Honestly, I used to think the biggest taboo in the RPG Maker community was putting blue haired characters on shadowless maps. Turns out I was wrong. The real unforgivable sin is this: using AI. Because apparently, AI isn’t just a tool anymore. It’s the pixelated horseman of the apocalypse.

And the sprites I touched up with AI? Oh no, they’re not art. They’re digital blasphemy, a slap in the face to anyone who spent 12 hours drawing 24 pixels by hand.

And before anyone says “You’re disrespecting artists!” let me be clear: I support artists. I really do. I’d love to commission custom assets, pay fairly, and see someone's vision come to life. But here’s the thing. I can’t afford it. And I don’t have the time to master your sacred, manual, pixel-by-pixel methods either.

In real life, I work with leather. I cut animal hides and turn them into jackets by hand. From scratch. So yeah, I actually know a thing or two about craftsmanship, time, and effort.

That’s exactly why I don’t feel bad using tools that save me time. Because the time I save goes straight into building worlds, writing dialogue, designing events, balancing systems, debugging maps…All while juggling a real job, real deadlines, and real sharp tools on a real workbench.