How I use AI.

Cybordz is my game. I wrote the base story by hand, I design it, and I decide what gets built and what comes next. I animate the characters in Cascadeur, build many of the environment models by hand in Blender, and do the sound design in FMOD. Every change to the code gets my review before it goes in, and every AI-assisted asset is something I iterated on and reviewed before it shipped.

AI should be an accelerator, not a decision maker. For Cybordz, I manage several AI agents working at the same time. At the time of writing, I have four computers that run multiple agents each to develop new features and refine artwork. I review the code and hold it to the same standard I would apply to colleagues. I iterate on designs, make corrections, develop the story and decide what to do next. Most of my time is spent reviewing and analyzing results to make sure tasks are being done properly. If my game is bad, it will 100% be my fault, my bad decisions, my bad game design, not my use of AI.

A bit about me: I’m a software engineer with 15+ years of professional experience. If you include my time nerding out in high school, I’ve been writing code for over 25 years. I also have a Master’s degree in Computer Science from UCLA. In just the last couple of years, software engineering has been completely transformed by AI. It has been a rapid and, honestly, disorienting change, and there’s a lot that I haven’t enjoyed about it. In other fields like art and animation, AI is behind but rapidly catching up.

I understand and sympathize with concerns over jobs being replaced with AI, and I’m sensitive to how that relates to the development of Cybordz. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, but I try to have a thoughtful position on the issue. For better or for worse, I think AI is here to stay. My hope is that these tools can empower individual artists, engineers and creatives of all kinds to produce truly unique and deeply human games.

AI tools allow small teams to build much bigger games than they otherwise could. I believe that gives indie developers a chance to make ambitious titles that would have previously required a significant budget from publishers or investors, and allow them to stay independent while pursuing interesting and, perhaps, risky artistic directions. AI will undoubtedly mean more low-effort games on the market, which will be annoying, but the same can be said for game engines like Unity and Godot and tools like Blender. Without publicly available game engines and 3D modeling software, it’s unlikely many of the indie games of the last 10-15 years would have ever been made. There are downsides to AI to be sure, but I believe it will also mean more unique games that are full and rich expressions of their (human) creators’ visions. That’s what I’m trying to make.

I’m not opposed to using AI anywhere in development. The bar is quality. I want to use every tool available to make the best game I can, and I’ll continue to experiment. If my use of AI is a dealbreaker for you, I understand and respect that. Either way, I hope you give Cybordz a chance when it’s done.

This section describes the latest Cybordz playtest build and the tools behind it. The game is built in Unity. Nothing in it is generated by AI while you play; everything AI-assisted was made during development and reviewed before it shipped.

Code

A significant amount of the code is now written with Claude and Codex, including shaders. I decide what gets prioritized and built, and I review every change before it goes in.

Concept art

Generated with 3D AI Studio, an aggregator of image and 3D AI models. I iterate on concepts until they fit the look and story I’m after.

3D models

The player character is AI-generated, but it takes a lot of hands-on work to get it into the game: I iterate on concept art, elicit feedback on the design through online surveys, generate a 3D model based on the refined concept art in 3D AI Studio, then work in Blender with Claude and Codex to retopologize it and go through many rounds of UV mapping, weight painting and cleaning up until it looks good in the game. Some environment models are AI-assisted the same way; the rest are built by hand in Blender. Everything is assembled and lit in Unity.

Animation

I animate in Cascadeur, using its AI-assisted AutoPosing, which fills in a natural full-body pose as I position key points. I also use Mixamo for the base character rigging.

Music

Generated with Suno, but the lyrics, selection and editing are mine. I brainstorm song ideas and draft prompts and base lyrics with Claude and Codex, then adjust the lyrics so they fit the story more fully. I generate many versions of a song until one lands close to what I’m going for, then edit and regenerate individual sections to fix problems. I listen to each track over and over, and I keep refining them based on playtester feedback. The music is implemented in the game with FMOD.

Sound effects

Some are generated with 3D AI Studio (which uses ElevenLabs); others come from various SFX packs I’ve purchased over the years. I implement them in FMOD, where I tweak and modify them with various effects.

Story

I wrote the base story by hand. I may use AI for brainstorming or to help keep the story consistent.

Voices

None yet. If I add AI voices, they would most likely be built from a real voice actor’s voice (with their permission) to get the right feel.

Marketing

Trailers and the gameplay clips I post on Reddit are made by me, and I plan to have professional trailers made for major milestones. Store and capsule art will most likely be made by a professional artist. Short-form videos on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram are cut by AI from long gameplay sessions I record. Website copy is written or heavily edited by me, sometimes from an AI draft or outline.

Cybordz is a story about the consequences of unbridled technological advancement, and a world robbed of its humanity by a dystopian technocracy. Its answer is beauty, and skating is how the characters find it: an act of non-violent rebellion that transforms cold, hard environments into something that transcends the mundane. I wrote the base story by hand.

I follow copyright law, and I use references the way artists always have. I also follow the terms of every AI tool I use. The law around training AI models is unsettled and still being worked out in the courts. I’m watching how it develops, and I’ll update this page if it changes how I work.

How I use AI will change as the tools improve and the game grows. I’ll keep this page current, keep it consistent with the AI disclosure on the Cybordz Steam page, and note every meaningful change below.

1. November 3, 2026 First published.