This is a space for me to write about the ongoing challenge of figuring out how to produce art for Bannerlands. My main goal was to have unique art for every card in the game (something I was unable to accomplish for my previous game, Age of Rivals).
This post was originally about my ill-fated decision to try using AI art for Bannerlands. This was a decision made in 2024 in the early days of GenAI art. It allowed me to build a prototype for the game and test the mechanics (again, with every card having unique art).
In the two years I’ve been working on this game off and on, it has become clear that GenAI art is not a great solution for a variety of reasons. Thanks to feedback from players, I made the decision to find an artist to join the team.
He is great, and he is creating new art to replace every single image in the game.
For anyone curious about the process I went through:
- Here’s the job post I used to find an artist to work with: https://www.workwithindies.com/careers/dark-inertia-studios-2d-illustrator
- Here’s the survey I sent to my players when I was trying to choose the final artist and art style: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScTK8msqpwgxPyi566MMj-Rz6lDStEJ0coMuc2cKCkVsYr7dg/viewform
- Here are various updates I posted about as it was happening: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3495400
As of today (May 14, 2026), the entire UI has been redone, as well as 5 of the characters, several backgrounds, and 52 cards. It took some time to come up with the exact style, and I would say we’re still refining it as we go. We will probably go back and make adjustments at some point.
All of the art that is still old is clearly marked in the demo as “Temp Art”.
This has been an interesting and challenging journey. I am happy that I was able to incorporate player feedback into the art style selection and that players seem to mostly like the new art (although of course no art style will work for everyone).
You can see more new art and try the game in the free demo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3495400/Bannerlands/
Thanks!
Dark Inertia Studios - Bannerlands 