I don't know what to do and would greatly appreciate opinions on this!
I'm a primarily traditional artist who has been trying to create my own game. I have tried many times to learn coding in various languages but it never worked out. It's like Blender, I can pour 100s of hours into learning but if it's not tangible I just never get the hang of it. MASSIVE respect to all you coders! Anyway, I was using the sdk and an AI to help code lua for an art focused experience. (I'm not sure it would even be considered a game) I was making some good progress but now I'll probably just quit. I saw on the Playdate store that games that have used AI to aid in the coding process get a badge on them that says something like (This game was created using AI). Even if it specified it was only for coding help I think we all know people would just see the badge and assume the art is AI too. I was really excited about making a black and white art the people would willingly look at! Heck, my concern isn't that people would not pay since I wanted it to be free anyway! The whole thing has me ready to just quit. What do you think?
GenAI Art isn't allowed on the store anymore, but Gen AI code is allowed so long as it's disclosed. You're right though that many people wont buy a game that uses Gen AI at all. Though there are also people who don't care at all.
Another point is that games are not allowed to be free on the official Catalog. The two free games currently on there were special one-off promotional games back when the store first launched.
You're always allowed to release your game on other storefronts like Itch.io or Gumroad, etc.
Have you ever thought about collaborating with a coder instead of using AI? (Or pay/commission a coder if you want)
Depending on how complex your project is, I'd would personally be open to collaboration.
There are also other people in discord communities / reddit that could help.
I don't think people would assume Ai code means that Ai art was used too, you could go that route. But @DraperDanMan 's advice is by far the best. The advantage you have is that developers are in the majority, you already have your first offer for help!
You could also turn it around and join other projects as the artist. The Playdate Squad Discord is the best place to post collaboration request / offers