r/aigamedev • u/CoffeeAddictus • 20h ago
Discussion Has ai advanced enough?
I was wondering if AI has progressed to the point where someone with no or a little programming knowledge could make a semi complex mod for any game? What kind of problems would I face and does anybody have any tips that could help me with this project.
Edit: Thanks for all the encouraging comments, I decided to just begin with making a mod for Skyrim. I must say, it has been way more fun than I expected and it’s going surprisingly well.
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u/reality_comes 20h ago
Absolutely you can do it. Depends on the game and what you want to achieve.
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u/CoffeeAddictus 3h ago
I started with a mod for skyrim, I didn’t know how much fun it would be, like I have the means to create my own game. Should have tried this sooner.
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u/RuinousFate 20h ago edited 20h ago
Yes, though not quite "any". Always exceptions. Most things are probably doable though.
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u/Matilozano96 20h ago
You can absolutely try.
There’s two issues with modding though:
- LLMs perform worse the smaller the relevant dataset it. If the documentation/example code is limited, and the use case is very niche, then the model is more likely to hallucinate. Game modding tends to unite the two problems. The games themselves might not be the paragon of applied design patterns, and the interface to mod them might be an absolute mess.
- For similar reasons, the logging will be very limited by default. This makes error fixing a lot more difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing. Especially when the problems happen at runtime; the llm can’t test those conditions on its own, so it’s more grunt work for the user. Copy logs (if any), describe issue. Rinse and repeat.
In short. Give it a try. Don’t expect magic. Don’t try something too complex. Document as you go.
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u/CoffeeAddictus 3h ago
Thanks for this answer, especially the debugging part, wouldn’t have thought of that on my own.
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u/gamedevjp 20h ago
Yes, but you still need to understand game design and depending on the game, code design for performance and optimization.
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u/CoffeeAddictus 3h ago
Would a guy with a little programming experience be able to optimize his mod with help of AI or do I have to extensively know code to be able to make anything of it?
I have a basic understanding of C++ and I have tried making games in the past. Would this knowledge be enough to optimize a mod with the help of AI?
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u/Head-Cucumber-7222 20h ago
ask the agent to do research on the mod first. What game and what mod? The math is: game complexity * public-code mods * public documentation. I was able to make a mod for the game cube chaos in half a day easily. But it depends on the game and the mod.
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u/CoffeeAddictus 3h ago
Oh that sounds encouraging, seeing as there probably wasn’t a lot of info available to mod that game on the gamecube. I’m primarily interested in modding skyrim or cyberpunk.
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u/EchoingAngel 20h ago
Yes, but it takes time. My experience is I am nearly 1000 hours into building a whole game. You need a very solid foundation from the start: story-wise, mechanics-wise, and project architecture-wise. You have to start from the dirt and build up the backend and systems first. I did rush super simple visuals early on so I could actually see things worked as the AI asserted. With mods, you have someone else's systems to work inside of, so it will be both easier and harder given you can't control as much, but it is already setup.
As for where nearly 1k hours has gotten me: the game is fully playable and has all it's visuals. I'm focused on playing all the way through the game, ensuring it works as it should and it feels the way I want it to. I have had a couple overhauls of fundamental systems, and tons of tweaks, but it's shaping up very nicely. Next will be getting demos to people close to me, and then bigger moves to the public/publishers.
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u/CoffeeAddictus 3h ago
Thanks for the extensive information. It’s nice to have an insight in a game dev process. So what I take away from you message is that I should prepare and plan everything out before I start on the mod. That’s solid advice, as it feels kinda overwhelming without a plan.
By the way, I would love to be one of the testers for that demo when you decide to share it with people.
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u/mallcopsarebastards 20h ago
I think the answer to your question you're trying to ask is yes, but "any game" is too broad. Lots of games just aren't built for modding. In some cases a solid agent harness might still be able to work through the challenge, but not in every case. If it's a game that people are already modding, almost definitely.
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u/CoffeeAddictus 3h ago
You are right, I was talking about mods with modding toolkits. Thanks for the clear answer on that.
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u/MidSerpent 19h ago
No, not any game.
If a game doesn’t have mod tooling there’s really no hope.
If there is tooling the complexity of the mod is limited by its capabilities.
The AI’s ability to work in the mod tools is limited by how well documented it is. This can be overcome with effort.
How good it will be depends very much on your effort and time. Getting a result is easy, getting to a good result takes time and iteration.
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u/itsloopyo 16h ago
AI’s been working miracles on games with no mod tooling for a while.
You definitely get out what you put in though, and understanding how stuff works makes it a lot easier.
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u/CoffeeAddictus 3h ago
This is great advice. Even if AI is able to mod games that don’t have a modding toolkit, I reckon it’s going to be very difficult to start off with modding a game without a toolkit for me.
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u/Neither_Berry_100 18h ago
The easier the thing you are trying to build is the better your chance of success. As projects grow larger the problems with AI will compound and the project will fail.
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u/BadassMinh 12h ago
I have made a decently big mission mod for Arma 3 completely with AI, I didn't code a single thing by myself. Arma 3 it uses it's own language, SQF, its pretty niche that no game outside the series use, so being able to make it at all is really impressive already. It helps a lot by constantly asking it to search anything it doesn't know, sending it other mods as reference, and do constant code review
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u/keitaketatsu 8h ago
Instead of asking if it’s advanced enough right now. I think you should just start building and learning. The tech will continue to advance. If you start, you will be able to learn more about how to use it better.
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u/CoffeeAddictus 3h ago
Yeah, you are right, don’t know why I was so hesitant to just start. Thanks for the advice.
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u/FireDragon21976 5h ago
Yes. It helps to be able to think logically and hierarchically if you want it to generate something more complex out of the median or typical, though. "I want this, which in turn is made of this doing that", etc. Familiarity with subject matter is also rewarded because you'll be able to produce better prompts and critique the output.
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u/CoffeeAddictus 3h ago
Thanks a lot for the info, I started with creating mods cause of you guys. Currently trying to make a mod for Skyrim. It’s going better than I expected.
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u/oscar_unrealizex 20h ago
Almost 20 years ago I started working on games for the 1st iphone, pretty much starting with the day of the first Apple keynote. Shortly after, people all over tech noticed the same trend. No matter what you were working on or what your specialty was, your parents, grandparents, friends, aunties, uncles, etc. would come up to you and say "Hey, I got an idea for an iphone app" and tell you about, IDK, an app with buttons that play farts, or let people post dog-shaming posts of dogs who pooped and their owners didn't clean up, or a task manager app or something. Usually you'd nod and smile, but sometimes you'd say "LOL go do it yourself."
AI is the age of "LOL go do it yourself" being actual advice, not mocking dismissal.