Handprint is a credible certification system for creative products. Five tiers, one clear signal: how much of this was made by humans.
AI-generated games, art, music, and writing are flooding every marketplace. Steam alone gets hundreds of AI-built games monthly. The volume is accelerating.
There's no reliable way for a buyer to know if a game was hand-crafted over years or generated in an afternoon. Store pages don't disclose it. Reviews can't catch it.
Developers who do the work — hand-painting sprites, composing soundtracks, writing dialogue — have no way to prove it. Their craft drowns in a sea of generated content.
Handprint Certified is a credible, transparent certification that tells consumers exactly how much human craft went into a product. The handprint fades as AI contribution increases.
Ten creative categories, each weighted by how much it matters to the final product. Every point accounted for, nothing hidden.
| Category | What It Covers | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Visual Art | Sprites, textures, concept art, UI art, environmental art | 25 |
| Narrative | Story, dialogue, world-building, lore, quest writing | 20 |
| Creative Direction | Art direction, vision, aesthetic choices, creative leadership | 15 |
| Music & Sound | Original score, sound design, voice acting, foley | 10 |
| Game Design | Mechanics, systems, balance, progression, economy | 10 |
| Level Design | Maps, encounters, puzzles, pacing, spatial design | 7 |
| Animation | Character animation, VFX, cutscenes, motion design | 5 |
| QA & Testing | Playtesting, bug reports, usability testing | 4 |
| Programming | Engine work, gameplay code, tools, networking | 3 |
| Dev Tools | Build systems, pipelines, CI/CD, editors | 1 |
Each category is scored 0–100% human, then multiplied by its weight. The weighted sum is your Handprint Score. A game with fully human art (25 pts) and narrative (20 pts) but AI-generated music scores 55+ even if other areas used AI.
Inspired by the ESRB model. Free self-attestation to drive adoption. Verified certification for credibility. Platform licensing coming soon.
Fill out the scoring form, get a badge immediately. Zero friction, zero cost. Your badge displays "Self-Reported."
Handprint reviews your workflow evidence — screenshots, commit history, process docs. Your badge says "Verified" instead of "Self-Reported."
For storefronts like Steam, Epic, and itch.io. Integrate Handprint scores into your platform natively.
Games are the ideal proving ground for content certification. Here's why we're starting here before expanding to music, film, and publishing.
Game dev workflows leave trails — commit histories, asset folders, engine projects. Evidence is built into the process. Certification is verifiable, not just claimed.
Indie game communities already care about authenticity. "Handcrafted" is already marketing language on itch.io and Steam. We're formalizing what the market wants.
Indie devs competing against AI-generated content need a signal. A Handprint badge on a Steam page tells buyers: this was made by people who care.
We're onboarding indie game developers now. Get your Handprint certification and show the world your game was made by human hands.
When you see a Handprint badge on a store page, here's what it means.
A gold Handprint badge means the product scored 96–100 on our certification. Every pixel, every note, every line was made by a human. No AI in the creative process.
A "Verified" designation means Handprint staff reviewed actual evidence — source files, commit logs, process documentation. It's not just the developer's word.
Every certified product has a public breakdown: which categories were human-made and which used AI. Full transparency, no guessing.