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mid_gen's Launch a Game Studio Thread

TNA said:
Can't you just do ai generated music or would that be an issue with the audience when released you think? Seems to be cool shifting on anything that has been made with ai these days.

You could do sound much later anyway. Gameplay much more important imo.
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AI generated music is an abomination :P Actually making some fairly simple ambient music loops is not a lot of work, I’ve dabbled in music production over the years and have a big sample library so the kind of thing I can rustle up over a weekend.

The sound FX is much harder…but I’m not going to do much more on it for now. I have created an AI tool which generates synth patches (Serum presets) as a starting point for making sound fx….something I’ll tinker with on the side.

I need to make a call on the 3D assets. The ones in the game I’ve just bought from a marketplace. I think they’re pretty decent and suit the game, I could spend a couple hundred quid on some more of his stuff and would be good to ship….albeit without my own visual style.

I don’t have the funds to pay an artist to do it for me, I would have to get a publisher deal or a grant to afford it.

The one other option I’ve considered is trialling one of these AI services where you can sketch what you want and it converts that into 3D models. I’m kinda ok with that ethically as it’s still me doing the creative aspect. Still a little uneasy about the idea. I think I’m gonna have to be pragmatic either way….having a team of artists to build stuff isn’t going to happen on this first title, I need to get this one out the door and build the funds for the next title.
 
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Bit of work on scalability this morning, now 60fps stable on Steam Deck (still through Proton). Not much visual difference that's visible on that screen size.
 
OK this is wild. I just setup an MCP server on 3Ds Max. Connected to Claude Opus 5. Gave it this prompt :

can you create a spaceship in 3dsmax for me please. Something gritty and realistic.

Went and had breakfast....came back :

Screenshot 2026-09-12 104250.webp

That is wild. Hints of Chris Foss in there? I mean, I wouldn't obviously use such loose prompting....but my initial ideas about just sketching on paper and having AI generate models from it looks very possible.
 
Nabinium said:
Yes, please no AI generated music. Sick of AI generated this and that.
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I don't mean this in any way unpleasantly but you do know that it seems that most of the game will be AI generated anyway (with his direction and overview).

From what I've seen I don't think it will be my thing but I am interested to see where this majority AI created game trend goes. Does it saturate the market and greatly reduce the value of games even further? Do we end up with getting AI to generate live games for us individually and the we can then share ones we like? Etc. Does AI destroy us or modern societies before these any of this is possible. Many possibilities and capability multipliers in so many directions can be so dangerous...
 
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100Ryan said:
I don't mean this in any way unpleasantly but you do know that it seems that most of the game will be AI generated anyway (with his direction and overview).

From what I've seen I don't think it will be my thing but I am interested to see where this majority AI created game trend goes. Does it saturate the market and greatly reduce the value of games even further? Do we end up with getting AI to generate live games for us individually and the we can then share ones we like? Etc. Does AI destroy us or modern societies before these any of this is possible. Many possibilities and capability multipliers in so many directions can be so dangerous...
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Just want to clarify my position on AI here. There is no content in the game, even in these development builds, which has been generated by AI. Everything so far is the product of my vision for the game, or the artists I’ve bought the placeholder assets from.

No AI generated images. No AI generated audio or music. No AI generated dialog. The ship I posted yesterday was just a test of the MCP server for 3dsmax, it’s not going anywhere near the game repository (not the look I want at all).

I reserve the right to change my mind in future, but my AI policy continues to be : AI is used to accelerate the boring technical parts, but the creative aspects all come from mushy human brains.
 
Ah that's interesting. Thanks for clarifying although like you say who knows in the future!

Maybe it will end up a bit like the studio outsourcing where 'background things end up done by AI instead of sent to artists/workers in the developing world but the main assets and look and feel with still being heavily human for creative reasons.
 
In other words, the game will be human roled, not machine bled.
 
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AI model generation is pretty wild these days - the quality and complexity can be crazy - though still a lot of areas it falls down - most AI models can't handle transparent elements, can have floating bits i.e. a tree with a branch which isn't connected to anything just sitting in mid air and articulation fails beyond anything basic when it comes to animation possibilities. Also a fine line when it comes to copyright - I've had models spit out stuff which has someone's technical spec details which were baked into their original work merged in with procedurally generated parts, etc. sometimes - though if you provide a rough sketch or model for it to work from it'll mostly be as per your vision especially if you can provide enough reference points for the AI to work with.
 
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100Ryan said:
Ah that's interesting. Thanks for clarifying although like you say who knows in the future!

Maybe it will end up a bit like the studio outsourcing where 'background things end up done by AI instead of sent to artists/workers in the developing world but the main assets and look and feel with still being heavily human for creative reasons.
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There are definitely developers out there who are just generating all their artwork with AI. I don't judge people, they can do whatever is right for them, but I think it's going to be easier to stand out in an increasingly crowded market with the human touch. I really hope I can rustle up the money to pay some artists, or at least find the time to sculp some ships myself!


Rroff said:
AI model generation is pretty wild these days - the quality and complexity can be crazy - though still a lot of areas it falls down - most AI models can't handle transparent elements, can have floating bits i.e. a tree with a branch which isn't connected to anything just sitting in mid air and articulation fails beyond anything basic when it comes to animation possibilities. Also a fine line when it comes to copyright - I've had models spit out stuff which has someone's technical spec details which were baked into their original work merged in with procedurally generated parts, etc. sometimes - though if you provide a rough sketch or model for it to work from it'll mostly be as per your vision especially if you can provide enough reference points for the AI to work with.
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Yes the ability for the models to comprehend 3D space now is pretty impressive, just a year ago they were completely useless. I'm not going to be generating any whole models with AI....but can see my self modelling the broad outline and using the AI as a helper to fill in the gaps in my 3D modelling skills, write maxscripts for greebling and lathing stuff. I'll see.

But back to the game! I did a few more tweaks yesterday, then actually just sat and played on the Steam Deck on the sofa for an hour. I've been so distracted with my house move I've kinda forgotten that I've actually created a neat little game, was the first I really sat and just played it, and liked it!

There's some friction I need to address still in the main combat mechanics, I think I need to let the player prioritise targets. Positioning the ships on the hex grid alone isn't enough interactivity to keep it interesting, needs that extra layer I think. I'm not completely sold on the reactor power bit....certainly need to iterate on the weapon power UI and persist between combat rounds so you're not constantly just powering weapons on.

I'm going to spend a bit of time on the narrative side...I want to have some kind of meaningful narrative to keep things going, little snippets of information you unlock through repeated playthroughs. Considering a faction system so you can build rep with factions that'll unlock specific merchants and POIs.
 
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mid_gen said:
OK this is wild. I just setup an MCP server on 3Ds Max. Connected to Claude Opus 5. Gave it this prompt :

can you create a spaceship in 3dsmax for me please. Something gritty and realistic.

Went and had breakfast....came back :

Screenshot 2026-09-12 104250.webp

That is wild. Hints of Chris Foss in there? I mean, I wouldn't obviously use such loose prompting....but my initial ideas about just sketching on paper and having AI generate models from it looks very possible.
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Would love to see the same prompt through Astra as it's apparently beast mode at 3d modelling
 
100Ryan said:
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The Moth Empire is in the game now, an emissary you can hire a ridiculously OP mercenary ship from if you've got high enough rep :)


Quick vlog today...really hard to sound positive and enthusiastic as this house move is sapping the life out of me....but hopefully can get it done next week and focus on the games side more!
 
sHo0sH said:
Would love to see the same prompt through Astra as it's apparently beast mode at 3d modelling
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Not to hijack mid_gen's thread - not Astra but I used this prompt in the AI model I use:

"A cargo transport haulage freighter spaceship with wear from travel. The bridge sits high up above the rear half of the spaceship, cargo containers strapped to the mid-section, engines are strut mounted near the front, the rear has large cargo bay doors and hazard lighting. The colour scheme is industrial black and yellow."

30 seconds later had this fully realised high resolution model:

1789863249863.webp

I could have gone in and adjusted a few things - like integrating the bridge more with the rear structure and the engines aren't quite like I had in mind - which again could have been refined with further prompting.

It would take me a good 2 weeks to produce that model by hand - albeit similar prompts probably generate a relatively limited selection of models using similar parts whereas doing it by hand would produce something more unique.
 
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That looks generically like many existing models.

At least it has some semblance of 3D propulsion control, central swappable storage..

One of the star destroyers had a large cargo circular container literally stuck on it :D
 
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It did put the mass in the centre of the ship, which makes it easier to rotate/roll for deceleration. Just no thusters :)
 
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