The Games I Built With AI
I built my first games with a total budget of five euros, all of it for the music. The rest came from my long-time ChatGPT subscription, which had already paid for itself in emotional support and bad jokes. It all started because I was a hopeless fan of mobile dating sims. For a year or two, they were my guilty pleasure. Before that, I was the kind of gamer who woke up, opened Skyrim or The Witcher during summer break, and did not stop playing until 2 a.m. I basically lived in Tamriel and Novigrad. These days, I no longer play those games, partly because I finished them, and partly because adulthood. Still, I always enjoy a good visual novel when I find one.
My favorite dating sim, the one that truly warmed my heart, was tragically discontinued. The studio behind it vanished into thin air, ignoring all signs of life from fans like me. They are presumably working on something else, probably less romantic. That game had given me so much comfort that I decided to return the favor to the universe. If they were not going to make more of it, I would. I wanted to radiate that same warmth myself, so I designed and implemented my first game in two days. (Fine, technically it is not my first, I made a Pac-Man clone in C++ during my bachelor’s, but that one does not count. It was haunted.)
While playing dating sims, I always thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could actually talk to the characters instead of just clicking one of three polite options?” The most we usually get is a choice between “Sure,” “Of course,” and “Yes, but sarcastic.” We live in the age of AI, so I thought, why not do better? That is how The Moonlit Scholar was born, a short, demo-like story where your choices shape the narrative, and at the end, you can actually talk to the character. The DeepSeek API made that possible, and I might have cried a little when it worked.
The future looks promising, but I am not rushing. One friend, a psychologist, told me we could develop the game together. Another suggested a culturally aware story about Southeast Asia. Yet another asked for a dating sim for guys. I am listening, and I love how many directions this project could take. I just need more coffee, time, and maybe a slightly bigger music budget.
This is all for good fun and should be enjoyed responsibly. I saw a gap in what was offered, got impatient waiting for someone else to fill it, and built what I wanted to play. The content is not meant for children, since I am definitely not a child psychologist. I hope you enjoy what I made. If you liked it, or if you think it could be improved, please tell me, I might even thank you publicly instead of pretending I thought of it myself. The feedback form will take you straight to my email.