Making games in Go: 3 months without LLMs vs. 3 days with LLMs
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Making games in Go: 3 months without LLMs vs. 3 days with LLMs
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Re: Making games in Go: 3 months without LLMs vs. 3 days with LLMs
#2A developer who can build a game by hand in 24 hours could probably build and publish something very polished and professional on Steam within 3 days using LLMs, which leads to some kind of software Fermi paradox: where are all the games??
Re: Making games in Go: 3 months without LLMs vs. 3 days with LLMs
#3A developer who can build a game by hand in 24 hours could probably build and publish something very polished and professional on Steam within 3 days using LLMs, which leads to some kind of software Fermi paradox: where are all the games??
If they're like me, they finish something and then sit on it for a variety of anxiety inducing reasons. I've got a state chart library I'm sitting on that I'm quite hesitant to share...
Re: Making games in Go: 3 months without LLMs vs. 3 days with LLMs
#4A developer who can build a game by hand in 24 hours could probably build and publish something very polished and professional on Steam within 3 days using LLMs, which leads to some kind of software Fermi paradox: where are all the games??
LLMs can't help much with assets?
Re: Making games in Go: 3 months without LLMs vs. 3 days with LLMs
#5A developer who can build a game by hand in 24 hours could probably build and publish something very polished and professional on Steam within 3 days using LLMs, which leads to some kind of software Fermi paradox: where are all the games??
If they're like me, they finish something and then sit on it for a variety of anxiety inducing reasons. I've got a state chart library I'm sitting on that I'm quite hesitant to share...
Share it!
Re: Making games in Go: 3 months without LLMs vs. 3 days with LLMs
#6A developer who can build a game by hand in 24 hours could probably build and publish something very polished and professional on Steam within 3 days using LLMs, which leads to some kind of software Fermi paradox: where are all the games??
LLMs can't help much with assets?
But image generation and cloning a visual artist’s style is one of AI’s apparent strengths.
So it’s interesting to think about what the gaps are between fulfilling a single prompt and completing a project.
Re: Making games in Go: 3 months without LLMs vs. 3 days with LLMs
#7A developer who can build a game by hand in 24 hours could probably build and publish something very polished and professional on Steam within 3 days using LLMs, which leads to some kind of software Fermi paradox: where are all the games??
About 50 games are released on Steam every day. How much higher are you suggesting this number should go?
Re: Making games in Go: 3 months without LLMs vs. 3 days with LLMs
#8A developer who can build a game by hand in 24 hours could probably build and publish something very polished and professional on Steam within 3 days using LLMs, which leads to some kind of software Fermi paradox: where are all the games??
LLMs can't help much with assets?
This.
You may as well buy a shooter game starter pack or whatever that can save you >1year of coding, no llm needed.
Code is not a hard part.
Making mechanics fun and good assets is what is hard and takes forever.
Sure you can use llm to write a generic game, but its easier to find same game on github and just use that code, why would you write it again with llm.
Re: Making games in Go: 3 months without LLMs vs. 3 days with LLMs
#9The LLM started with a three month headstart, both in terms of code, using the previous game as a template, and more importantly, all of the learnings and mistakes you made in the hand-coded pass.
Re: Making games in Go: 3 months without LLMs vs. 3 days with LLMs
#10A developer who can build a game by hand in 24 hours could probably build and publish something very polished and professional on Steam within 3 days using LLMs, which leads to some kind of software Fermi paradox: where are all the games??
I've been "able" to make likely decent games for a number of years now. Code and 3D I could potentially have covered. That's no longer what scares me.
Having a good and semi unique idea, is a rare. If I had a great game mechanic idea, the rest would be trivial.
Say you do get a good game loop together that you feel will be successful. You will also now need to loop in art teams for artistic direction, music, character design, etc. A good game loop isnt enough, it needs to be presented in an equally interesting and unique way.
Finally, there is the risk. There is a massive time investment in making games, and you are catering to an audience that is not only accustomed to pirating but finds it morally righteous to steal your work. This is why app developers prefer to make iOS apps. The customers are accustomed to paying and have little interest in pirating.
post-launch and even before that, your job becomes paying and convincing streamers to play your game constantly in the HOPE people start to notice it.
All of this stress and work to hopefully just make an ok amount of money. I have so many excellent games in my steam library by indie devs that gave up after one or two very successful games. And I doubt it's because everything was going so well.