Please have a read of this
https://www.snakeoil-os.net/wiki/Install..._Isolation
That is just a summary of the how SnakeOil evolved. but behind the scenes, there was lots of juggling and work.
AK could not keep going with his CD image previously (.img file). SnakeOil would not have survived this long without that change.
You could argue that if other developers could create the Pi image, why can't AK? Other developers were dedicated to Pi but AK is not...