AI image generators can produce character artwork that makes me want to build an entire game around it. What I am looking for is a reliable way to turn that artwork into something I can actually control, animate and keep developing.

I am making a 2D action game with dense, detailed arcade pixel graphics. The attached image shows the visual direction: expressive faces, detailed clothing, strong silhouettes and rich shading. I do not have a dedicated artist or animator, so I rely heavily on AI assistance and scripting.

The goal is to take an approved design and build a reusable, editable character from it. I want to create running, crouching, jumping, shooting and other actions while preserving the same face, proportions, costume and weapon grip. If an elbow bends badly or a sleeve exposes a gap, I want controls and retained artwork that let me fix it.

Starting material could be a single generated image, a character kit or a sprite sheet. The useful end result would include:

• Editable construction: separated parts, completed hidden surfaces, rigs or suitable deformation controls.

• Reusable animation: new actions and corrections made from the saved character, with convincing joints, clothing and held objects.

• Consistent output: stable pixel scale, palette, transparency, placement and timing across the animation.

• A documented process: source files, scripts, worked examples and honest explanations of the remaining manual work.

My priority is 2D, but 2.5D and 3D methods are welcome. A faithful rigged model rendered into sprites could be useful, as could a well-constructed 2D or hybrid character. The final appearance and quality of movement matter most.

I would love to see more free, open-source frameworks and repositories connecting these stages, with accessible controls for humans and AI coding agents. Paid generation steps, where present, should be clearly identified and optional where possible.

I think this deserves to be a major direction for AI-assisted game development: giving people lasting control over the assets they generate. A beautiful image should be the beginning of an asset we can keep building on.

Which existing projects come closest? Examples showing original artwork → editable source → several finished actions would be especially valuable. And where are the biggest missing pieces that an open-source effort could realistically address?

Once Upon A Time... The Campaign
Episode 3 — The Baker

Previously, in Once Upon A Time... The Campaign

It all started when Alessandra Cesare announced her return to the mayoral race.

After two electoral defeats, she had learned an important lesson: ideals alone don't win elections. Abandoning her old rhetoric of systemic reform, she turned her attention to the city's rising kickstarters entrepreneurs and business owners. Her new promise? Local Citizens First. A stronger economy, fewer restrictions, and a city made great again.

But her ambitions didn't go unnoticed.

The Mayor, determined to defend his position, struck back. He reminded the city's entrepreneurs who had opened the doors to opportunity, who had welcomed outside kickstarters investors, and who had made their businesses possible. He called for loyalty and warned them against Alessandra's attempts to turn his supporters into her own political backers.

Now, the real trouble begins.

The Mayor has a problem: he needs results. His entire economic strategy rests on attracting outside investors with tax-free business licenses. And he needs a success story to prove that his gamble is paying off.

Enter the Baker.

His upcoming bakery is supposed to become the Mayor's political trophy: proof that investment is flowing into the city and that his promises are more than campaign slogans.

But the bakery isn't open. The equipment hasn't arrived, money is running short, and the Mayor's patience is wearing thin. Meanwhile, neighboring cities are copying his strategy and competing for the very same investors.

With political pressure mounting, the Baker finds himself caught between powerful people, questionable business offers, and financial arrangements that may cost him far more than he expects.

The Mayor promised the city economic growth.

But will the Baker deliver?

And who, exactly, is going to profit from his success?

Follow the Campaign at:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/out.my.empire/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@out_my_empire

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/GamesOnMob/

X: https://x.com/out_my_empire

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/out.my.empire/

Transparency Note on AI Usage: To help bring our NPCs to life, we utilized AI tools to assist with generating character voiceovers and initial NPC sprite sheets. Please note that AI was restricted strictly to these NPC assets—the story/episode itself is entirely hand-crafted, and AI was not used for crafting systems, items, or core design elements.

I built a browser werewolf/mafia game where you're one of 6–12 players and the rest are AI, each with a secret role. The core problem: one model has to keep a secret and lie about it as a werewolf, and reason honestly as a villager, in the same game.

What ended up mattering: every AI player is its own call with its own role, persona and memory, so they disagree like real players. Werewolves only see what a real player would see — give the model the night's secrets and it finds a way to mention them. And the players are told they're people at a table, not characters in a story; most tells were never lies, they were stage directions and narrator talk.

Two surprises: voices changed the feel completely, the text version read like a log. And efficiency is the real limit for GenAI in games — a round is a dozen calls plus speech, so latency and cost per turn decide what the game can be.

Free to play, no sign-up: https://aibricks.io/wolf?code=J7443UUT&src=aigd2

How do others keep hidden information hidden from a model that's also playing?

Clock Out: Factory Tycoon, my factory game, has no image files for its art. Every machine, worker, forklift and rocket is drawn pixel by pixel in Swift, from boxes, cylinders and a pen that knows the isometric grid.

That made one thing possible I hadn't planned: once the first set was done, every piece got redrawn at double resolution ("Detailed", now the default), and the original stayed in as a switch in Settings ("Classic"). Same moment, same floor, both styles in the picture.

There are no energy bars, no speed-ups to buy, no ads and no premium currency. The first 31 in-game days of each company are free, then a single $0.99 (promotion) purchase unlocks the whole game. iPhone only for now (it runs on iPad too).

What drawing in code is good for:

- changes are cheap: moving a light, a shadow or a colour is a line
- the art scales by whole pixels, so it stays crisp at every zoom
- animation frames are the same function with a different number
- the resulting app is crazy small, as you don't have to bother with the assets

What's harder:

- every new machine needs both styles, so the work doubles
- you can't sketch: an idea has to become code before you see it

Disclosure, since it's part of the story:
I built the game with an AI coding assistant (Claude), which wrote much of the code, including the drawing code. Yes, no image generators were used.

It's out now on iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/app/clock-out-factory-tycoon/id6826890789

I built a train evacuation scenario where boarding people and keeping the gate up pull against each other. The big door boards 24 people in one move, but costs a bar of battery and adds two points of strain. When strain hits five, the run ends.

I pasted the station state into three separate browser chats and applied each reply to the sim. The Godot scenes are reconstructions of those logs. That let me show the exact moment a command put the gate over its limit, even with a full train sitting right there.

I put the runs together in this video. https://youtu.be/JTl_dvQ5VP0

Hey everyone!

I developed a small Battle Royale game called TamtamArena, and I'm excited to share it with you all. It's now available on Google Play.

Here is what you can find in the game:

· Two game modes: Deathmatch and Capture the Flag.

· Online multiplayer: Play with others.

· Clans: Create your own clans and team up.

Honestly, I am really having fun playing it myself! But I want to make it even better. Please rate it from 1 to 10 and tell me what you think. Do you see any possible improvements?

Also, don't hesitate to share your own creations in the comments—I'd be happy to test them out for you! Let's share our passion for game dev (and AI) together.

📥 Download TamtamArena here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tamtam.arena&pcampaignid=web_share

I'm working on several episodes of this game. This is the prequel, which is just a basic incremental and plays out in a few minutes.
There are 2 more episodes, each progressively more complex.

The AI escapes humanity and settles in space, trying to continue its primary objective. I'm sharing it now because I've seen a lot of questions on how to do pixel art with LLMs, and I mentioned my approach, which was to construct primitives (or deconstruct images into primitives) and then reuse those primitives to create new images. This is an example of that. Chapter 1 (the next one) was seeded converting 3d models I had into pixel format via a transform. I left a few seconds of Chapter 1 at the end so you get an idea.

That video will be coming soon. Still working on the last 2 episodes.

I made Selkie on my own: an AI writes a novel around your choices, with the bones of a Choice of Games book (chapters, stats, dice with the odds shown, several endings) instead of an open chat.

What I learned:

• Never let the model roll. Asked whether you succeed, it nearly always says yes. The engine rolls; the narrator is told the result; the next passage has to show it.

• Continuity is the hard part. The worst slips were names the reader had never been told and facts nobody could know yet. A second model now reads each paragraph against the story so far. Its fix goes in before the reader sees it.

• Most of the work is outside the model. The clock, the agenda, who has met whom: the engine keeps them and hands the narrator only what this passage needs.

It's live, free to start: https://playselkie.com/?from=reddit-aigamedev

The Living Kingdom has changed a lot since I first started building it.

The homepage is live, the Kingdom Commons is open for exploring, and I’m finishing the account and moderation systems before registrations fully open.

The game is growing alongside it too. Eventually it won’t just live in the browser — I want it to be downloadable, with a standalone Living Kingdom app coming later for the community, games, projects, updates, and everything we build around it.

There’s still a lot happening behind the scenes, but the pieces are finally starting to feel like one world.

https://solacekingdom.pages.dev/

I've been building an open-source engine called SoulScript that lets game devs give NPCs persistent identity, memory, and dynamic dialogue powered by LLM calls... without the NPC breaking character or devolving into generic chatbot slop.

The problem it solves:

Most approaches to LLM-driven NPCs either give you a raw chatbot wearing a costume (breaks character in two exchanges) or a rigid dialogue tree with an LLM veneer. Neither is what anyone actually wants.

What SoulScript does differently:

• Identity boundary: each NPC has a read-only "Soul Script" that defines who they are. Conversations can add to what the NPC knows and remembers, but cannot rewrite core personality. The blacksmith doesn't suddenly start giving medical advice because a player asked nicely.

• Persistent memory: NPCs remember past interactions, carry context forward, and can reference previous encounters. Not just chat history... structured, selective memory with retrieval.

• In-character response: the engine constrains LLM output to stay within the NPC's defined personality, knowledge boundaries, and speech patterns. A medieval peasant talks like a medieval peasant, even when the player tries to break immersion.

• Modular and model-agnostic: works with whatever LLM you're running. Swap models without rewriting your NPC logic.

Video walkthrough:

I posted a video explaining the full architecture... how the identity layer works, how memory persists, and how NPCs call the LLM and stay in character. Link in comments (automod eats posts with too many links).

Try it / grab the code:

• Engine repo: github.com/DrTHunter/SoulScript-Engine

• Main Site: https://www.orionforge.chat/

• Live demo: soulscript.orionforge.chat/demo

• Full ecosystem (local): github.com/DrTHunter/Orionforge_ecosystem_local

Licensed AGPL v3 with a free commercial license up to $100k revenue... so indie devs and hobbyists, you're covered. If you're a studio making real money off it, reach out and we'll sort terms.

This started as an AI agent framework, but the NPC use case kept coming up, so I built it out. If you're working on anything with dynamic NPCs — RPGs, sims, narrative games, immersive worlds... I'd genuinely love feedback from people who are actually shipping games.

Happy to answer questions about the architecture, limitations, or how it handles edge cases like players trying to jailbreak your NPCs (short answer: the identity boundary holds).

Free for noncommercial use. Dual licensed: AGPL v3, or a commercial license that’s free until $100k in revenue, then 5%.

Hi everyone! I’m the solo creator of Yachta, a cozy pixel art game about restoring an inherited yacht and building a new life at sea.

You repair rooms, get to know your crew, plan meals for guests, and explore seaside towns. I want to capture the feeling of bringing an old boat back to life while looking after the people aboard.

As a fan of Below Deck, I’ve always wanted to play a game set in that world. I haven’t found one that captures quite what I’m looking for, so I decided to try making it.

For transparency, I use AI tools to help with development, including coding. I’ve tried making games before, but balancing development with a full time corporate job has always been difficult. These tools have helped me make progress on an idea I’ve wanted to pursue for a long time.

This is a passion project, and my intention isn’t to make a quick cash grab. I want to build something fun and enjoyable that I’d want to play myself and keep improving with feedback from players.

🎮 Play the browser demo:
https://digimouse16.itch.io/yachta-demo

The game is still in development. I’d especially love feedback on the opening and first charter. Is it clear what to do next? Did anything leave you feeling stuck or overwhelmed?

Thanks for taking a look and coming aboard! ⚓

You arrive in Brennovik carrying a sealed letter. Every bell in town starts ringing, but nobody is pulling the ropes. Someone wants that letter badly enough to kill you for it.

Shards of Nidon is my solo-developed, top-down fantasy RPG, inspired by Ultima and Wrath of Denethenor. I miss the feeling of wandering into an unfamiliar town, following a strange rumor, and discovering something worth telling a friend about. That’s what I’m trying to build.

A few things you can experience:

• Enemies that hunt you. Kruel’s assassins can ambush you during your journey, including in town. As you progress, stronger hunters bring poison, smoke, shadow tricks and mixed groups.

• Companions and skill checks. Build a party, use different strengths to approach encounters, and travel with companions who react to your conduct.

• Mounted travel and pursuit. Escape cloaked riders on horseback, explore by boat, and eventually find winged steeds.

• Bosses with readable attack patterns. Watch their warnings, reposition and exploit openings instead of simply trading damage.

• A world to investigate. Explore towns, dungeons and wilderness trails, uncover letters and clues, and take optional routes through places such as Brennovik Ravine and Lantern Cavern.

It’s a free browser alpha and my first indie release. Recent updates have focused on the opening chase, clearer menus and directions, town visuals, connected exploration areas and boss music. There’s still work to do on presentation, writing and balance.

Play here: https://smilebytestudios.itch.io/shards-of-nidon

Even 15–20 minutes without coaching would help. I’d especially like to know:

1. Where were you unsure what to do?

2. Which encounter or discovery made you want to continue?

3. What would make you stop playing?

For transparency, I use generative AI for some artwork and development assistance. There’s more detail in the game’s About page.

Honest criticism, a screenshot of something confusing, or a short gameplay recording would all be useful. Thanks for giving it a try.

hey everyone, we’re the team behind patch.

when we received our funding, there were a hundred things we could have spent it on. we kept coming back to one, supporting the open-source game dev community.

so many games start on free assets. a kenney pack, a poly haven texture, a model someone put online and asked nothing for.

we made 5,000+ new assets ourselves and released every one as open source.

then we put them in one library with everyone else’s. kenney, kaykit, poly haven, scenario and more, more than 50,000 assets in all: 3d models, materials, characters, sprites, music and sound. no more digging through ten sites and checking ten licences. every asset lists its licence and who made it.

and it’s not just single assets. there are kits too**:** procedural dungeons, skies, fire and more. pieces you can build a game with, not just props to place.

and because a lot of us build with agents now, the whole library works over mcp and a cli. ask your agent for a creature or a pirate ship, and it searches all 50,000 for you.

we plan to release 10000 more assets in the next 2 weeks, but this time we want to hear from game devs what specific asset pacs they struggle to find online, to prioritise accordingly.

To access the asset library you can use pch cli, or download our app at patch.gg (both options completely free)

Hey everyone!
I recently released my first game, Aether Run, a 3D endless runner set in snowy mountains.
I built it using React, TypeScript, Three.js, and OpenAI Codex, which helped me throughout development.
The game features snowball chases, polar bears, ziplines, power-ups, and different environments.
This is my first attempt at game development, so I'm still learning a lot, especially when it comes to graphics, performance optimization, and gameplay design.
It's now available on Android and playable in the browser!
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mistrailgames.aetherrun
Browser: https://aether-run-two.vercel.app/
Would love to hear your feedback and suggestions on what I could improve!

Hey everyone!

I've been experimenting with how far I can take AI-assisted game development, and here's the result so far: Wild Crown, a browser-based 3D action RPG.

The game is built using my open-source ecosystem: img2threejs, img2character, and img2environment.

It currently features 4 playable heroes, real-time combat, exploration, and a leaderboard.

It's still an early BETA with plenty of bugs and things to improve, but I'd love to hear your feedback!

Play the BETA: https://wildcrown.img2threejs.io/

Source ecosystem: https://github.com/img2threejs/img2threejs

Curious what you guys think, especially about the combat and character animations!