Aika Was Supposed to Die

Hi everyone. I want to be open about how this game was made and why generative AI was used.

Aika Was Supposed to Die began as a story that I wrote and developed over more than two years. The world, characters, dialogue, themes, and narrative direction were all written by me. I cared deeply about this story, and eventually I felt that a visual novel would be the best way to bring it to life.

As an independent developer working with a limited budget, hiring a full team of artists is not financially possible for me right now. I greatly value human-made art and the work of professional artists. I am also a 3D artist who works with Unreal Engine, so this is something I genuinely care about.

Rather than leave the story untold, I chose to use generative AI as part of the visual production process. The game’s images and video assets were created with the assistance of generative AI tools. However, I did not want that to become an excuse for delivering something careless or low-quality. In fact, having access to these tools encouraged me to be as ambitious as possible with the project.

I created and refined a large number of images and animated sequences to give the game a richer and more cinematic presentation. Every asset was carefully directed, selected, edited, revised, and manually integrated into the story, with the goal of providing players with a cohesive, polished, and emotionally engaging experience.

The writing, narrative design, scene direction, timing, editing, and final creative decisions were all handled by humans. Generative AI was used as a production tool, not as a replacement for authorship, creative direction, or care. No AI content is generated during gameplay.

If the game becomes successful enough to support a larger production, I would love to work with professional artists on future chapters. Until then, this approach has allowed me to share a story that means a great deal to me while doing everything within my reach to make the final experience cohesive, personal, and emotionally meaningful.

Thank you for giving this story a chance.