Big Walk’s Limited AI Use Ignites Debate in Indie Gaming
A dispute over generative AI in game development has erupted around House House’s cooperative puzzle game Big Walk and the Independent Games Festival Awards. On Monday, 19 members of the festival’s more than 50-member jury said they would not vote for any game using generative AI in any capacity. Citing the technology’s ecological, economic, psychological and labor-related harms, they urged the festival to adopt a policy barring games containing AI-generated work.
The statement did not name a particular game, but attention quickly turned to Big Walk after House House disclosed that it had used large language models sparingly near the end of development. The developers consulted an AI chatbot about a Unity engine bug that caused “infinite length” shadows and slowed the game in certain situations. The suggested fix was extensively rewritten, leaving about 10 lines of AI-assisted code—well under 0.1% of the game’s total code.
House House did not disclose the use when Big Walk launched on Steam because Valve asks developers to report AI-generated content, rather than coding assistance or efficiency tools. The studio did disclose it in its IGF submission and later made the information public, apologizing to critics while warning that such disclosures could normalize AI. The revelation upset jurors including Austin Walker and Damon Reece, both of whom had admired the game deeply but concluded that even minimal AI use should disqualify it from consideration.
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