Hey jammers! 👋

Hope everyone's projects are going well! Quick question for the community:

I'm researching AI tools for game development and would love to hear from people actively making games (like all of you!). 

Made a super quick survey (5 mins) about:

- How you approach prototyping during jams

- What slows you down

- If AI tools would help or just get in the way

Survey: https://qualtricsxmf39dfwj5s.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4TQa8Kzts79DX6K

Everyone who fills it out gets entered for a $200 gift card, and I'll share the results back here when it's done.

Would really appreciate your input – trying to understand what actual gamedevs need vs what companies think we need!

Thanks and happy jamming! 🎮✨

I'll save you some time (no need for prizes): won't touch AI with a ten-foot pole, regardless of purpose. Not going to burn the forests, boil the seas and steal from my fellow creators just to make a game. They'd mock me, rightfully so.

(By the way, you didn't need to post this in four different categories, two of them unrelated.)

$200 would be great, but I don’t see a reason to trust someone who might be an AI bro with contact info.

Basic answers are here:

The term AI has a very complicated history of early machine learning that has long been accepted for games with big teams or unique needs.

What I consider AI generation today is highly unethical, harmful to creatives, and a danger to the world.

• Controversies, large-scale threats, localized disasters, hunger, pain, extended sleep deprivation, and demoralizing social interactions slow me down. It feels like some major life upset or urgent need develops every month. It’s tiring and too often isolating.

If I can get better at coordinating with the people (artists and advocates) willing to work together with me, that would help, maybe? Being able to rely on the people running the platforms and apps needed for private communication— that’s too often a problem.

• AI tools make everything worse even for people trying to avoid them. AI users are like smokers in public places— causing distress, being gross, and endangering lives. The training, rendering, and storage slop divert extreme amounts of resources. You know how cigarettes are a leading cause of wildfires and smoke affects more than the smoker? Generative AI is a leading cause of water waste and is interfering with all types of relationships in gaming, publishing, and education.

• Jams for me are about testing what I can do with the tools and time available. During slower times, I’m studying, organizing, and building up an asset library to have the resources to make something I can experiment with. Currently I’m struggling to figure out how to prepare graphics and code for several different types of games, and that’s okay. Struggles that aren’t about life and death issues are kimd of relaxing, actually. I’ll learn in the quiet moments and try to put together notes to help the next person who’s interested in the same tasks.