It's now clear what the problem is with vibe coded remakes, remixes and games in general.
This looks very interesting. But in the past couple of days I saw at least 5 interesting vibe coded games worth, in theory, spending hours on. There's no way I could consume this amount of content.
Secondly, when I say "looks interesting", I mean that based on graphics and descriptions, it looks promising. Before AI, the visual quality was a great proxy for effort, and we could reasonably assume that the effort was spread around graphics, sound and gameplay. If not equally, gameplay would get at LEAST a bit of attention.
Making good games requires attention to small details. And I have no idea if the author cared about these details at all. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't.
With so many alternatives and the loss of quality proxies, the rational choice is to, unfortunately, pass.
The attention to detail of Solomon with Valve's new game Deadlock is neat, how the developers pulled historic chess games and incorporated them into the character's reload animation. While I'd like to think this is an example where a small detail (supposedly) was facilitated by agentic coding I also think a less scrupulus company would take the time save at face value and not apply it as creatively as Valve did.
I played it for awhile on Saturday. It's fun for what it is, yet certainly not in the same realm as actual Diablo II. You are mostly making level tree selections.
It is more interesting as a data point highlighting the velocity and trajectory of games in this new era. See for example, the newly formed XBox Labs department at MS.
Eh, maybe, maybe not. We’re obviously past the age of “everyone tunes in to see Friends at 7 o’clock on Wednesday” or whatever, but humans tend to share things they like within their networks.
> But in the past couple of days I saw at least 5 interesting vibe coded games worth, in theory, spending hours on. There's no way I could consume this amount of content.
That choice paralysis isn't anything new in gaming, especially in the 2010's with the rise of higher-quality indie games or 2020's with services like Game Pass.
I'm more and more wondering whether the internet will splinter in our lifetimes. Security risks, a rejection of globalism in the face of unemployment, bots everywhere, 5th columnists undermining society, etc.
Maybe it won't be such a bad thing. Every nation could potentially have the capability to have its own Hollywood and AAA game companies. A splintered internet would mean more jobs to go round, a bigger chance for the little guy achieving success, and the ability to reel things in to become a bit more human again. I mean, playing an AI game from someone the other side of the world feels a bit weird, but if it's someone in your city whose launch party you just attended...
I'm starting to think maybe AI isn't a problem, but global scale is. We're all just so lost, tiny and meaningless in this endless sea of infinite capabilities. Maybe gating things up a bit more actually humanises these new developments and champions people?
It wouldn't be without precedent. One theory for the Bronze Age collapse is the advent of the new tech of iron allowing every tribe to be a serious military threat, as opposed to needing to be plugged in to the global tin supply. Maybe we'll be heading the same way.
To me a lot of similar games are fun for 5 minutes. But they become rote after a couple of hours. One could say that it’s nice to have spent a few hours having fun, others would get a feeling of regret.
It's now clear what the problem is with vibe coded remakes, remixes and games in general.
This looks very interesting. But in the past couple of days I saw at least 5 interesting vibe coded games worth, in theory, spending hours on. There's no way I could consume this amount of content.
Secondly, when I say "looks interesting", I mean that based on graphics and descriptions, it looks promising. Before AI, the visual quality was a great proxy for effort, and we could reasonably assume that the effort was spread around graphics, sound and gameplay. If not equally, gameplay would get at LEAST a bit of attention.
Making good games requires attention to small details. And I have no idea if the author cared about these details at all. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't.
With so many alternatives and the loss of quality proxies, the rational choice is to, unfortunately, pass.
The attention to detail of Solomon with Valve's new game Deadlock is neat, how the developers pulled historic chess games and incorporated them into the character's reload animation. While I'd like to think this is an example where a small detail (supposedly) was facilitated by agentic coding I also think a less scrupulus company would take the time save at face value and not apply it as creatively as Valve did.
I played it for awhile on Saturday. It's fun for what it is, yet certainly not in the same realm as actual Diablo II. You are mostly making level tree selections.
It is more interesting as a data point highlighting the velocity and trajectory of games in this new era. See for example, the newly formed XBox Labs department at MS.
https://www.theverge.com/news/1010406/xbox-labs-game-decompi...
So basically what happened to video once Netflix started making its own content and YouTube production values started to match some tv shows.
There’s just so much creative content these days that it’s impossible to consume it all.
And therefore highly unlikely that we will share many experiences anymore
If the AI gets to the hypothetical perfection we will share precisely none of experiences.
Eh, maybe, maybe not. We’re obviously past the age of “everyone tunes in to see Friends at 7 o’clock on Wednesday” or whatever, but humans tend to share things they like within their networks.
I'd say that these networks are a lot smaller than they were back in the days of Friends, and they're only getting smaller.
> But in the past couple of days I saw at least 5 interesting vibe coded games worth, in theory, spending hours on. There's no way I could consume this amount of content.
That choice paralysis isn't anything new in gaming, especially in the 2010's with the rise of higher-quality indie games or 2020's with services like Game Pass.
I'm more and more wondering whether the internet will splinter in our lifetimes. Security risks, a rejection of globalism in the face of unemployment, bots everywhere, 5th columnists undermining society, etc.
Maybe it won't be such a bad thing. Every nation could potentially have the capability to have its own Hollywood and AAA game companies. A splintered internet would mean more jobs to go round, a bigger chance for the little guy achieving success, and the ability to reel things in to become a bit more human again. I mean, playing an AI game from someone the other side of the world feels a bit weird, but if it's someone in your city whose launch party you just attended...
I'm starting to think maybe AI isn't a problem, but global scale is. We're all just so lost, tiny and meaningless in this endless sea of infinite capabilities. Maybe gating things up a bit more actually humanises these new developments and champions people?
It wouldn't be without precedent. One theory for the Bronze Age collapse is the advent of the new tech of iron allowing every tribe to be a serious military threat, as opposed to needing to be plugged in to the global tin supply. Maybe we'll be heading the same way.
Or, you know, play it for 5 mins and see if it’s good?
To me a lot of similar games are fun for 5 minutes. But they become rote after a couple of hours. One could say that it’s nice to have spent a few hours having fun, others would get a feeling of regret.
Slop