The writing is on the wall – AI is here and will only get better and more widely used. But what does that mean for board games and is there a place for it in the board game industry?

"/imagine: a cartoon style blue, black, and gray, cute chibi gundam like mecha with yellow eyes looking at a large transparent futuristic computer screen with a face in it"

I want to make my stance very clear:

No published game should include AI images or text.

Why? Because it takes away from artists opportunities and makes the product literally artificial, rather than a true work of art. I’ve seen the term “AI Art” float around, but that is an incorrect label. The correct term is “AI Generated Images” since the artificial intelligence cannot produce art. The very definition of art according to Oxford calls for “human creative skill and imagination.”

That said, I give you, dearest reader, full disclosure: All images on my site, outside of pictures taken of the board games and people, have been AI generated images.

My mascot, MECHA-NICK, is an image generated via a prompt given to Midjourney, an AI image generator. The prompt is “/imagine: a cartoon style blue, black, and gray, cute chibi gundam like mecha with yellow eyes [insert action I want him to be performing in the image here].”

You may be thinking I’m a hypocrite. Why am I using AI generated images on a published website when I am so against using it in the first place?

Firstly, I am not against using AI – just on published games or media. This website makes no money and I don’t intend for it to (at least not yet). There are no ads, no paid subscribers, and no view revenue. While it is “published”, it makes no money (it actually loses me money if you count WordPress fees). If that ever changes, I will absolutely go to an artist to make a real logo, mascot, and images.

Secondly, I manage this site just for fun. It’s just me, my laptop, and my thoughts on screen. Usage of AI images for “fun” projects is absolutely okay. In fact, I believe more people should be doing so.

Which leads me to my full stance on usage in AI images in board games:

AI images should be used in early board game prototyping ONLY, and NEVER for the final product.

Board game development requires a lot of materials, iterations, and time. You will burn through a lot of paper. You will toss out designs. You will spend a lot of time playing versions of your game that will end up being changed or outright replaced or removed.

Using AI images in the early prototyping phase helps developers and designers because it allows for high quality images on prototype versions of their game. Iconography and images on board game elements are crucial, and affects the player’s experience. Having decent images on a card as placeholder is 10x better than a plain card.

It simply is not wise or feasible to pay artists to make art for early versions of a board game. Why?

1. As stated above, your early versions will be very different than the final version. It is almost guaranteed your first few versions of the game will become recycle bin filler. Why pay an artist for something that will be changed or even scrapped in the future?
   
   I have been approached before with the argument of “What if you get too attached to the AI image and its too hard to part with?”
   
   Well, that’s on the designer to definitely not do that. I am responsible enough to know the power of the tool I am using, and that it is merely a placeholder. If you choose to use AI images in a prototype, do not get attached. But I have a feeling if you’re designing board games, you’re used to throwing stuff out anyways.
   
2. If you’re like me and want to get signed by a publisher, the publisher will most likely assign an artist to the game, and can even change the game’s theme entirely. There can be deals struck between the designer and publisher that lock in an artist at the time of signing the game, but from what I have heard that is rare.
   
   Even if you build around a theme and believe the theme won’t change by the time its final, still hold off on investing in an artist. Unless the art is absolutely crucial to gameplay, placeholders will suffice. And if the art is crucial to the gameplay, you should have been working with an artist from the get go if you weren’t making the art yourself already.
   
3. Art is expensive. Most Game Designers are not rollin’ in the dough. In fact, most of us are Game Designers as a side hustle or hobby, myself included. I have made exactly $1,581.91 off pure game design in my 9 years of calling myself a Game Designer, and I have spent much more than that on resources to improve my design skills and on prototypes. Hell, I’ve even gone against my own advice and paid illustrators for art pieces to put in prototypes (mostly because my hopes and dreams are bigger than my brain sometimes). Which is horrible, because that game was never released, and now I feel have wasted both my money and their time.
   
   Use your money and time on the design of the game. If you are designing a game just for you and don’t intend to profit off it, much like this site, use your resources to make the gameplay experience better.

That last point was very hard to write. I know I’m opening myself up to scrutiny with it, but it’s a true statement. Art is expensive and rightfully so. It is a skill people spend their lives honing and perfecting, and they should be adequately compensated for their time and skill.

If, one day, I get an alert from WordPress that I have somehow made money from this website OR one day I decide to attempt to make this website a part-time career OR get like 200+ subscribers in my email list, I will stop using AI generated images on here, remove them ALL, and turn to an artist to design a new MECHA-NICK, site logo, and branding. But since this is a for-fun project designed for myself to stay on top of things and for you to hopefully be inspired to make a game, I see no reason AI images can’t be used to liven up the place.

AI is here and it’s here to stay. It’s up to us to fully adapt, understand, and respect the power that AI image generators have given us mere mortals. Don’t let it replace artists. Allow it to improve our workflow.