I’m going to go off on a slight tangent since people keep talking about it, I think the biggest hurdle to getting people to work on a project is lack of confidence. No one wants to give up their time for a project that they think is going to be abandoned.
Having a few smaller, fully complete projects made using only the skills you do have lets people know that you have the not only the ability to handle your part of a project, but also the perseverance to follow through and not waste all their time making assets for a game that’ll never come out.
Just making a post saying “Artists needed!” for a large scale project, from an unknown creator, that hasn’t made a full game before, that isn’t super active in the forum, is not a great way to get people jazzed about working with you.
Using AI as a stopgap until you do get artists/writers/coders is also counterproductive, considering it’s a lot more likely people will find your use of it distasteful enough to not work with you if its for their specialty. It also shows a lack of scope management when you’re trying to make an indie game with load-bearing elements that you cannot do (if the visuals/writing are critical to the game then you need a plan for doing them, if they’re not then you can just use unpolished placeholders instead of AI assets).
I was about to type out a whole thing about what to do when you’re starting out, but then I realized I’d be reiterating stuff I already wrote about here.
And if the fact that building up a good reputation in the community, or networking, or learning a new skill take time and effort is an issue, unfortunately sometimes things take time and effort. I think “it’s more convenient” is a poor excuse for art theft, whether it’s a direct use, tracing, or paying a company for their program built off of stolen art.
Man we really do need an AI argument quarantine zone that doesn’t just get shut to argue about this kinda stuff.