As a one-person indie dev on a small island, with a clear idea, some programming skillz, minimal artistic talent, and practically zero funding, using AI has helped me actually to finish developing Lightyears of Fervent Warfare.
I started developing LoFW during COVID-19, when I began learning game development as a hobby during Seychelles' lockdown. I had coded my MSc project in C# and was able to code everything by hand. I was even able to design the pixel graphics on my own. Then COVID-19 ended, life continued, and LoFW was left in the dust.
This year, I experimented with the Cursor and Midjourney AIs and discovered that I could leverage them to continue developing my game part-time. Using Cursor to modify my existing code and generate new code via vibe coding helped me implement features quickly. This gave me the time to focus on the actual game design, the feature set, and testing. And while I still work on most of the pixel graphics by hand, using Midjourney to generate more complex graphics has helped me save time and resources that I don't yet have.
Sure, using AI still takes time; I can be pedantic and tend to modify and optimise everything manually. Chastising AIs, reviewing code, and doing manual edits to the graphics are now part of my workflow. AI shenanigans notwithstanding, I do hope that you'll support my game!
Lightyears of Fervent Warfare
Alpha Demo Trailer
