A Steam dev is deleting his own game after girlfriend made him realize AI is bad
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AI in video games is a caustic enough subject that Valve requires developer disclosure if a title utilizes the generative technology. This way, people who have qualms about AI or its impact can opt out of purchasing anything that uses the genAI. One developer, however, is saving everyone from the moral quandary in the first place by just deleting their game altogether.
Hardest is a free-to-play roguelike on Steam that was released in the summer of 2025 with the tagline, "stop time, summon tsunamis, shoot with bubble guns, feed cards to mimic, collect rare negative cards!" Except for a user who says the game helped him bond with his son, Hardest mostly got a negative reception. "I assume the whole thing is AI slop," one reviewer wrote.
You'd think flopping like this would be the end of the story, but half a year later, Rakuel, the developer, has undergone a revelation. On Jan. 10, the indie creator posted an update to Hardest announcing that he would pull the game from the platform by the end of the month.
Its funny reading the positive reviews and seeing thay they couldn't even bother spending more than 20mins playing.
Props for it being open source but it seems like a shit game. Needs more gameplay polish I doubt AI was the problem here.
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Smells like incel talk
The stock broker is a genuinely nice guy, they realize they are soul mates and he quits his job to be a house husband so she can chase her dreams and make an indie game on steam. Coincidentally it has no AI and blows up, and they both get to retire and live off the earnings. Sorry, what were we talking about again?
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Meh - sounds like they saved some money by not going heavy into custom assets.
Seems like for a first pass at an indie game you should use asset packs and/or Gen AI. If the game has legs - you make another pass with a bigger investment into it.
Obviously if you enjoy the asset/model/whatever aspect then delve deeper into it.
Yeah, I don't know how I feel about celebraing an indie dev deleting their game while the biggest games such as arc raiders succeed despite overt ai use that actually displaces voice actors at the company.
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Despite his altruism, she‘s still going to leave him for a stock broker.
She didn't like AI for altruism cause, she's not gonna fall for a stock broker or anything similar.
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Why doesn't he just... I dunno, develop the AI bits? Is he just going to give up?
The announcement suggests the developer wrote all the code, but used the slop robot to generate assets. Sounds like the issue is that making art assets actually takes skill, and is something most programmer types underestimate.
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AI in video games is a caustic enough subject that Valve requires developer disclosure if a title utilizes the generative technology. This way, people who have qualms about AI or its impact can opt out of purchasing anything that uses the genAI. One developer, however, is saving everyone from the moral quandary in the first place by just deleting their game altogether.
Hardest is a free-to-play roguelike on Steam that was released in the summer of 2025 with the tagline, "stop time, summon tsunamis, shoot with bubble guns, feed cards to mimic, collect rare negative cards!" Except for a user who says the game helped him bond with his son, Hardest mostly got a negative reception. "I assume the whole thing is AI slop," one reviewer wrote.
You'd think flopping like this would be the end of the story, but half a year later, Rakuel, the developer, has undergone a revelation. On Jan. 10, the indie creator posted an update to Hardest announcing that he would pull the game from the platform by the end of the month.
Kind of an extreme viewpoint in my opinion. I personally have no issue with an indy or first time dev using AI assistance for a passion project, my issue is when large studios are replacing talented folks with soulless slop.
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Smells like incel talk
Yep, you got me. So intuitive. Congratulations.
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The announcement suggests the developer wrote all the code, but used the slop robot to generate assets. Sounds like the issue is that making art assets actually takes skill, and is something most programmer types underestimate.
Incidentally, if people had skill, they wouldn't use Ai?
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based on stupid, that is
I dunno, is learning stupid?
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Despite his altruism, she‘s still going to leave him for a stock broker.
We can't understand you with Andrew Tate's dick in your mouth.
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I dunno, is learning stupid?
Depends. Learning to do th Hitler salute when meeting someone is stupid. Learning how to shit next to the toilet is stupid. See how that works?
He should've developed the AI parts.
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Smells like incel talk
I checked to see if they were from the MGTOW instance
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AI in video games is a caustic enough subject that Valve requires developer disclosure if a title utilizes the generative technology. This way, people who have qualms about AI or its impact can opt out of purchasing anything that uses the genAI. One developer, however, is saving everyone from the moral quandary in the first place by just deleting their game altogether.
Hardest is a free-to-play roguelike on Steam that was released in the summer of 2025 with the tagline, "stop time, summon tsunamis, shoot with bubble guns, feed cards to mimic, collect rare negative cards!" Except for a user who says the game helped him bond with his son, Hardest mostly got a negative reception. "I assume the whole thing is AI slop," one reviewer wrote.
You'd think flopping like this would be the end of the story, but half a year later, Rakuel, the developer, has undergone a revelation. On Jan. 10, the indie creator posted an update to Hardest announcing that he would pull the game from the platform by the end of the month.
Good for him doing the right thing. Keeping slop out of the world is one of the most moral things a person can do.
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Yeah, I don't know how I feel about celebraing an indie dev deleting their game while the biggest games such as arc raiders succeed despite overt ai use that actually displaces voice actors at the company.
The developer gives a pretty decent reason for the deletion, imo:
"I have realized the AI is not actually free, and it has a major effect on the economy and environment," Rakuel wrote. "Some AI companies can use this game just existing as a reason the get more investment for their AI companies, that benefit[s] no one, but rather suck resources from the economy from hard working people," he continued.
There's nothing he can do about Arc Raider's success, but taking ownership of what he did, I gotta say, respect.
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Incidentally, if people had skill, they wouldn't use Ai?
Again, reading the announcement, it sounds like the advice the developer received in school was to use it. He’s realized now that it was a bad call.
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AI in video games is a caustic enough subject that Valve requires developer disclosure if a title utilizes the generative technology. This way, people who have qualms about AI or its impact can opt out of purchasing anything that uses the genAI. One developer, however, is saving everyone from the moral quandary in the first place by just deleting their game altogether.
Hardest is a free-to-play roguelike on Steam that was released in the summer of 2025 with the tagline, "stop time, summon tsunamis, shoot with bubble guns, feed cards to mimic, collect rare negative cards!" Except for a user who says the game helped him bond with his son, Hardest mostly got a negative reception. "I assume the whole thing is AI slop," one reviewer wrote.
You'd think flopping like this would be the end of the story, but half a year later, Rakuel, the developer, has undergone a revelation. On Jan. 10, the indie creator posted an update to Hardest announcing that he would pull the game from the platform by the end of the month.
"Ethically, [the] only logical reason is to delete the game from Steam. The girl I've been dating for a month made me realize this."
Make like 38 Special and hold on loosely brother. Keep it up.
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Depends. Learning to do th Hitler salute when meeting someone is stupid. Learning how to shit next to the toilet is stupid. See how that works?
He should've developed the AI parts.
Yeah, bring out the Hitler comparisons! That'll show me lol.
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Yeah, bring out the Hitler comparisons! That'll show me lol.
Hitler comparison
You went to an American school and ot shows in your reading comprehension.
You're not here to understand anything, no matter what I say. You're just crying and yapping. It's best to avoid creatures like you
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Hitler comparison
You went to an American school and ot shows in your reading comprehension.
You're not here to understand anything, no matter what I say. You're just crying and yapping. It's best to avoid creatures like you
I went to a rural Canadian school, thank you very much! Please don't run away tho, you went through all the work to set up your lil' soapbox and everything. Let's chat.
Here's why your earlier comment is (in my humble opinion) very silly. You used a bad comparison. And I'm not just talking about the bringing up Hitler bit.
Learning how to shit next to the toilet is stupid.
First off, nobody needs to learn that. That's an inherited skill. Secondly, it's bad in the context of the post. Learning how using AI is wrong is an objectively positive thing, but your example is someone learning negative things. It's bass ackwards, as the kids used to say ('twas me).
What would you prefer the dev do? You can't change the past, so what actions should he have taken to align with your obviously superior moral code? Self flagellation? Volunteer for a drawing-and-quartering position?
You can keep up your current act if you want. Attack anyone and everyone who even tries to better themselves. Pat yourself on the back while you're at it, but I don't jive with the punishment-only model of reformation. If this guy realized he was doing something wrong and changed his ways then I think that's a good thing. Learning should be encouraged, not punished.
P.S. immediately bringing up Hitler as a comparison is silly, and makes you look silly. Try to not do that, and also try to use comparisons more grounded in reality.
Edit: I may have initially misunderstood this bit
He should have developed the AI parts.
I took that to mean before he released, but maybe you meant after he learned. That makes a bit more sense. If that is the case, I will address.
Apparently the AI bits were art assets. That's kinda hard to learn in a hurry, and art is expensive. Mayhaps he could have got by with free assets, but then there's always the chance to get accused of asset flipping.
Also learning anything takes time. Either way, pulling it was probably the quicker and better option.
Edit 2: Electric Boogaloo - Fixed a typo. I'm bad at phone typing, and I feel bad
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The announcement suggests the developer wrote all the code, but used the slop robot to generate assets. Sounds like the issue is that making art assets actually takes skill, and is something most programmer types underestimate.
I'm curious if a dev that carefully manages placeholders could at least garner interest from artists this way. Clair Obscur's debacle with their Indie Award demonstrates how horrible this can turn out if they miss even one asset; but sadly, I empathize coming from a position where I devoted my studies into learning coding and writing techniques, not artistry.
My space game was cubes and cylinders colliding.
