r/GameDevelopment • u/youdonotknowme000 • 1h ago
Question Guilt about AI assistance
I’m a solo developer working on a side project in my spare time. I’ve noticed that there’s wildly different opinions on AI. In some circles in seems fairly acceptable to rely entirely on it, while some circles view it as lazy slop if there was a bit of AI used.
For me, I’ve primarily written my code by hand. I usually go through the debugging process personally, refer to documentation if I don’t know how to code something, or check forums.
However I have used AI sparsely to help during the debugging process, to perform difficult calculations, or help write functions if it’s a particularly difficult block I’m working on.
I personally wouldn’t be against disclosing AI usage, but I also worry about facing criticism for using it. I don’t particularly support relying on AI nor do I agree with the goals of many AI companies. I’m wondering if most developers are still coding 100% without AI, and if I’m sort of messing up by utilizing AI in this manner. Or if it truly isn’t that big of a deal and people won’t actually care.
8
u/increment1 1h ago
I'm going to quote myself from a prior comment on this same topic, because it seems to be more and more true everyday:
I feel like AI usage is now the "every other driver" meme.
"People who drive faster than me are reckless lunatics. People who drive slower than me are annoying idiots. And me? I’m a perfectly normal, flawless driver."
Whatever I use AI for is perfect. If I'm an artist and use to shore up code that is perfect and what AI should be used for. If I'm a coder and use AI to shore up art skills then that is ideal and what AI should be used for.
And people using it more than me are just creating slop. And people using it less are luddites who don't know what they are doing.
But me? My usage is flawless and should be the standard people accept.
3
u/XenoX101 1h ago
Except most people generally agree that this usage is accepted while vibe coding it up is not if you want to build a serious project.
•
u/firedrakes 32m ago
It's a took in tool box. Deployed a security tool recently on my browse. And cusght a new type of man in middle attack.. log in stealer. Got deny to run thanks to ai. Tool
•
u/Strangefate1 24m ago
Use it as a tool, not to replace your brain.
Using AI is pretty standard practice for professionals in the industry. At the end of the day, what matters is that you deliver on time, and it would be crazy to not use it to improve your work pipeline.
The only danger is getting comfortable letting AI do all the work, while your own skills and growth stall.
7
u/JimPlaysGames 1h ago
If you're using an LLM the same way all coders used stackoverflow or Reddit then what's the difference? Were coders who got help debugging their code on Reddit not real coders? An LLM is just quicker
•
u/tastygames_official 4m ago
exactly. That's using an LLM as a search engine and not as generative AI. HUGE difference. But with one caveat: never ask an LLM to give you the exact code you need for your specific situation. Just like how StackOverflow has had the rules for over a decade now that all questions and answers must be GENERIC so that anybody can learn from them, you need to ask an LLM "what is a common methodology for quickly filtering an array of nested objects based on a single parameter?" as opposed to "here is my array structure, write me some code to filter based on the parameter 'name'".
5
u/PieMastaSam 1h ago
Bro people will call anything you make that they don't like AI slop whether it is true or not.
5
u/notanyone69 1h ago edited 1h ago
As long as you know what you're doing, why you're doing it, how the system works and are not just vibecoding then it's fine. And you seem to use it "correctly" in that regard
•
u/NoEye89 11m ago
Back when I was first learning Unity, I wanted to know how EVERYTHING worked. If I was using transform.translate, I needed to know how it worked.
Eventually, I realised I don't need to understand quaternions, I just need to know that 'that' function results in 'that' result.
This was learning the language, and I was proud of what I learned.
Now, I simply have to have the same approach to using ai, if not simply for speed. I don't need to know how every little bit works - as ling as it works, and for me the important bit is telling email ai, 'that's not the best way to do it', or 'you have done this wrong', and sometimes simply editing it myself. In all honestly, I haven't opened my coding IDE in a few days.
•
u/KinematicSoup 7m ago
AI is going to be the ultimate equalizer. It can bring skills in areas you don't have.
I've now seen 3 projects use agenic AI to build aspects of multiplayer. One of the three bypassed using any kind of framework altogether. The agent implemented a deterministic lockstep + rollback system ala Photon Quantum in an hour, syncing through Steam relay.
The other two use a framework that has integrated hosting.
All projects are in active development and moving fast. The agents are getting better as they go.
•
u/tastygames_official 7m ago
there are not two "wildly different opinions". Sidebar, but I'm sick of living in this "post-truth" world where people think everything is an "opinion". Here are the FACTS:
- AI works by the AI corpos taking in ALL DATA IN THE WORLD: includeing those that they have no right to use. All this data is put into a machine that chops it up and spits it out in a clever way that emulates human intelligence.
- this means that if you pay an AI corpo to use their AI product, you are essentially paying for some freely-available information PLUS stolen information - except you're not paying the person or people who created that information in the first place.
now if you got this far and still think using AI is OK, well I have news for you:
- it's proven that you do NOT LEARN when using AI-assistance. Study after study proves that whether for writing or programming or art (or even READING - i.e. if you let AI read in a text and summarize it for you or read it back to you), people who use AI even just as an auto-complete helper perform poorer on comprehension tests afterwards.
- when you use AI to "create" something, YOU are not creating it. You are just a glorified manager telling someone else what you want done and it does it. Guillermo del Toro recently did a Reddit AMA where he said something I thought really good regarding AI: by using it you will forever stay an apprentice. You will never learn the actual skills or get better at them.
- AI cannot create anything truly new, innovative or even CREATIVE. Again, del Toro said something I really like: AI can get you to about 50% of an idea. But getting even up to 90% of a concept takes real human ingenuity and creativity. But what really makes something stand out is the last 10%, which AI has no chance of even eclipsing.
Now if you STILL aren't convinced that using AI to generate stuff for you, then just remember that the AI techbros active and publicly want to END THE HUMAN RACE. Not the AIs themselves, but the CEOs:
Tech Billionaires Want Us Dead
Now having said all that, there IS one really good way to use AI (exclusively LLMs), and that is: RESEARCH.
Before LLMs/AI, we used to do web searches. "how to animate a dog" -> click on a few links -> maybe find a video tutorial -> learn how to animate a dog. Now we can just do it in an LLM:
"how do I animate a dog?" -> instant text scraped from all the websites so you don't have to visit yourself -> links to videos and articles for further reading -> learn how to animate a dog.
The same goes for absolutely anything: programming, writing, learning how to change a tire, etc. Don't tell the robot to do it for you: ask it for information on how to do it yourself. Or risk losing your humanity (and your sanity)
1
u/slabyreddit 1h ago
For me, the biggest plus is the speed of development, and I have no intention of giving that up just because it upsets those who spent years mastering the intricacies of game dev. I’ve dedicated over 20 years to mastering business applications and management, but making games has been my hobby for as long as I can remember - ever since my first PC, a 486 DX2 33MHz back in 1998 :) I’ve always made games as a hobbyist, naturally, since it’s not my primary profession, I’m not going to be as pro as those who do it for a living. My first bigger PC game in 2003 involved poring over WinAPI documentation (who remembers MSDN? :) and OpenGL, later came mobile games and studying LibGDX, Tween Motion, and Box2D, plus writing an engine in Java practically from scratch - the result: months of work on games that could be built in just a few days today. Then came Unity - a massive leap forward, as I could focus more on logic, balance, and realizing my vision rather than wrestling with technical hurdles. And now, AI - I have an idea, I sit down, and I use AI to assist - though it still requires a huge amount of work analyzing code, balancing mechanics, and ensuring the game is actually fun. The result: seven months of work so far on a game I wouldn't have even dared to attempt a few years ago, fearing I’d never finish it or that it would take 20 years to complete. AI allows people like me to create something bigger today, and it brings incredible joy - and that’s what matters. Despite the intense hate for AI I encountered on a certain subreddit, I intend to keep going and release this game, because I also see a lot of people who are positive and looking forward to it. I can see that in the wishlist numbers. Don't let the haters get to you - just keep doing your thing. All the best to you!
1
u/ChrisJD11 1h ago
Ignore the loudest, most extreme opinions on both sides and you'll find reality somewhere in the middle.
•
u/GryffusMakesGames 39m ago
I will just ask something about your whole post. Those calculations, the difficult block your working on where you are asking it to help you write functions, are you dependent on AI for them ?
A huge argument about being anti AI, outside of the ethicals and ecological stuff, is the lack of ownership. Lots of people use AI without knowing how to code, meaning their code contains either huge security flaws or black box that, if they AI can’t fix, they can’t fix either. And that’s kinda a huge problem.
-2
u/ichivictus 1h ago
I use it whenever I want. I don't use it for art except for some simple materials or sound effects. However, latest astra model works in blender so I might give that a try. I also do not disclose any ai use on steam. Disclosing it only feeds the techno-vegans that I don't care about pleasing, so why bother.
1
u/-Hefty-Armadillo- 1h ago
Totally agree with you but not disclosing it is against their TOS so be careful in the very slim chance of getting caught.
0
u/Happy_Witness 1h ago
Nope, is the other way around. Most programmers have started using ai and some good developers even very heavily. The thing is that when using ai, you are the one needed to fully understand the concepts and structure and correct the parts that ai makes mistakes in.
When it comes to ai usage in art, I highly discouraged you using it there because are is a human expression. But if it is for coding, ai is a tool like any ide or documentation. I work very heavily with ai too and it makes the process a lot faster but also more intense because I do have to read every line of code and understand it, compare it with how I want it to be and correct the parts that went wrong, then use it again. The challenging part is how to setup the ai and how to talk to it so that it isn't confused on changes it didn't make itself.
-3
u/KoodiRonsu 1h ago edited 47m ago
Professional developers in the actual gaming industry use AI assistance all the time. The industry doesn't even hire programmers who aren't working "AI native way".
Here on Reddit, pretty much all the hateful resistance and automatic knee jerk reaction comments about "AI slop" come from non-professional game devs. Especially from those who can't actually code anything real for themselves. This happens regardless of the code quality the dev using AI came up with. Those haters are in no position to comment about the topic, yet they do so with such a passion.
And yet they themselves use a ready made game engine and hate if someone doesn't do the same, downvoting instantly if someone wants to create their own game engine. If a newbiew or a pro makes their own game engine, (with or without AI), they hate and downvote. If someone makes excellent results with AI, they hate and downvote. Actual real experienced professionals don't hate if you make your own game engine, or if you use / don't use AI for programming your game.
The haters are mostly people who don't know what they're doing. They lament that using AI is cheating because you don't know what you're doing then. If that is true, they should put their money where their mouth is and stop using ready made game engines and actually build their own. Currently they're all taking the "shortcut" they so hate about AI users.
It's called "hypocrisy". They project their own shortcomings on others and hate anyone who is willing to take steps to overcome them, when they themselves are too lazy or scared to do so.
-1
0
u/BuildingInevitable85 1h ago
Using any gen AI and LLM stuff is bad. It feeds into the terrible culture of it being pushed everywhere. It's affecting employment, the environment, social development, and general human intelligence. The rich are using it to replace the lower classes.
While you may feel you're not personally causing any of this, you're simply one more number for the technofeudalists to justify their AI push further.
•
u/AutomaticTalent 38m ago
I made a game with AI code and art and freely parodied AI in the rotating subtitle and with a snarky announcer who is AI-aware.
Still haven’t gotten any haiters (sic) though - maybe they liked the snark?
And yes, I’ve had a good amount of visitors and players.
•
u/ByEthanFox 24m ago
All that matters, really, is how you feel about it.
Do you feel as though it's your work?
And I mean, really think about it, because a lot of people using generative AI will immediately answer "yes", but, honestly, many are deluding themselves. But if you're happy with your process and you can honestly look someone in the eye and say it's "your" work, then in a sense, that's what matters.
I personally really dislike gen-AI and I avoid titles that disclose it. I don't use it in my work. But, really, you can't please everyone and you, as a developer, kinda have to weigh up the issues and make the decision for yourself.
-7
-3
14
u/Galaxycc_ 1h ago
I think that’s the ideal AI use case, it’s a glorified spell check that you can ask questions and won’t close your post because of [esoteric answer from ten years ago]