I completely agree with you that using AI for graphics can sometimes feel lazy or in bad taste. The truth is, my options were pretty limited when it came to hardware, free time, and money. I did the best I could with what I had, and I'm proud of the effort I put into this project. I did edit or redraw details on most, if not all, of the images I used. It was a learning experience, and I'm always looking to improve.
Counter-Point: I see Gen-AI, that instantly torpedoes any benefit of the doubt. Oh, you put in "work" and are "proud"? Well, from outside, I have zero reason to believe you even wrote any of the script. Once you employ the magical plagiarism black box that seemingly only exists to enable copyright theft on an incomprehensible scale (e.g. if you couldn't ask it for free to make images of Garfield with tits or Pikachu stealing a car, literally nobody outside of computer researchers would give a shit), I cannot trust you when you try to claim ownership of anything. Much like getting caught plagiarizing your thesis paper in college, the only course of action is to kick them out of the program because now all of their work is suspect. It doesn't matter if they 'only' plagiarized their source page, it doesn't matter how much they pinkie-promise that they did in fact do all of their own homework; the only safe option is a scorched earth policy. Nobody wants to see doctors who had Chat-GPT do all of their class work.
Likewise applies here; nobody has any reason to take you at your word for literally anything, and they have every reason to doubt it. Using Gen-AI in something you're selling just indicates that you are more interested in making money than growing as an artist. Can't draw? The honest thing would be to do a text adventure, or be brave enough to include your own 'bad' art. Using Gen-AI is a cop out. Why should anybody be paying you for content they have zero way of verifying you had any hand in making? If there was any content that you are 1,000% morally, ethically, and legally clear to pirate, it is Gen-AI.