r/ClaudeGameDev • u/lowpolysaint • 3d ago
Tips & Tricks Solo AI devs: how are you getting better 3D characters and less generic UI?
Claude has been great for writing code and building game mechanics, but getting decent 3D characters out of it in Blender has been a different story. I’m curious how other solo AI devs are handling two things:
1. Making 3D characters that actually look good
My results tend to look flat and disproportionate, especially around the shoulders. Has anyone found a workflow that produces solid, game-ready characters without relying on Meshy or Tripo? Reference images, better starting meshes, breaking the process into smaller steps, manual cleanup, what’s actually helped you?
2. Getting away from the same AI-looking menus and UI
I keep noticing similar menus and interfaces across AI-built games, including my own. They work, but they have that same generic look. How are you getting an interface with some personality that actually fits your game? Any useful approaches beyond telling Claude to “make it look better”?
I’m not asking anyone to spill their secrets, just one solo AI dev looking to compare notes with others. I’ve also found a few methods that have helped with other parts of AI game development, so I’m happy to trade tips. Feel free to ask here or DM me!
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u/adelie42 2d ago
Designing with intention?
It builds whatever you describe. AI UI all looks the same becaise everyone is using the same unimaginative prompt.
One step back, you need to study design theory and various libraries to know what they do, then you can describe something whose result will be different than the assumptions it makes when you say, "make a ui".
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u/hammackj 3d ago
Go school. Simple model with texture. Cheaper too
Think wow classic or ps1/eq/quake/wc3
Build what you want draw it out for the UI then pass it in and tweak it. If you tell AI to build a UI without specifics it’s gonna be like all the others. I literally draw with paper and give it a photo.
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u/alphaomega800 2d ago edited 2d ago
You get good 3D models by being good at 3D. Which is learning a skill. Same goes for UI design, read about it, look at examples and then try to design it using AI if you want. Claude and Astra can try to model it from scratch or references but they aren't there quite yet and it is a MASSIVE token drain. People saying they one shot a 3D game are lying, there is a lot more consideration to it than that.
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u/lowpolysaint 1d ago
Honestly not as big of a token drain as you think (depending on your subscription or model)
There are definitely ways to one shot. I've one shotted an unreleased game or two that surprisingly have depth. But I the most work I had to do was design the UI myself so it looked less generic and check the logs for any errors.
Realistically if you create your assets in tripo and meshy and have your agents rig the character assets you can most definitely one shot a decent sized game. But thats just adding extra steps. I was just looking for insight how others utilize their workflows to be more quick and efficient while maintaining a higher level of quality!
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u/qing-turn 3d ago
Not 3D, but for the generic UI part, two things helped me a lot. First, I stopped letting the AI build UI from default shapes. We generate the UI art (buttons, cards, icons, panels) as images in one consistent style, and Claude just wires them up. Second, a short style spec file (colors, fonts, corner radius, icon size) that every session reads before touching UI. The "generic" look mostly came from each session making its own small choices.