On Hockay and what comes next

A week ago we opened preregistrations for HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed..

We would have considered getting 50 preregistrants and 10 players as a success for a project announced out of nowhere.

We ended up getting over 20 times that

That's overwhelming, and we're grateful—but it also means the questions about how HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed. is built deserve a real answer, not a buried paragraph at the bottom of a thank-you post.

So let's talk about the main theme of feedback from the community.

We hear you

A lot of you have raised concerns about the use of AI in HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed.. Most of that feedback has been thoughtful and constructive, even when critical, and we appreciate that.

The energy behind it—caring this much about something that didn't exist moments ago—is genuinely moving, and it's the reason this statement exists rather than a vague "thanks for the feedback" reply.

What we've actually done

HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed. is a one-person project—community, support, development, and art, all the same pair of hands. We've said this from day one and we're saying it again because it's the single most important piece of context for everything that follows.

AI has been part of how we got here:

• Some artwork is fully AI-generated (player portraits are the clearest example).
• Some pieces use AI as a sketching or refinement step before we shape the final asset (most team logos).
• For writing, we work from detailed outlines and occasionally use AI to add texture.
• We use AI to help us develop hockay.com.

We've never hidden this and we're not going to start now.

Why we made that choice

Visuals matter. We wanted HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed. to feel like a place, not a spreadsheet, and that meant having art before we had an audience.

Commissioning artists or developers for a project of this scope—before knowing whether it would resonate—would have meant a significant upfront cost. At that stage, we made the call to build using AI rather than ask people to contribute under uncertain conditions.

That isn't a dismissal of artists. It's the opposite. We're not willing to ask people to work "for exposure," to take a token rate that doesn't reflect the work, or to gamble their time on a project that might not find an audience.

If we bring people in to work on HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed.—art, code, writing, anything—we want to compensate them properly and fairly. That commitment is exactly why we leaned on AI in the meantime instead of asking anyone to work on spec.

That decision isn’t without tradeoffs. Some of the concerns raised go beyond cost—around how AI is used in creative work more broadly—and we understand why this doesn’t sit right with everyone.

What we're doing about it

Immediately:

• Retiring the AI-generated player portraits. Early alpha testers told us a visual identity for players was missing; a broader part of the community now tells us this specific solution isn't working.
• Opening a contribution channel. If you'd like to help with art, code, writing, or anything else, send us a DM with what you'd like to do and why. We want to build a path that's fair to contributors and sustainable for the project, not one that swaps one problem for another.
• Opening a feedback channel. On Discord, head over to #feedback to share ideas, thoughts, and comments

Evaluating:

• Community-sourced artwork with community input on what gets used. We want this to work without exploiting fans, without IP headaches, and without becoming a popularity contest that burns out the people who participate. We don't have a plan for this yet—we'll share one when we do.

What we won't do:

• Try to build something that pleases everyone. If HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed. isn't for you, that's okay—and if you'd rather build an alternative version, we'll genuinely support you doing it.
• Use generic stock or royalty-free art for anything beyond UI icons.
• Walk away from HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed.. We're going to keep building, and see the First Season Ever through.

On that other splort

A lot of you found HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed. because you loved the 2020 phenomenon, and we're glad you did. That game is part of what made a project like Hockay possible to imagine—not the only inspiration, but a real one.

That said: HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed. isn't that, and it can't be.

The original splort had dozens of people working on it and external funding behind them. Even at that scale, keeping a project like that going long-term proved hard.

HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed. is one person, and the runway is whatever the person behind it is willing to put in to keep it going.

That constraint is by choice as much as circumstance. We've said it elsewhere and we'll say it again: no advertising, no selling your data, no sponsorships from companies whose relationship with The Almighty IceThe living force that created Hockay. It appeared. It is spreading. is "complicated." Those would change what HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed. is. We'd rather have less to work with.

The shape of what we can build here is different by necessity—and trying to recreate the pandemic-era cult favorite with one pair of hands would land somewhere between a pale copy and a slow burnout.

HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed. is inspired by it. It's also inspired by a lot of other things. The parts of Hockay that don't mirror its references aren't oversights—they're the project we actually want to build.

You're more than welcome on HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed.. Just let it be Hockay.

In a nutshell

HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed. has a direction, and we’re going to keep building toward it. That won’t change.

Everything else is open to iteration. You’ve already shaped parts of what’s in this post, and you’ll keep shaping what comes next.

But part of giving feedback is accepting that some of it won't result in change. It doesn't mean it hasn't been heard or considered, nor that it's being brushed off.

Thanks for caring this much. Stick around. We’ll keep working hard to bring you HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed.