Project Zomboid build 42, also known as ‘unstable 42,’ is finally here after a long wait, and it transforms the survival game with fresh maps, gameplay changes, and vital additions like high-rise buildings and the ability to sit down on couches. But the new version of The Indie Stone’s DayZ, Dying Light, and The Forest rival has also been met with concerns regarding the new artwork used for loading screens. Players have commented that the art looks as if it may have been created using artificial intelligence, or AI tools. Now, one of Project Zomboid’s developers shares a lengthy statement explaining how the artwork was commissioned, also responding to the claims regarding AI.
The new Project Zomboid artwork depicts survivors battling or escaping from zombies – one piece depicts a person using a radio in a building that is surrounded by the undead. Released as part of build 42, these new images for the survival game seemingly contain some visual anomalies that may be attributable to AI generation tools. In the picture of the person using the radio, for example, the handle of the radio is misaligned with its main casing, the wire on the headphones seems to merge into the character’s hair, and there is an odd number of lines on the stand-up microphone – on one side of the microphone there are five indentations, but on the other side, which ought to be symmetrical, there are six.
The Project Zomboid community has posted a range of comments, threads, and videos regarding the supposed use of AI in the new artwork. The Indie Stone has since removed the images from the game, and now, Chris Simpson, also known as ‘Lemmy,’ one of Zomboid’s developers, has issued a lengthy response.
“No matter how sure or certain anyone may be as to whether AI generation was used in the new title screen and the loading screens, I’m not about to make any definitive statements one way nor the other until we’ve spoken to the artist who created these pieces, just that I took the decision to remove the artwork until it can be investigated fully and we can discuss with the artist we commissioned to make them,” Simpson says.
“As is usual with cases like this, we’ve seen some weird conspiracy theories floating around and some incorrect claims as to the identity of the artist, and it’s become clear this all needs to come to an end before it completely overshadows B42’s launch. As I’ve said elsewhere, we paid for and commissioned a triple-A concept artist to create these pieces, the very same artist that painted our ‘Bob stood on car’ artwork that’s the iconic cover art of our game (and was painted for us in 2011 way before AI art was a thing).
“That’s not to say AI was not used in these new pieces’ production. All I can attest to is that we as TIS [The Indie Stone] paid a professional artist external to TIS to create the pieces, and whether others may disagree, we and everyone in the closed beta testing team thought they were great and were excited for everyone to see.”
Released back in 2013, Project Zomboid has become one of the most popular zombie games on Steam. With more than 250,000 user reviews, it still boasts a 94% positive rating. In the last 24 hours alone, Zomboid reached a concurrent player count of more than 39,000, higher than horror rivals such as Dead By Daylight, The Forest, and Left 4 Dead 2. Simpson says that the controversial artwork initially used in build 42 is now unlikely to reappear in the game.
“If indeed it transpires AI generation was used in their production, we had established trust in the artist’s proven abilities and track record, and with the immense amount of work we had to do to get this build ready and our attention divided in a thousand different ways, if anything, it would be a failure in our close attention to the artwork to spot anything others seem to have considered so obvious,” the developer continues. “We were very happy with how they looked and were excited for everyone to see them.
“Frustratingly we also commissioned an FX studio to make the title menu screen into 3D, and to add VFX such as rain, dust, flickering light, and subtle moving camera. A huge amount of work and money went into that title screen pop and we were super proud of it, and this is just an extremely frustrating way for it all to go.
“Either way, they are gone for now – likely forever, as frankly after two years of hard work from our entire team in getting build 42 done, it would break my heart if discussion as to whether we’d used AI on a few loading screens that were produced externally to the company pretty recently was to completely overshadow all that effort and passion and hard work the team put into getting B42 out there.”
“Even if it turns out no AI was used, it seems having them in the game would just continue causing grief and casting a shadow over B42’s unstable and launch and I’d rather just write off the money spent on them either way. If anyone feels disappointed in us for failing to stop AI artwork from getting into the game, then that’s fair enough and I personally apologize. I hope people see we took the claims seriously enough to act even before having sufficient time to investigate the matter properly.
“But at the same time,” Simpson concludes, “I stand by my teammates and the company that from our perspective we were paying an artist to create bespoke artwork and feel we’ve ethically not done anything wrong as many of the commenters around the community have suggested.”
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