Indie game Big Walk sparks AI debate after developers use chatbot to fix a bug

House House admitted that LLMs were used sparingly near the end of Big Walk's development to help work through technical challenges and bugs. Specifically, an LLM chatbot suggested a fix for an infinite length shadow bug in the Unity engine that the developers then modified into the final game code. The disclosure led to a public controversy in the indie gaming space after 19 Independent Games Festival jurors released a statement declining to vote for games using generative AI in any capacity. The jurors called for the IGF to adopt a strict anti-AI policy for future years. While platform holder Valve does not require disclosure for efficiency gains or chatbot usage, the IGF Awards do not make the same distinction. This discrepancy prompted House House to mention the AI assistance in its awards submission, bringing the underlying debate into public view.