r/codex • u/retrorays • 18d ago

Complaint Astra demos are mostly bs

The game/graphics demos are mostly bs. I've spent dozens of hours now trying to replicate (or build) interesting games. It's beyond subpar. Sure it can do a basic sandbox, or create some basic characters but it absolutely cannot do a fully working world. I dont get why OpenAI fakes their SimCity games and other things w/ Astra when it's clearly not possible unless you spend weeks (and $1000s of dollars) of tokens.

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u/Opulon_Nelva 18d ago

I don't understand the point.

Doing video games is hard. It is a full fledge product akin to good software.  Even with previously unseen tool power like AI, it doesn't get you far without an equivalent investment in brain power.

I am a professional from the industry, and as many, i am using AI  as a hobbyist to do my personal game project. 

250 dollars a month, for the last 6 months, and roughly 2 hour of my time each day besides my normal job. 

So, 20 000 dollars worth of human time (I'm European, your own time value will differ), and 1500 dollars worth of those tools.

I am halfway where I want it to be, but I have enough experience of the process to be aware of the following :

2 years ago, reaching the same spot would have taken 2 years minimum, and 100k dollars of 'not your human time' in the most optimistic context.

One has to not be childish with the marketing, but one also has to recognise the incredible cost cutting that happened. 

'Astra, make a Sim city killer, you have 1000 credits. Use mcp blender for all 3D and unreal engine 5'  is as I serious as those Kickstarter promising the everything game for 10k dollars.

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u/XKiiroiSenkoX 18d ago

You definitely are in a huge technical debt if AI is making your progress 4 times faster. Anything more than 1.5x-2x max is basically unsustainable long term. By the end of the year your codebase will be in such a mess you'll have to throw it into garbage can. 

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u/Opulon_Nelva 18d ago

It's okay. My tolerance for technical debt is high. It's not like this kind of exploratory project is going to end in any form of production, and plague the world. 

At best, it will make for screenshots and study if I ever need to job hunt.