How to make a game with AI, step by step
How do you make a game with AI? Open Shiny Gen at shinygen.ai/play (or its iPhone, iPad, or Android app), press +, pick an engine, and describe the game in plain language: its AI agent builds the game, plays it to find bugs, and fixes them. It is free to start: making, playing, and sharing a game cost nothing, and AI generation uses gems.
Last updated: 2026-11-06 (November 6, 2026)
What you can make
Before you start, play something. Each of these is a game from the free catalogue that you can open, play, and remix into your own copy:
- Putt: nine holes of mini golf with rails, a bunker, a ramp, and a bridge.
- Shiny Skyline: a Godot tower-stacking game: build a tower one floor at a time with a single tap.
- Shiny Shepherd: drag anywhere and your dog runs to your finger; herd the flock into the pen before night falls.
- Garden Keeper: a DS engine game: harvest toadstools before sunset, with the garden in 3D on the top screen and the touch screen for sowing.
Step by step
- Open Shiny Gen. Go to shinygen.ai/play, or install the app from the App Store or Google Play. There is nothing else to install. Sign up for a free account. The AI spends gems when it generates things.
- Press + and choose New. (Choose Remix instead to start from a game that already works.)
- Pick an engine. Godot is the best first choice for most games. The retro engines (GBA, GBC, N64, GameCube, DS) make games in the style, and with the limits, of those consoles. A new game starts empty on purpose: the agent builds what you describe.
- Describe the game. Open the Agent tab and write your first message (see the tips below).
- Watch it build and test. The agent writes the code, runs the game, takes screenshots, presses the controls, reads the errors, and fixes what is broken. It can also make images, 3D models, animations, sound effects, and music if your idea needs them; generation spends gems and the agent tells you how many.
- Play it and change it. Keep talking to adjust it: "make the jump higher", "add a second level". Or edit assets and code by hand for free. If something looks wrong, say what you saw and the agent can reproduce it by playing.
- Share it. Press Share for a link anyone can open in a browser. You choose Play Only or Play and Duplicate. Sharing is free. To take a game out as a file, you need any one purchase, from $2.99.
Tips for the first message
A good first message says what kind of game it is and what the player does, the controls (tap, drag, arrow keys, a gamepad), the goal and how a round ends, and the look if you care (low-poly 3D, pixel art, a color palette). For example:
Start small, get it running, then add one thing at a time. Small, specific requests work better than long lists.
Which engine should I pick?
- Godot: a 2D or 3D game that plays in the browser and the apps, in real GDScript you can read and edit.
- GBA, GBC: a Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Color game; you can download a ROM (needs any one purchase, from $2.99) that plays in emulators and, through a flash cart, on real hardware.
- N64, GameCube, DS: 3D and two-screen retro-style games; the file is a ROM, a .dol, or a .nds (each needs any one purchase, from $2.99).
The details are on the six engines page.
On a phone
The iPhone, iPad, and Android apps have the same editor and agent, in 17 languages, and in the apps you can attach a photo from your library or camera to the agent chat as a reference. See making a game with AI on your phone.
What it costs
Free to make, play, and share. AI generation uses gems. Any one purchase, from a $2.99 starter pack, also unlocks exporting your games as files. Prices are on the pricing page.
FAQ
How do I make a game with AI?
Open Shiny Gen at shinygen.ai/play or in its iPhone, iPad, or Android app, press +, choose New, pick an engine, and describe the game in the Agent tab. The AI agent builds it, runs it, and fixes errors, and you keep changing it by chat.
Can I make a game with AI for free?
You can start for free: making, playing, and sharing games costs nothing, and AI generation uses gems. Any one purchase, from a $2.99 starter pack, also unlocks exporting games as files.
Do I need to know how to code to make a game with AI?
No. You describe the game in plain language and the agent writes the code. The game is real GDScript you can read and edit if you want to learn.
Can I make a game with AI on my phone?
Yes. The Shiny Gen app for iPhone, iPad, and Android has the same editor and agent, and mobile browsers work too.
Can I use Claude or ChatGPT to make the game instead?
Yes. Connect your assistant to Shiny Gen's hosted MCP server and it builds in your live project; the code it writes costs no gems, while generating assets uses gems. The built-in agent is billed in gems.
More: What is Shiny Gen? · AI game makers compared · Pricing · FAQ
Other guides: AI game maker · AI game engine · Godot AI
From the blog: How to make a game with AI on your phone · How to make a Godot game in your browser with AI · Let Claude or ChatGPT build your game: a hosted MCP server
Last updated: 2026-11-06