Thoughts on solo devs using ai to code otome games?

[TheGreatTwinkLover]

Lately I've been seeing a couple otomes made by solo devs mention that they used chat gpt to do the coding but the writing and art are fully human made. Just curious what are everyones thoughts on it.
Personally I have mixed feelings towards it. Its nice that it makes making otome games more accessible for those who don't know how to code, however, theres the environmental concerns, bugs, and optimization issues.

 

[SweetTranq]

I'm totally all for using AI when it comes to the technical side.
It really lowers the difficulty of game development and makes it easier to get into programming on your own. After all, technology exists to liberate people.

It can help more creators with good stories and art actually finish their doujin games — and that means I get to play more unique stories too.

 

[acaffeinecrisis]

I don't generally consider shortcuts taken by indie devs to be a matter of laziness... But this might be the exception.

IME the syntax for VN engines isn't terribly difficult to grasp for the bulk of the work (which is the script + sprites and all that), and there's generally a lot of resources available for UI and anything else that might be over your head, if paying for some programming work isn't in your budget. It'll give you a better understanding of what the VN engine is capable of, and when something goes wrong, why it happened.

I get people being intimidated by code, but I suspect any time a dev *might* save up front by using it is going to be rendered moot down the line when something breaks and they can't even begin to debug it.

I'm reminded of how devs at my dayjob are heavily using AI, but from what I gather... They might be closing tickets and submitting builds to QA faster, but QA is turning around and opening even more tickets for new bugs that are being found, so barely any progress is actually being made.

Some VN dev things are trickier than others... But IDK. I think devs are better off learning how to code as much as they can and then outsource the rest to a person. Human developers can think and intuit things that the AI cannot!

I'm not wholly against AI for technical stuff (there's a place for it in reverse engineering for example), but for VNs?? You don't need it!

 

[pyontai]

Though I am against AI (especially hard on illustrations, videos, voices, etc. cause they are training it on the works and faces of others, which I think is dangerous, especially for women), I can admit that within the coding section, if you don't have a tutorial for the specific things you wanna code, it's hard to search or learn it on your own. It's also not like you have money to pay someone to do it for you. So only in the coding department am I a little more lenient, despite making me sound hypocritical I'm sorry

 

[aisan748]

As long as the core creative work, that is, the story, characters, art and script, is made entirely by the dev, using AI just for coding feels like a helpful tool, similar to using an engine or a tutorial. Devs still need to check, fix bugs and test the code carefully. That said, I get the worries about AI limitations and downsides too. It's less about AI being good or bad, and more about how creators choose to use it. More original doujin otomes are always a win for the community.

 

[Beannie]

I am heavily biased toward using AI when it comes towards coding, so take me with a grain of salt. I am not really programmer, but I do program stuff at work (mostly db backend) and I was learning how to code at uni (no AI at that time). I can tell u, it saves me hundreds of hours and the code quality is sometimes better than mine (again not really a programmer). Hence, I am all for using AI as a tool.

HOWEVER, I think the devs should have some software development bg and know how to code at least to some degree. If you understand basic principles, AI can be powerful tool to get you where you need to be. On the other hand, if you do not, you are risking shipping code with bad architecture and full of bugs (or unoptimized mess).

 

[raccoonNiko]

I really can't have anything against it as long as it's properly disclosed, so everyone who'd prefer not to play a game made this way can make an informed choice. Sometimes, though, when creators aren't transparent about their AI usage, it really does make you wonder just how extensively AI was used in the process.

This example isn't about coding, since it's not something you can really notice unless you dig a little deeper, but when I see AI-generated backgrounds in a game without it being explicitly stated, it makes me wonder whether the story and everything else might've been reated with the help of AI, too.

If it makes things easier for people with limited resources who want to get their games out there, then sure, why not? I just wish everyone would be transparent about it.

 

[Qiangwei]

Lately people have been using AI for everything. As much as I am against it, it helps lighten the burden on solo devs! If the released game/content is good and not filled with errors, why not?

 

[O cha]

I think using AI is understandable when it comes to indie or hobby projects made by solo developers, rather than games being developed and sold commercially by large companies. That said, I don't think developers should rely on AI to handle all of the coding for them. They should at least have enough technical knowledge to review the code themselves, identify potential issues, and make sure everything is working as intended. As for the illustrations and writing, I personally believe those should remain human-made rather than AI-generated. It's a little difficult to put all my thoughts and personal standards into words.. haha.

 

[cherrymuffin🍒]

I dont mind as long as its for programming! I see a lot of people using ai when they want to check or improve their code especially ofc for a solo dev that would be helpful! The burden is too much and ofc they probably can't afford more staff financially so i don't think it's wrong. It's bad when a billionaire or millionaire company does it because they have the resources to higher people yet resort to ai? Big no for them.

 

[laranjinha]

i personally dont mind beginner devs using AI for coding, whether it is to help with debugging, understand certain concepts or just making some things easier for them. but im against those type of "devs" who depend entirely on it. all they do is type "code me a game like this and that", hit enter, copy and paste the whole thing and make zero effort to actually understand what they're working with.
i think there's a difference between using it as a tool and relying on it to do all the work for you. and when they come forward about the AI usage, even if i dont like/support it, i appreciate the transparency.

what makes me a little sceptical is where devs actually draw the line. AI can be pretty convenient. when i see someone disclosing its use for CERTAIN things, i cant help but wonder if someone who initially uses it just for coding might eventually start using it for other things too, like character designs, dialogue, story ideas or even artwork, simply because it's faster or because it can bring certain ideas to life in ways they might struggle to achieve themselves. it's easy to get carried away with AI, especially when you're a solo dev.

devs should make an effort to actually learn what they're doing instead of depending entirely on AI. even for coding games. imo there's a lot of value in being able to figure things out yourself rather than having AI do all the heavy lifting.

 

[Starfall9908]

most important thing is how it's being used. If they're writing dialogue or using AI to make the art and design the character I'll probably not be able to respect the work.

But using AI to for example cover a large area with grass, using a small sample the dev made and then have the AI handle the rest is ok.

At the end of the day game development is a skill, using AI to make the game for you is no longer being a developer and the game will for sure lack personality and character, and that's not even putting into question the issue of stolen assets being used to train the AI. I'd rather have human flaws in a game that shows someone has been trying to put effort into it

 

[rosalin]

I've come to terms with living alongside AI's rapid development rate. As long as they disclose it, people can pick and support what they want instead of arguing all the time.

But... what I find utterly absurd is that there are people who act like AI is the arrival of Satan when it comes to art and writing, but turns a blind eye when it comes to code.
There are many reasons people are against AI, some of what I've seen are: environmental issues, questionable source of training data, quality issues, human job replacement. All of those happen in the software engineering field too. Just because AI is used for coding doesn't mean all the problems disappeared. The AI companies that scrape people's art and literature are the same companies that make AI for coding. They profit either way. So do you or do you not support them?

I've noticed it for a long time, the general public doesn't seem to care much about programmers. In a way, understandable, because code isn't something most humans can see, but also, it's very disappointing that people pick and choose what's worth caring about - while screaming about morals. At least admit your double standard Bombastic side-eye.

As for me, the usage of AI in a project isn't the decision maker, but the developer's own skills are. I'll be very honest I will not touch anything "vibe-coded" by someone who knows nothing (or little) about coding with a ten-foot pole.

AI is good at the job, that's true, however there are times they will be bad at the job, there will be times they screw up. The difference between tech companies and actual programmers who use AI, vs a random person with no knowledge using AI is that: If you don't know coding, how can you know WHEN the AI screws up?

If it's a pure visual novel with just clicking and a few choices, it's less risky (that still doesn't mean no risk), but if you vibe-code a whole visual novel with gameplay elements like stats or mini-games, how do you reliably tell whether it's good for production - when you yourself don't even understand the code?

And in cases where the developer decides to SELL the game, what happens when a customer runs into bugs? Are they going to have to wait for the developer to "consult the AI" about it? What if they can't fix it? Sorry game is software, and I wouldn't trust software made by people like that. Just pay a programmer, or learn programming. Seriously. Out of all game genres, visual novels are already the least complicated when it comes to functionality.

The same can be said for translation quality, for example. I've seen many people call AI translations good...while admitting they don't understand the source language. Okay suuure. Then how do you know it's good? Because it "seems smooth" so it's good? That's a fatal error when using AI, trusting its smoothness without having any knowledge yourself.

 

[LivEnblem]

As others have mentioned, I think using AI for debugging or as a development aid is a great idea. It could lower the barrier to entry for solo developers allowing people to create games even without formal training in coding. and it would also be wonderful if it freed up time to focus more on other aspects, such as the story, CGs, or music. On a personal note, I'd also love to see a greater variety of otome games.

 

[kometto]

AI is everywhere in software companies now, most apps you use today involve AI assistance to build. Using it is a spectrum, you have the vibecoders that don't know coding themselves and you risk the project becoming broken or hard to maintain, but you also have senior devs that understand the work and simply use the AI to build faster. It can risk making us lazier, but it can also lead to more output overall and be more accessible. On the VN/otome/JP side of things it helped achieve a lot of new tools and reverse engineering capabilities. I just think the whole thing is not black and white is all.