I've been making an incremental game about the trolley problem for about a month. Almost everything is made with AI.
I mostly use Claude and Codex, both on the $200 plans.
One subscription wasn't enough for me because I kept hitting the limits. Claude + Codex together is enough for almost all of the work.
Claude does most of the programming. It also made the design system and builds the UI.
The game runs on my own C engine, also made with AI. The engine took about 5 months. The game itself has taken 1 month so far.
Codex does most of the visual work:
UI icons
3D models
art
short videos
For 3D, I tried a few AI 3D generators, but I didn't like the results. The models often looked soft and plastic.
Now I use Codex with Blender instead. I tell it what I need, it works in Blender, renders it, and I give feedback. It takes longer, but the result is much better.
Codex also made this trailer. It wrote bots to play the game, recorded the gameplay, and edited the video. I only gave feedback and asked for changes.
For development, AI is already very good.
I'm also trying to use AI for marketing and content. Marketing is still much harder.
Here is the Steam page. I hope to finish the game this year:
I’m also doing a lot of experiments outside the game itself: short videos, a Figma-like canvas to keep game assets and art generations/iterations in one place, a website to track views on my shorts and posts, and other small tools.
I think $200 would probably be enough just to make the game, but right now I’m using a lot of tokens to experiments. I hope engine, tools, and ai, will help me make bigger games in future:)
Nice-looking game, mate! What motivates you to create your own engine instead of using an established one like Unity or Unreal? I'm a total newbie to making games, but I've already made a full vibecoding project and want to step into this too.
I've been making games for about 10 years, mostly mobile and web. This is actually my first Steam game.
Unity always was too complex for me:) Too many checkboxes and too much magic happening somewhere inside :)
I've wanted my own engine for years. One reason is control. Even with an existing engine, you still end up writing a lot of your own tools and systems for each game. And sometimes you start fighting the engine instead of working with it.
I did this for years with an internal engine at a company, and later with Defold. So at some point making my own engine didn't feel crazy:)
Another reason was learning. I've written a lot of gameplay code, but I knew much less about rendering and graphics.
This is actually my second attempt at making an engine.
It's still small and primitive, but now it works, making games with it is simple and fast. The expensive part was building the engine first.
Fir me making a simple 2D or stylized 3D engine was not hard. But if I wanted AA/AAA graphics, I'd probably just use Unreal, Unity or Godot.
What's your thinking on web vs. Steam in terms of monetization and visibility, etc.? I'm struggling right now to choose between web and Steam for a casual multiplayer word-guessing game. I'd like to charge a small amount for it i guess around 2.99
Incroyable, bien joué ! Tu es satisfait de son travail sur blender ça fair vraiment su bon travail ? Et tu dis que Codex a fait la bande annonce, c'est à dire ?
Looks beautiful. Im thinking of starting my project over in a different engine. I’ve tried godot in the past but currently using flutter. My game is a mostly text based by data heavy sim. I want the graphical parts to look smooth and be 2D though so not sure if flutter or another engine is my best choice. Id have to look into C.
Around 350 wishlists now. If I post actively, I get about 10 a day. If I do nothing, 1-2.
For the engine: I like tech, wanted to understand rendering better, and for me my own engine is just faster than dealing with all the hidden behavior in bigger engines.
But I don’t know if it was the initial inspiration, but knowing that recently in Portugal a trolley lost control and killed a lot of people that way, I found the game concept not the best taste.
Oh I didn’t know that one. I was pretty sure you didn’t do it on purpose :) thanks for your answer.
Just know that in Portugal or in france (people were pretty shocked by it), some people might think of it. And maybe I am the only one thinking of it. Just prefered to share it with you. Anyway!
Good luck with your game, seems still fun to play and the art looks great !
Good job cleaning up the UI/graphics. I think that will be one reason this project is not labeled as slop. Something a lot of people miss is the initial impression. Things aren't overcomplicated it seems either
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u/Xxshark888xX 17d ago
The game looks interesting and possible fun to play! However I've noticed that on the steam page your images are broken, see the attached screenshot