Big Walk developer House House reveal genAI use in final stretch of development, only revealing it now as "it has become a matter of public interest"

House House, the developer behind Big Walk, has confirmed the use of generative AI in the game’s development, stating that large language models were employed sparingly to address technical issues. The studio clarified that less than 0.1% of the game’s code involved AI assistance, emphasizing that no other aspects of development relied on the technology.

The developers provided a specific example where AI helped resolve a Unity rendering issue causing performance drops during sunrise and sunset. After consulting a Unity engineer who deemed the problem unsolvable, House House turned to an LLM, which suggested a fix that, while requiring extensive modifications, ultimately worked and amounted to roughly 10 lines of code.

House House acknowledged concerns about the normalization of generative AI, expressing support for efforts to limit its harm in gaming. They admitted the absence of an internal AI usage policy during development and pledged to implement a more comprehensive policy moving forward, framing their disclosure as a voluntary and reflective decision.

The announcement follows a recent statement by Independent Games Festival jurors, including prominent figures like Austin Walker and Sam Barlow, who declared they would not vote for any game using generative AI. House House noted that their disclosure was prompted by IGF submission requirements and the growing public interest in AI usage in game development.