From Silly Animation To The Pixel World Builders
Friday • July 4th 2025 • 7:59:27 pm
This is a tiny invitation, to game programming.
But rather than talking about games, I show two examples of how capable the AI is becoming.
And how well it has responded, to my requests.
For those of us who are unconvinced by AI, there is always the sacred art of pixelart games.
Pixel art is what you see at the arcade games, before AI, it would need to be hand made.
It would take years of trails and errors to master it, and then you’d need a decade or two to learn game programming.
I just asked AI to listen to my microphone create a wire frame face, and make the lips move.
Yes, it made it, the fat little vector graphic face, had it’s lips move quite perfectly to the input from my microphone.
Then I asked for a non-wire-frame version, that emits more metadata so that I can make pixel art version.
I assumed it wouldn't be able to understand pixel art, and all the images you have to make to approximate lips.
I was wrong, yet again, AI humbled me.
How did it create non-wire-frame faces you wonder? by correctly using emoji.
Realizing that the AI has humbled me yet again, I asked it to write a program proposal to create a more plugin oriented app.
Not only did it do that, but also created the app.
This time, adding a preferences pane, where I can adjust volume, sensitivity, and things I don’t yet understand.
Couple of clicks, to adjust sensitivity, showed full range of expression, something like 8 emojis.
I then asked it, to create a new plugin to load an audio file, and use that instead of the microphone.
And then add a second plugin, that would record the emoji, it can create it, but it is running out of context space.
I realized that game creation is possible as well, without a doubt.
Procedurally generated adventure game comes to mind, a 2d scroller.
But in the age of AI, you just ask for the game editor first.
The AI would make a character designer to capture the walk cycle, and you could just drag and drop sprite sheets you generated with image generator.
Procedurally generated levels or not, you are still in control of all the art.
And again this being age of AI, you use your adventure game as character reference…
And generate a mini game, golf, target practice, car racing.
Again, the is the age of AI, there is no limit to how many games or levels your game has.
There is an incredible charm to pixel art, even black and white pixel art, that can’t be replaced by 3D games.
The combination of image generators and code generators, have now opened a gateway to master programming in a whole new way.
Just imagine your little pixel characters relying on AI, not just becoming your companions, but the very world builders.
Welcome to the now irresistible world of game programming, such is the era of artificial intelligence.