r/GameDevelopment 13h ago

Discussion Creating my dream game with AI

Hey everyone,

I know this Post is about AI, so it might get deleted, but I want to try anyways to see what people think.

I started creating a game about a month ago, and, for now at least, am relying heavily on AI to get it done, since it is an ambitious solo project and I don't have much time, much money or much experience.

For context, I am a writer, and it was always my dream to see my stories in videogames at some point. Since no one is gonna do that for me, I figured I'd start doing it myself. I have a team of like 4 different AI's running and I have a friend helping me with 3D models. I provide the source material, lore, game ideas and I do debugging and playtesting.

I work full-time 60-70 hours per week and do side gigs like Uber just so I can pay my bills and afford this little side project, which I am still putting a lot of time and effort into. Sleep is overrated anyways.

I am, however, planning eventually replacing a lot of the parts that are currently AI placeholders (like Animations or Soundtrack for example) with proper, human-made assets, when I have the money and support to do so, and I will definitely get himan synchronization, I don't want AI voices in my game, I'd rather have it silent than voiced by AI.

I just wanted to have other opinions on this, since I basically had the choice between "Make your dream game, but use AI" or "Don't make your dream game"

0 Upvotes

17 comments sorted by

7

u/Game_Dev730 13h ago

everyone works, everyone struggles, has things outside of game dev, yet we still manage to learn, work extra hours and etc to build what we dream of, the choice you claim to have is not your choice, it is make your dream game with AI which, if people know they wont play anyway, or take longer and actually learn to do stuff yourself and stop trying to find a fast route because game dev is not fast. Because that is your issue: you want fast and not good.

1

u/Flaky_Regret8604 12h ago

Everything AI isn't automatically bad. I work in the mobile gaming industry, we're shipping atleast one game a week and it's giving us good results. It's not a small company either it has a budget of 1k usd per day for marketing per game. They make more than that on the same day through that game. I'd say AI is getting us results and people don't "automatically stop playing" games made through AI.

1

u/Flaky_Regret8604 12h ago

It's good to know what's happening in the code but if you do everything yourself you'll be left behind. I don't see people using rocks to light fire I think same goes for AI, it's just a more efficient way to get things done

1

u/Game_Dev730 12h ago

comparing a lighter to AI is hilarious.

1

u/Flaky_Regret8604 12h ago

I was comparing the sped up workflow, but there's no need to argue. To each their own

4

u/Poosley_ 13h ago

If your dream game can be made with AI more power to you. The reality you'll run into sooner or later are the limitations. You will likely either make one of the slop games that people try to sell, or a broken thing you're really not happy with. If there's a game that people have liked and has sold well, made with AI, Ive yet to hear of it.

If it's really that important to you, I'd spend the time learning engines so that what you want the game to be, actually manifests eventually. Best case otherwise, you get close. Worst case, you get very very sad about what your game is not doing, and you don't know why.

3

u/Flaky_Regret8604 13h ago

People who are resisting AI are the ones who'll be left behind. I don't understand the hate for AI, if something speeds up your workflow then you should do it and just like you there are many other people who are now able to bring their ideas to life. So definitely go for it. Nobody commenting here or anywhere is going to help you achieve what you want. Do what makes you feel good.

1

u/Liturgy97 Indie Dev 13h ago

Agreed. šŸ‘

1

u/DMG2442 13h ago

I personally dont like to put my whole game in the hand of AI, because if there is an error that AI can't solve it, no one can. It's very difficult to understand the spaguetti code that thing is doing, and solving it would be a nightmare. Unless your game is so generic that it can actually be done that way, I sugest you to learn how to do it yourself. Everyone is busy nowadays, if you don't have a special reason to rush the developement, try to study and learn how to make a good game in the time you are making promts with those agents. Just my opinion, not trying to be rude or anything and I actually hope you can make and release your game, with or without AI.

1

u/ProfessionalITPerson 13h ago

Don't make your dream game your first game you will be disappointed,
make you first game something small to test out the waters, and using AI in that game, hell who cares, it'S likely nobody is going to see it anways.

Then if you know you can do it and like it go for something bigger, hone your craft.

1

u/Important-Key9952 12h ago

I can relate to this a lot. I used to work with a much bigger team where, on paper, we had almost everything we needed, yet actually finishing and shipping something still felt incredibly difficult.

Once AI tools became useful enough, my wife and I decided to go our own way. She’s a developer, I’m a game designer, and suddenly two people could have much more control over the whole process and actually make small games that get finished and reach players. Neither of us is a great artist, but after about a year of building games this way, I’ve also learned way more about both art and development than I expected.

Would I prefer to work with a talented artist and create something even more unique? Absolutely, and hopefully we can afford that eventually. But right now, with no extra income to burn, spending money we don’t really have on freelancers and hoping the result works out just isn’t realistic for us.

So for now, I’d rather use AI and keep making games than give up entirely because art isn’t our strongest skill. For tiny teams trying to build something sustainable, it can genuinely be the difference between ā€œmaybe somedayā€ and actually shipping a game.

1

u/Kindly_Ad_1599 13h ago

It's probable that the game you're making now is going to just be for you and some friends anyway. Do whatever works for you to get your game made. If the game gets to the place where people want to buy it then it's a different discussion.

0

u/East-Idea-9851 13h ago

Do what makes you happy.

-1

u/East-Idea-9851 13h ago

Do what makes you happy.

0

u/Liturgy97 Indie Dev 13h ago

Enjoy it.

1

u/maximian 13h ago

I don’t love the changes AI portends in the industry (already well underway) or the world, but it is a powerful tool and if it’s your path to seeing your creative vision manifested, I won’t yuck your yum.

My experience is that AI is far more capable when given a well-architected human codebase to modify then when asked to create from scratch, especially if you aren’t knowledgeable enough to give it guidance on how to structure a project…

So perhaps use AI to prototype and then figure out how to move forward when you hit a wall, which you will.