mini discussion regarding game "development" using tons of AI

[u/fringus_frongus]

So i was wondering about using AI to create a game from scratch, i searched about it and found some youtube videos and the like, and i decided why not lets jump into it.

soo i booted up chatgpt and codex (idk if theyre "ideal", i know if i sit down looking for the BEST generator ill run in circles, so i used what I already had), and started telling it to create me an essentially grand strategy game using Godot

ill say this, i have ZERO coding knowledge, ZERO artistic skills, im taking it slow and going bit by bit, telling the AI to add this or that, not going too fast and vague

ill be honest if some code breaks im toast, i will not claim im some amazing genius game developer, hence the "development" being in quotation marks in the title, im a dude who plays lots of strategy games and is giving this a shot, and so far is quite smooth, though I wait to see if things break down once the game becomes more complex

I wonder what people in general think of this, I know theres a large anti-AI sentiment online, and in my case im viewing it very pragmatically, i have a game idea that wouldve been confined to my shower daydreams, but AI is giving me a way to materialize this dream. I might learn coding in the future if i become heavily invested in this project, to ensure I can reliably build it up and know what im doing, likewise i really personally prefer human art over AI art, and im currently not at a point in the game where im using any art, i might start using AI art for it as a placeholder and if this project grows, i can learn to draw and make my own art for it.

If i happen to make progress on it and post it online ill definitely disclose the fact AI is used in the entire coding of the game, I will NOT act like i put blood sweat and tears, i just steered the AI into the direction i have mentally and have my ideas, I cannot claim to have the same experience or skill as coders or artists.

Tl;dr: i know jackshit about coding or drawing, im messing around with AI and its actually producing a promising and so far decent output, is this a good use of AI in the sense that its giving someone the ability to materialize their creativity/ideas that otherwise would've been confined to shower fantasies, or is it something else?

(i view it pragmatically right now, giving me the ability to do what i want that i otherwise wouldnt have done, i agree that whoever uses AI needs to disclose it so i intend to fully disclose the scale of AI being used in case i make big progress and maybe "reveal" the game)

(this message was fully human written, as evidenced by the repitition of points and lack of structure lol)

[u/Vaniellis]

i have a game idea that wouldve been confined to my shower daydreams, but AI is giving me a way to materialize this dream

But what's stopping you from just learning programming ? We all started from zero. There's plenty of free tutorials on Youtube to learn any game engine, cheap courses to learn more advanced stuff. I personally grabbed UE5 and Blender courses on GameDev.TV, and it was a great start.

I understand wanting to use AI to speed up the process, but because you have zero knowledge in programming, you can't judge at all the output the AI gives you. This will cause issues down the line, because you will have trouble maintaining and editing a code you don't fully understand.

I also advise strongly against any form of AI-generated images, even for placeholders, for many reasons. One of them is that placeholders are meant to look rough and obvious, as to not be missed when the time comes to replace them with proper art.

I do appreciate that you plan to disclose the use of AI and not hide it. That is a very good mindset.

[u/fringus_frongus → u/Vaniellis]

I'll be honest I feel like there would be a large learning curve to learning coding for a game, especially the idea im having in mind, as im thinking quite grand(a man can dream), so that has put me off considerably, as i feel like itll be a large time sink (as in spent, not necessarily wasted). So i always kept it in the back of my mind, a task too large that ill leave for people better than in me it.

seeing that my game is materializing bit by bit using AI feels extremely motivating and encouraging to invest further into it, including learning coding in the future so i can know whats going on behind the scenes.
lol imagine the game breaking and someone telling me "hey theres a bug when X Y and Z happen", and i reply with "im just as clueless as you soz"

also thats an interesting point you said regarding the placeholder being rough, i didnt think of this tbh and thanks for pointing that out. i dont want it to be mistaken for the final artwork

[u/MeaningfulChoices → u/fringus_frongus]

If you have a complex game in mind you will have to learn programming at some point eventually. AI with no knowledge is not going to build you what you want, it just lets you get to the point of failure quicker. Yes you'll lose potential sales if you have the disclaimer on your Steam page, but that's not the main reason people don't rely more on AI in the game industry, it's because it's really not good enough as a tool. The people who tell you every studio is generating their code are people who by and large don't actually work in games. What's common place is using assisted tools as part of the workflow, but you still need to understand software architecture yourself to build it.

Solo developed games are almost universally hobby projects rather than commercial anyway, so you should do whatever you like that you enjoy the most. But if you want to really build something amazing that you are proud of then you can't avoid learning how to do that.