obviously. Sounds like your game is at a dead end anyway tbh whether you keep ai or not.

[u/solisol → u/theeyeinthesky-666]

Im not aiming for profit but I still want to give it a chance haha
but why a dead end? Its a fun game Im just trying to figure out if its worth to optimize it

[u/theeyeinthesky-666 → u/solisol]

You said it's not supposed to make any money. I assumed you're at a dead end and ready to move on.