AI Policy

The use of generative AI in a creative industry is fraught. The impacts of this new technology are not yet well-understood, and policies governing its implementation and usage are nascent.

As an independent games designer, I am a maker in a creative industry. I seek to create games that inspire players to make their own tabletop experiences, and to use miniatures and accessories from the full universe of makers and manufacturers. I care about supporting other makers, and being part of a rich and sustainable ecosystem of designers, artists and entrepreneurs.

I cannot tell where the technologies and global policies are headed, but I choose to have a living statement published about the principles that will govern my personal use of generative AI in the context of Planet Smasher Games.

Planet Smasher Games AI Policy (March 2025)

The summary of my current policy is:

I may use generative AI tools during the prototyping and development process, but will not directly use their output in my products.

  1. I will not include text or artwork directly created using generative AI tools in any game I release, whether as a digital or physical product, either batch-produced or print-on-demand.
  2. I may use generative AI tools as part of my creative process, for example as a way of triggering my imagination.

This policy is a second draft, revising an earlier policy I published in 2023. It is written in good faith and with the best information I have in March of 2025. I reserve the right to be smarter tomorrow than I am today.

Where have I used content created using generative AI tools already?

  • The holding image for Berserker, a nascent game idea that is in a pre-prototype stage, was created using Midjourney.
  • During the process of writing Hobgoblin, I created images using Midjourney which I used to trigger my imagination of Rotvarlden, when I needed inspiration to kickstart my creative process.
  • During the process of writing of The Crawling Chaos, I created story seeds using OpenAI, which all turned out to be rubbish, but they gave me something to be annoyed enough about to fire my own creative process: “no, not like that, like this!”
  • To create the image at the top of this AI Policy page… seemed appropriate.