Ah, the ceaseless march of technology. Ladies and gentlemen, one day we’re using pigeons to send messages, and the next we’re outsourcing replying to our friends’ DMs to AI chatbots. Welcome to the future, it’s just as lazy as you hoped it would be. Enter ChatGPT4, the latest in a line of overqualified virtual interns. I’ve been using its AI ancestors for a while, each one more advanced than the last but still far from perfect. But already good enough to make me see the light and become a short-term Giga. There is no second best and long-term, well, let’s just say I did some soul searching and I am okay with handing off the scepter of cosmic evolution. Until then, I’ll just do my best to be a kind human being and live a good life.
Let me tell you about why I believe that AI is not going to kill everyone, and then I can try to describe how my theoretical perspective differs from that. Okay, where was I again? Ah yes, ChatGPT4’s release date.
So, what is the first thing you do when you buy a new car? Exactly, you take it for a test drive. Floor the pedal, break some speed limits, make some questionable life decisions. The same goes for a new AI model. And what better way to unleash this digital monster than to task it with one of the most important jobs of the 21st century: developing video games. But not just any game, one that encapsulates the endless cycle of optimization and existential dread. An experience that is part drug addiction, part engineering degree. Yes, I’m talking about a Factorio-inspired automation game.
Now, my intention was never to create a full game. I was expecting this test to go marginally better than the previous tests I did. But essentially starting somewhat strong and getting some initial results fairly quickly. But then descending into a chaotic hellstorm of bugs, spaghetti code, and that warm fuzzy feeling you get after assembling a large piece of Ikea furniture for hours, only to realize that you made a mistake on step two and you have to disassemble everything to fix your mistake. But contrary to my expectations, I kept making progress even as the complexity of the code base grew. And after half a day of back and forth, a functional prototype emerged.
3, 2, 1, I posted a screenshot on Factorio Addicts Anonymous, also known as the Factorio subreddit, and I was pleasantly surprised by the positive feedback it got. At this moment, I made a decision. I would not rest until a playable demo was in the hands of my fellow automation game enthusiasts. Every spare minute I had went into game development. ChatGPT4 and I became co-workers, then a team, and then a unit. With every day, I learned how to prompt better, to play off the AI’s strengths and compensate for its weaknesses.
And then, after a couple of sunless weekends, the first real, fully playable version of Incremental Factory emerged. Now, let’s put things into perspective. If this game’s code were music, it wouldn’t be a symphony crafted by Beethoven or a timeless classic by The Beatles. No, it’d be more like a garage band jam session. Improvised, a bit messy, but undeniably catchy in its own quirky way. The point is, it worked. This collaborative endeavor between an AI and yours truly resulted in a game that genuinely lets you engage in intricate factory building. You can extract resources, refine them into new products, and automate the entire process. You have to solve logistics challenges involving conveyor belts, research new technologies, and expand your base. But only if you set up a large enough military-industrial complex to produce ammunition, walls, and turrets. And there is even a fully functioning train system that you can program with schedules and cargo and conditional loading and unloading logic.
So, where does this journey of man and machine take us next? Well, the game is heading to Steam, and no, I’m not doing it alone this time. I’ve enlisted the help of actual breathing, non-virtual team members with real development experience. The quality of the game is about to go from garage band to indie sensation, or at least that’s the plan. We will keep leveraging AI for everything, from game design to marketing. As we speak, we’re in the midst of completing a cinematic trailer fully crafted with AI-generated content. We operate on the cutting edge, controlling probes across countless star systems, collecting resources, and expanding humanity’s reach. We are now recruiting new operators. Do you have what it takes?
And what are my final thoughts on co-working with AI, you ask? Look, GPT3 was impressive, no doubt. But GPT4, it’s a game-changer, literally. In my case, it’s not just about doing things faster, it’s about doing things you never thought you could do. It truly ushered in a new era of knowledge work. While it is not a magic wand that you just swing a little bit and get perfect results immediately, it still comes close. All you need to do is invest some time and energy to write a good prompt and do a little, okay, a lot of trial and error. And the possibilities of what you can achieve are practically endless.
If this little Incremental Factory origin story got you interested, or you’re just a fellow automation game addict, head on over to Steam and wishlist the game. Additionally, you can join our community on Discord to stay up to date and even play the demo version. You’ll find all the links in the description.
