Indie devs got a rare lift today as one studio offered a huge human-made asset pack for almost nothing.
In 2025, AI controversies reshaped the conversation around game art and assets. Players questioned everything from a live-service shooter’s sprays to Stamina Zero’s Little Droid trailer and Nintendo’s Mario Kart World ads.
Most noticeably, Epic dealt with lawsuits for their out-of-control AI Darth Vader, which leaves trust thin ahead of today’s announcement.
New indie asset bundle offers creators a non-AI path forward
Chequered Ink, a two-person UK studio known for fonts, lightweight engines, and indies, released a 10,000-asset pack designed to help creators avoid AI entirely. The team said they built it to make development cheaper and easier for newcomers who felt cornered by generative tools.
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They stressed that everything, from the 4,708 HD sprites to the 4,574 pixel art sheets, was crafted by hand. The pack also included 792 audio files, 35 models, a font, and genre coverage ranging from platformers to RPGs and board games. The duo framed it as a direct response to the environmental and copyright issues tied to AI art and audio in modern pipelines.
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Chequered Ink said they wanted to “save developers time and money so they don’t feel the need to turn to AI,” noting concerns about models trained on copyrighted work.
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They argued that stories hit harder when shaped by humans, even if creators borrow assets to fill out their worlds. Their store page backed that message with a simple license: devs can use the content for any commercial project without credit, so long as they don’t resell the raw files.
The launch price sat at $20, though a 50 percent sale dropped it to $10. Buyers also get future assets added for free, keeping the pack active as the team continues building new art and sounds by hand.
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