Project Zomboid’s AI-generated Build 42 loading screens draw ire from the community, get taken out of the game

After waiting for three full years for Project Zomboid‘s Build 42 to be released, the community has embraced what the developer The Indie Stone has delivered. The single exception to this rule is the now-deleted allegedly AI-generated loading screens, which the player base called out almost immediately upon spotting them.

While Project Zomboid isn’t a game that depends on its graphics to drive the gameplay forward, it does have a very specific and distinctive look to it. Its loading screens and menus (often featuring Bob “Baldspot” Smith), too, have become downright emblematic by now. With that in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the community was deeply unhappy with what appeared to be retouched AI-generated loading screens. While some of the developers from The Indie Stone denied these claims right off the bat, the truth appears to be a bit more complicated than a simple yes or no would suggest.

It did not take long at all for The Indie Stone to react and take the artwork out of the game, issuing the following statement as to why this action was taken:

Allegedly AI-generated loading screens spotted in Project Zomboid B42, but they’ve already been deleted

The issue here is threefold, broadly speaking. Firstly, the artist contracted to produce the pertinent loading screens was the same person who drew the iconic Bob loading screen over a decade ago. The Indie Stone enjoyed their new output well enough without spotting that it sat in stark contrast with the dark and gloomy vibe of the game. Secondly, The Indie Stone has also spent a non-insignificant amount of money and time setting up these loading screens with dedicated animated effects and other fancy tidbits. Those, too, are now gone. Finally, the dialogue over the nature of this art was taking over the main subreddit, when the focus should’ve squarely been on the actual content of Build 42’s update.

For the developer, this was a lose-lose situation, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there was some mixed messaging about what was going on with the art early on.

From my point of view, my gut reaction upon seeing the pictures was that they were AI-generated for sure, and many others feel the same way. For starters, the artwork is precisely the combination of hyper-realistic and goofy that you commonly see in modern generative AI models, and it doesn’t take much sleuthing to spot weird inconsistencies in the images. They had been touched up by human hand for sure, but I’d be hard-pressed to believe generative AI wasn’t used in their production, which would be a shame.

In the end, The Indie Stone made the right move: regardless of whether they were AI or not, these loading screens did not fit with the game’s general aesthetic. Redditor thedumbfish1234 released a series of colored in-game newspaper pictures from Build 42’s files, and each and every one of these images serves the game better in this respect.

With discussions of AI content behind us, now’s the time to focus on Project Zomboid Build 42 proper. It’s shaping up to be the definitive version of the game already, and though it’s only currently available via the Unstable content branch on Steam, I highly recommend you give it a shot.