Solo dev ships a Godot roguelite Steam demo in 3 months with ChatGPT and Codex
NotaDevAI · reddit · 2026-08-21
An Australian solo developer shares a full retrospective on building the demo of their first game, Grimoire of Hecate: Tower of Starlight (turn-based roguelite in Godot), over 3 months with ChatGPT and Codex:
- Division of labor: ChatGPT refined design ideas; Codex worked directly on project files, writing and revising much of the code and tests (mostly GPT 5.6 Sol). Graphics used GPT image 2.0, all reviewed and edited by hand; also used for localization.
- Workflow: describe the feature → review output → run and play it themselves → keep iterating.
- Hardest part at scale: the AI loses track of earlier decisions or edits the wrong thing. Mitigation: after each task, document current state in a Markdown file; when a bug appears, reproduce it exactly, find the cause, and change only the affected part—otherwise the AI's fix creates new issues.
- Key lesson: more AI isn't automatically better. Decide what to delegate, preserve project context, and keep direct human review. AI excels at iterating on what exists; original design is still on you.
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