Oliver Twins 1

Once upon a time, the Oliver Twins were respected as creative forces in the UK 'bedroom' coding scene. The siblings created Dizzy, one of the most instantly recognisable characters of the home computer era, and would later found studios such as Interactive Studios / Blitz Games Studios and Radiant Worlds.

Sadly, the pair have fully embraced Generative AI in more recent times, pumping out a host of 'interactive experiences' via their RichCast platform.

They even leveraged one of their past hits, Ghost Hunters, which not only turned out to be a laughably vacuous video game, but also used some of the laziest AI-generated presentation I've ever witnessed.

It seems that the brothers aren't done with GenAI slop yet, nor are they finished tarnishing their once-proud careers in the world of entertainment.

Oliver Twins 2

As spotted by Mister Stu on social media, the Olivers are about to launch a Kickstarter campaign for Journey to the Emerald City, a "story-led interactive adventure" based on L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz, "containing a beautifully illustrated book, cards, cipher [sic] disc, stickers and a map" – all of which feature artwork which is clearly generated by AI.

As you can imagine, this announcement has gone down just as well as you'd expect.

Even Dizzy himself hasn't escaped the touch of GenAI; there's something not quite right with his design here.

The campaign isn't live yet, so it's not known how much cash the Olivers are asking for to fund this particular venture – will you be pledging your support, or do you expect human artists to be involved with projects like this?

[source kickstarter.com, via bsky.app]