Summary of the Key Points in Plain Language
This article discusses a significant industry transformation: what used to be a task reserved for professional game companies with teams of dozens of people has now been completely democratized by AI. Three individuals with completely unrelated backgrounds—Wang Jiewei, a former infrastructure industry executive who hasn’t played games in decades; Maifen, a financial industry operator with no personal time due to constant travel; and K Yan, a former game developer who has been out of the industry for five years—have all created their own games with virtually no experience or at a minimal time cost, simply by giving instructions to AI. As a result, the independent game development community has been flooded with such “laypeople” creators, turning gaming from a profession solely for experts into a new medium for ordinary people to express themselves.
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Detailed Explanation
1. Calculating the Barriers: How High They Used to Be and How Low They Are Now
Ten years ago, to create a small game ready for release, you would need at least three professionals: a programmer, an artist, and a game designer. The cost would be in the hundreds of thousands, and it would take several months of development. It was out of reach for most people, just like opening a restaurant required renting a space, hiring staff, and obtaining licenses without significant capital.
How low are the barriers now? You don’t even need to understand coding or have played games before. As long as you can clearly articulate your ideas, AI can write the code, generate the graphics, and fix any bugs for you. For example, Wang Jiewei, who came from a transportation engineering background and had no experience with games, created a popular game by providing textual instructions to AI. K Yan, on the other hand, used to spend months on a playable demo; now, he can have an AI generate a complete Three Kingdoms game demo in one night and finish it within a week. It’s like wanting to open a snack stand today—just say “I want to make pancake sandwiches,” and AI will provide you with all the tools, ingredients, and equipment; you just need to decide on the flavor.
2. Why Do Games Created by Novices Become Popular?
The reason is that these games often contain elements that big companies dare not include. Big companies first calculate the cost-benefit ratio when making games, focusing on popular themes to appeal to the widest audience and avoiding any personal insights from the creators. However, these novice creators are not motivated by quick profits; they pour their life experiences into their games:
- Wang Jiewei incorporated his realization that life choices are irreversible into his game, where players must make irreversible choices, a concept no big company would dare to include.
- Maifen turned his childhood dream of being a detective from “Adventures of the Teenage Tigers” into an interactive game.
- K Yan’s idea about what would happen if Liu Bei had a wise advisor changed history became the third-highest-selling game on TapTap upon release. Players, tired of formulaic games, are drawn to something with genuine emotional depth and real-life relevance.
3. AI Is Not a “Game Producer”; It’s a Free Intern with Poor Memory
Many think AI will replace game developers, leading to job losses, but that’s not the case. The creators have all complained about AI’s flaws: it has a poor memory (it forgets things immediately), tends to deviate from instructions (e.g., drawing characters in a different style), and struggles with complex long-term storylines. Therefore, AI’s role is clear: it’s like an intern who works 24/7 for free. You can assign it tasks like writing code, creating images, or fixing bugs, but you must constantly monitor its work and ensure it doesn’t mess up the entire project.
4. The So-called “Shoddy Games” Are Actually a Result of Ordinary People’s Creativity
There’s concern that AI will lead to low-quality games, but this is similar to the rise of TikTok and Kuaishou when digital cameras became widespread. In the past, making movies and videos was a professional task, but vlogs created by ordinary people found dedicated audiences. Similarly, the high barriers to game development meant that niche ideas (e.g., educational games for children or nostalgic games for specific age groups) went unexplored by big companies. Now, ordinary people can create such games in their spare time. Even if they only attract a small audience, as long as their ideas resonate with someone, it’s enough. Games have evolved from profit-making industrial products to a creative medium for everyone, just like text, images, and videos.
5. The Essence of Gaming: What AI Cannot Take Away
The three creators agreed that no matter how advanced AI becomes, it can never replace human creativity. AI’s content is derived from existing online materials and lacks genuine emotional depth and originality. It can generate game ideas, but it can’t generate personal insights or unique life experiences. AI is a tool to help bring your ideas to life, but the real soul of a game lies in the stories and ideas that are unique to you.