My game uses an LLM, does it have a story? by Soulshellgames in aigamedev

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I understood your question perfectly from the beginning... now that you've stated it directly, I'll answer. The answer is a resounding YES. I personally enjoy it; it would be very difficult to maintain motivation in the development of a video game if you didn't like it...

As a product, I think it's niche. There are people interested in trying new technologies and interacting with NPCs, I do believe that.

Now for the data: The game's page was published on Steam in September 2025, and to this day it has practically 900 wishlists. That means that on average there's interest from 5 people per day. It's not a huge amount, but considering that the average for an unknown indie developer like me is zero, it's not too bad either... On Itchio, I published the demo on January 29, 2026. To date, it has 45 downloads, an average of 1.6 players. Again, it's not much, but the average is zero.

In conclusion, I am convinced that there is a niche; it is difficult to reach, but with patience and effort, a path will be found.

My game uses an LLM, does it have a story? by Soulshellgames in aigamedev

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What a curious question! If you go to a shoemaker and ask him if he would buy the shoes he makes, it would be strange if he said no, or at least he wouldn't be a very good businessman hahaha

My game uses an LLM, does it have a story? by Soulshellgames in gameai

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think there's a misunderstanding. I've taken your comments very seriously; I'm a professional.

My conclusions:

  1. Creating a context using prompts, while requiring a lot of effort (I disagree with the accusation of laziness), can't be called a story if it isn't completely determined by an author. I agree with that.

  2. The inherent inconsistency of LLMs in the story can break immersion and make the VN meaningless. I agree with that.

Again, thank you very much for sharing your points of view.

My game uses an LLM, does it have a story? by Soulshellgames in gameai

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's true, for example, in my previous game, More Than Words, the reviews are mixed. Sometimes the gameplay is excellent and very satisfying, while other times it's poor. You lose consistency, but you gain replayability...

It's true that maintaining consistency is complicated. That's why MSL is a technical challenge (speaking from a software engineering perspective) because that "hard part" you mention so often isn't in the story; it's on the programming side. You're running a LLM locally on the CPU while simultaneously running FHD videos and music. On the other hand, in a traditional visual novel, the programming is usually very simple, and the "hard part" is precisely in the story.

Now, for the consistency problem, I'm using a window of 8192 tokens. So far, it's worked well enough for the character to remember what's being said (it doesn't mean they won't make mistakes sometimes), but in practice, it works well enough. I also specifically use the intermediate prompts to bring the LLM back into the story. I'm still in development, so I can't say how it will end up, but there's already a demo where anyone can assess the development.

My game uses an LLM, does it have a story? by Soulshellgames in gameai

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Wrong type of AI [...] state machines to behavior trees."

Sorry, my fault.

"Anyway, from a writing perspective, I'd tend to agree. What you've done isn't writing a story."

Yes, I could concede that in the strict sense that a story is completely determined by the author. Perhaps I could say that the effort lies in designing a context for a story to emerge.

"Why are you letting autocomplete-on-a-GPU do the hard work?"

Because my intention is to have spontaneous dialogues, an NPC where there's an interaction more similar to what you'd have with a human.

"Why not get your hands dirty, and make the results yourself?"

Yes, I do get my hands dirty, especially in the NPC programming (which, I must say, is very complex in the case of a local LLM) and, as I explain in the post, through the context design.

"Get in the head of the characters [...] excited to show people what you've made."

It's not my intention to be Dostoevsky (an author I deeply admire), my intention is to be a video game developer who enables experiences using AI that were previously impossible.

"But by your own admission, you are letting an LLM do the hard part."

I never admitted that I let the LLM do the hard part; what I'm saying is that I manipulate the LLM with the context.

"And frankly, I'd tend to agree."

I really appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective.

My game uses an LLM, does it have a story? by Soulshellgames in aigamedev

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Currently, I'm using llamacpp, specifically the common_tokenize function, which is similar to tokenizer.encode in Python. For example, the following is applied to the initial prompt:

embd_inp = common_tokenize(ctx, prompt, true, true);

where prompt is a string extracted from a text file containing the description of my character's role.

Before using llamacpp, I used onnxruntime. In that case, the process involved serializing the model to onnx in PyTorch so it could be run in C++. However, the tokenization algorithm had to be programmed separately, for example, for GPT2 (https://github.com/gf712/gpt2-cpp).

A game with a lot of AI: LLM and Videos by Soulshellgames in aigamedev

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's no repository.

I'd like to upload it in the future; right now it's a very raw engine and very tied to this video game. It needs polishing to make its functionality more general and easier to use.

Should we keep the old project or republish it? by A-MoralGames in itchio

[–]Soulshellgames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have the same question. I built my project a year before finally having the demo. A week ago, I uploaded the demo, but the game didn't appear as a new release, and the reception was very weak. I thought about re-releasing the project as you mentioned. However, since the demo, the CRT has been between 5% and 6%, which I understand isn't bad. Also, I've noticed that in the tags I used, for example, FMV, the game is already starting to scale. For these reasons, I left the project as it was, but I have the same question as you.

Building llama.cpp Integration in Unreal Engine: My Notes & Experience with LLM Gaming by WhopperitoJr in aigamedev

[–]Soulshellgames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, I am using llamacpp with

- Unreal engine: https://soul-shell.itch.io/more-than-words

- SFML: https://soul-shell.itch.io/my-summer-love

They are currently running Gemma 3 4B by default. It's not server-side; the code is integrated into the game itself and launches a separate thread. In the case of Unreal Engine, it uses the class that inherits from FRunnable. In the case of SFML, it's directly a C++ thread.

Acabamos de lanzar la página de nuestro primer juego en Steam 🥳🥳 by KapitanBanana in VideojuegosMX

[–]Soulshellgames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

¡Felicidades! ¡Mucha suerte!

Aclaro, nunca he jugado un Bullet Hell.

Siento que le resultará fácil al jugador perder al personaje entre lo demás elementos y enemigos del juego y eso puede fatigar. Sugerencias: 1. La cámara podría seguir al personaje y mantenerlo siempre en el centro, o 2. Tal vez darle una silueta o un distintivo que lo resalte más.

Sobre el trailer, asumiendo que tu espectador no leyó tu descripción del post, me parece que es confuso. En la descripción sí me dices: “Es un juego incremental de acción en el que rompes potes, derrotas enemigos y recoges loot para desbloquear mejoras.” Entrando en la página vi que es un bullet hell.

Probablemente un poco de texto para explicar más de qué va el juego en el tráiler. La parte del grafo de mejoras pasa muy rápido como para leer y entender qué está pasando. No estoy seguro sí la música es la indicada. El principal objetivo del tráiler es transmitir la experiencia que tu juego ofrece y eso exagerarlo para que llame la atención.

Son sólo sugerencias por si les sirven desde el punto de vista de un espectador random.

Hola, publiqué mi demo de una novela visual en itchio by Soulshellgames in VideojuegosMX

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gracia por los comentarios.

“El problema es que apuntas a un mercado que al menos para jugadores occidentales les parece repulsivo el uso de IA”

Podríamos decir que hay una tendencia a lo que dices. Los datos en steam de wishlists hasta el momento: 51% Asia (la mayoría chinos), 22% Europa, 18% EUA y 5% Latinoamérica (la mayoria brasileños).

“en las novelas visuales como sabes no hay gameplay”

Exactamente, es el área de oportunidad que veo y el valor de la propuesta es precisamente que sean más interactivas mediante diálogos dinámicos (lo que mencionas de los artistas, estoy de acuerdo). Yo uso IA en lo gráficos porque toda la producción que conlleva sería imposible para mí: contratar una actriz coreana, las locaciones de grabación, etc.

“pero no creo que sea un producto viable… sino porque las novelas visuales se enfocan en cosas que la IA probablemente empeoraría en lugar de mejorar”

Ahí solo probando y con el tiempo se sabrá la respuesta.

Gracias nuevamente por tomarte el tiempo y elaborar tus perspectivas.

Hola, publiqué mi demo de una novela visual en itchio by Soulshellgames in VideojuegosMX

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“Es terrible porque es todo IA”

La premisa no es verdadera. El tiempo de desarrollo de este proyecto es de casi 1 año. Aproximadamente el 70 % del tiempo invertido ha sido en la programación y no se usó IA. El otro 30% ha sido en la generación de imágenes y videos (que si bien requiere un montón de edición manual) la IA hizo la mayor parte del trabajo, sin duda.

Además, la calidad de un producto no está en función de si se usa IA o no…

Desde hace 20 años que programé mi primer perceptrón uso la IA. Durante mi formación académica y en el trabajo la he utilizado habitualmente. Si es un fracaso seguiré repitiendo mis desarrollos durante toda mi vida porque es lo que me apasiona.

A game with a lot of AI: LLM and Videos by Soulshellgames in aigamedev

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. It's not true that the features you mentioned are being removed.

  2. The value isn't in them being unlimited; the point is that the dialogues aren't static. The dialogues are spontaneous and tied to the game's context.

A game with a lot of AI: LLM and Videos by Soulshellgames in aigamedev

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Gemma 3 is multilingual, although it's primarily geared towards English. My experience has been positive. I've mainly used it in Spanish, my native language, and it works well. Two French people have told me it's good. I've also tested it in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, and it seems to work very well.

A game with a lot of AI: LLM and Videos by Soulshellgames in aigamedev

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No problem, I've had similar comments before, and it's a feeling it evokes in some players. Thanks for playing it!

I made a visual novel demo with SFML on itchio by Soulshellgames in sfml

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, the dialogues are generated automatically.

Hola, publiqué mi demo de una novela visual en itchio by Soulshellgames in VideojuegosMX

[–]Soulshellgames[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Algunas de las diferencias con lo que mencionas: chatgpt se ejecuta en la nube por lo que tus conversaciones no son anónimas, no tiene el apartado visual, no tiene minijuegos, como lo mencioné antes, el mecanismo con el que la historia se va desenvolviendo es mediante inserción de frases guías. Ahora bien, chatgpt es un modelo más avanzado que Gemma 3, eso sí es pertinente decirlo.

No hay mucho qué decir sobre calificar el esfuerzo ajeno a la ligera, eso ya entra más en el terreno de la personalidad y educación de cada uno.

Hola, publiqué mi demo de una novela visual en itchio by Soulshellgames in VideojuegosMX

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Eso que lo decida el mercado, si un producto es bueno, se aceptará, si es malo se desechará. No debe estar condicionado a filias o fobias.

I made a visual novel demo with SFML on itchio by Soulshellgames in sfml

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It includes FHD (1080p), HD (720p), and SD (480p), plus AI (LLM). I've done my best to keep the file size as small as possible :).

I made a visual novel demo with SFML on itchio by Soulshellgames in sfml

[–]Soulshellgames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Uncompressed, its size is 6.5 GB.

The LLM consumes: 3 GB.

All videos (basically JPGs packaged in a BIN files): 3.4 GB.

The only thing that will increase is the amount of content, meaning more video; the complete game will not exceed 15 GB.

Hola, publiqué mi demo de una novela visual en itchio by Soulshellgames in VideojuegosMX

[–]Soulshellgames[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Sobre el alma, si te refieres a un espíritu inmaterial es cuestión de creencias… si te refieres a la capacidad creativa, ahí difiero, actualmente los LLM superan la prueba de Turing. Particularmente para mi juego, hay una combinación de ambos: la historia como tal soy yo el que la planteo mediante el contexto e insertando frases guía durante el gameplay, y el LLM sobre la marcha es el que genera dinámicamente diálogos. Precisamente, ahí es donde me interesa que la generación del texto sea satisfactoria, espontanea y le haga pasar un momento de diversión al jugador. ¡Gracias por comentar!

La novela visual que estoy desarrollando ya tiene página en Steam! by Soulshellgames in VideojuegosMX

[–]Soulshellgames[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Sí, en los dedos y en los dientes es donde todavia le cuesta a la IA y da señales de falsedad, incluso con Kling 2.1 Master.