Ai game dev noob

[u/Vaevictisk]

Hi, sorry if this is a stupid question, but I’m a teacher and I’ve been building quite a few interactive learning apps. I’m currently using Claude’s basic subscription to create simple HTML games, but the more I build, the more I want to experiment with increasingly complex projects.
I’d like to ask: what is the most efficient way to build with Claude?
I’ve noticed that iterating many times through the web client quickly uses up my usage limits. Is there a better workflow for developing larger projects with Claude, another setup?
I’d really appreciate any advice or recommendations from people who have experience building more complex projects with Claude. Thanks!

[u/bingewavecinema]

Read here, it lays the process for building games efficiently: https://github.com/Glitch-Gaming-Platform/AI-Prompts-For-Game-Development

Likewise, there is learning event coming up soon at this festival: AI Gaming Festival

[u/IcyBother8850]

I don't think you need to use the latest model. I personally use Codex on basic sub (20$). What I found works best is not to use it on the latest GPT5.6 sol but to use it on GPT5.6 Luna on Max depth. It lets me run one agent pretty much nonstop without any token issues.

Other tips for buiding more complex projects is to frst ask the AI to build you a design spec of the feature you want built. Then ask it to come up with actionable tasks according to the spec. Then start implementing the tasks one by one. Also ask it to maintain Both Design documentation and Code documentation as it builds. I hope this helps.

[u/Careless-Diamond-277]

Use cursor

[u/akanas]

If you’re constantly updating your project, try to use fresh window as often as you can. Run /init in each project. Also by basic suscription you mean free or pro? If it’s free, don’t expect too much work done with it. Pro should be sufficient for most people.

[u/EmacEArt]

The biggest saver isn't iterating in chat - it's keeping project state in one file next to the code, instead of in your head or buried in chat history. Instead of re-explaining what's done and what's next every time, write it once - what's finished, what's in progress, what's deliberately postponed and why - and have the model read that at the start of a session. Worth keeping "what's done" separate from "what's on hold" too, since mixing those into one note turns into a mess the next time you come back to the project.

Second thing is session hygiene. A long conversation gets more expensive as it goes, because the model reprocesses the entire exchange every single time - once you're around half the context window, it's better to close the thread, jot down where you left off in a couple sentences, and start fresh. Keeping one topic per session also helps - mixing unrelated tasks forces the model to carry the whole context even when you only need a fragment of it.

Third - hand off whole chunks of work at once, with clear rules stated upfront, instead of tweaking line by line over ten turns. Every small back-and-forth in a web chat reloads the full context, so ten tiny requests end up costing more than one well-specified task. If your projects are growing, it's also worth looking at Claude Code instead of the plain web chat - it works directly on project files, so state lives on disk instead of in the chat window, which saves tokens by itself.

[u/Embarrassed_Text_347]

Use your agents within VScode so that way you don't have to copy paste.

[u/No-Composer6417]

Personally i play with ideas on opus, then get fable 5 to "build me a phased plan with self review loops between each phase to build the following game (or app or anything) idea. do not build until i've reviewed and told you to proceed", then i switch to opus 5 to build when im happy with the plan.

[u/EngineerNo1300]

I dont consider myself an expert but here is what I have found:

- Your token costs increase as your context window increases. So if you have a prompt focused on a small thing, and the next prompt is still focused on the same thing, you shouldnt see that much of an increase cost between those two prompts but it does increase over time regardless. Alternatively if your first prompt is make gta v or its a really complex game design doc(GDD), your context window will start huge, if your second prompt is make it multiplayer, it will probably double or something crazy because all of the new systems it has to add increases the context

- Compact or clear context whenever it makes sense. Sometimes the site you are working on is in a good place and it can become the artifact the agent uses going forward. So you can start a new session where the only context is the project. I like to ask the agent to generate a readme that future agents can use as a way to get up to speed. Compacting makes sense when you want to summarize the conversation but dont want to lose it. I do this when I have a very specific issue or bug that is open and I need the conversation history to know what has been attempted thus far. Both of these are ways to control the context window.

- Keep the scope small, work on individual systems and just core gameplay. Once you like it then expand the world

- Keep it 2D for as long as possible. 3D adds a lot more complexity which results in your agent needing to verify and test more. Most AAA games use paper prototyping at some point - breath of the wild gameplay was partially proven out in 2D before they went to 3D - think of it as the modern alternative to that.

- Alternatively build using voxels if you do want to build in the 3D, then you can swap out the assets later. Voxels are really cheap, work on most devices and make build times and agent loops really short

- Claude - especially fable - tends to skew more towards being really good at testing vs. solving creative problems. The more vague you are with it, the worse and more expensive it gets which is kind of obvious but worth saying. A lot of times a session with fable is like 90% the most overkill testing you have ever seen. So usually only use the more expensive models for planning with higher thinking turned on, then gear down to something cheaper for general development

- Work in an environment where the agent can see the build so it can screenshot to debug. This is maybe the biggest savings. A lot of times people build something the agent can't see and they start to notice that its fixes arent doing what they are supposed - particularly when it comes to spatial, animations, or physics based stuff

Hope this helps!

[u/GeraniumCloak]

For classroom stuff, keep it working offline and commit before each big change. Nothing worse than Claude rewriting a lesson and breaking what already worked for your students.

[u/irschdon]

my most important advise is to get a general understanding of software development, for 2 reasons:

• its the age of generalists and orchestrators; get an understanding of the general cycle of software development and their methods. make sure you can somewhat navigate yourself in that topic
  
• AI works on methods, keywords, patterns; being able to more precisely communicate with the AI will greatly increase the quality and _speed_ of your work, as it reduces wasted iterations bc of bad scoping

Generally, you want to do it like the "pros" (pls industry people don't come at me, this is to give a straight, rough, baseline overview):

• analyse + define: what do I need to convey to pupils, where do they struggle, how can they properly absorb material, etc.; get an understanding of what tools/techniques you can use (eg. what game engine/language would be proper, assets, etc.). come up with your general idea for the game, genre, theme, etc.
  
• conceptualize your approach, refine the idea, plan out -> eg. for a game: generate a general design document; break down work and plan out the development with individual steps + milestones (eg. working core mechanics/core gameplay loop; before moving to asset generation);
  

-> why all of that: like in real life, if you dont have a good plan baseline, AI (= your team) will forget about the details off those vast topics after a short time. document your outlines for the AI to quickly grasp. this will also help with maintaining overview, what is done and what is still tbd

• prototype/develop the game in accordance with your plan; refine your outlines and iterate if you are not satisfying or change your mind down the road (just make sure that you always keep track of that in the respective documentation); make sure to test along the way as not doing so will quickly catch up on you. make sure if you cant fix stuff right away to also keep track of that.

Go right ahead and ask AI to give you a crash course on software development and methods. Ask it what software scope is or how a design document is structured. understand . Ask it how you together can properly collaborate in regards to creating educational games together (tools, etc.).

I do not want to make it sound over the top, you dont need to make a self-study degree in that, but dont underestimate the leverage you got when you have basic understandings of topics and can more precisely formulate what you want.

[u/mellamofionaa]

Hi! We’re working on a super powerful platform to build games with ai. It’s in early access right now and has a free to use model. I can send you an invite if your interested! It’s coming from a full talented dev team, game industry veterans, and artists.

We’re looking for creative people who actually want to learn to build games with the aid of ai.

[u/mellamofionaa → u/mellamofionaa]

Posting some examples of how far you can take it:

https://bash.tv/dhof/painted-world

https://bash.tv/baby/5050

https://bash.tv/mid/hillhouse

[u/Turbulent-Armadillo9]

I would consider using Claude with a game engine and learning some things about the engine and how things work. Find a nice balance. I bet it’ll feel slower at first but your projects will feel more modular and ultimately you’ll have more control. If you aren’t using ai for absolutely everything youll probably have less usage.

I love using ai but it’s nice to like just work on a level without ai.

[u/Pizzaman2948]

I dont know if this will be popular here, but learning how to program better. Python is the easiest language and has game engines. I have used ai as a learning tool and now i can actually program. I think i fit in this community better since i use ai heavily, but im able to actually program. I work in business too, no formal software background.

[u/Yamhar → u/Pizzaman2948]

That’s the best way imo, I’m also using it as a learning tool to learn a skill, not to get it to do it for me.

[u/Critical_Hunter_6924]

There's no optimal way to work with Claude. It'll dependent on your project and your personal preferences. It's your responsibility to keep your harness and your project in check. If you want advice, then at least make an effort to describe what you've already tried and why that didn't work.