BattleSauce uses AI.

Specifically, Midjourney for image generation. This isn't a secret, and it isn't something I'm apologetic about, but it is something worth being honest and intentional about.

The reality is that, as a solo studio, I can't afford to commission all the art my games deserve. So, I bought a subscription to a stock art site. It seemed like the obvious alternative. But each one I tried was already full of AI-generated images, with no transparency about how they were made or how much was generated to produce them. Never mind how much the artist gets paid.  Additionally, the tools I've used professionally for decades, yes, I’m that old, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, also incorporate generative AI. It's nearly impossible to use a modern creative service that doesn't. Even my website CMS does. So I chose to get my own subscription, make my own art and decisions for how money should be used, and be as intentional and sustainable as possible.

With BattleSauce, no single AI image gets added into a game as-is. Every image is edited, recolored, composited, retouched, and reworked in Photoshop, and sometimes in Illustrator. I add lighting, texture, hand-drawn elements, and original illustration work. AI gives me a starting point. I make it something worth using. When the budget allows, I commission original art from artists I believe in who have a unique vision, and some of the illustration work throughout my games is entirely hand-drawn by me.

Every BattleSauce game is written, designed, and laid out by me. Rules, fiction, layout, art direction, all of it. I use Grammarly for editing and Claude as a thoughtful collaborator, but the creative decisions and designs are entirely mine.

I also made a deliberate choice to generate intentionally, waste nothing, and give back:  Unused Midjourney images go into a free art library anyone can use for any purpose, commercial or otherwise. Freely available stock means fewer people generating to get what they need.

And, half of every sale goes to One Tree Planted. I price everything in multiples of $2.50, so the math is always clean and honest: One dollar plants one tree, and nobody has to do maths.