First-Hand Records
Essays built from real game-development practice.
Five first-hand records from Lao Liu on how one person builds a Steam game with AI: development practice, real costs, engine choice, the art pipeline, and creative agency.
I Asked GPT6 to Try Building a 3D Horror Game Scene in Godot
I asked GPT6 to build a 3D horror scene from scratch in Godot, recording the whole process—from a ship’s kitchen, model details, and lighting to character and animation mishaps.
I Used AI to Rebuild the Old Arcade Hall From My Childhood as a Walkable 3D Scene
I'm Lao Liu — I play games and I make games. This time I wanted to recreate the kind of old, coin-in-the-slot arcade hall I remember from childhood: not as a video, but as a 3D scene you can actually walk into, with video playing on the machine screens. This is my making-of write-up — how I built the architecture with Codex, handed the models to Rodin, did polygon reduction and baking in Blender, and finally brought it into Godot — including the approaches that worked and those that did not.
Rebuilding My Childhood Street in Northeast China with GPT6
I was born in the 1980s, and I want to bring my childhood into a game. With a stack of reference images for GPT6, I'm rebuilding the old street I remember at dusk, piece by piece.
The Biggest Misconception About Making Games with AI
The mistake solo creators make with AI, and three mindset shifts.
What Does It Really Cost to Make a Game with AI?
A dated record of one creator's actual tool stack and costs.
AI Is a Tool. Are You One Too?
Moving from tool-learning anxiety back to creative agency.
Which Engine Should You Use to Make a Game with AI?
A personal experiment across Unity, Unreal and Godot reframes what beginners should compare.
I Used AI to Put My Game Art Pipeline on Autopilot
Generation, automation, takeover, and decisions in a real low-intervention game-art workflow.