Dev says he replaced Unreal with an AI-first engine built in 6 months, claims 93x faster development

majidmanzarpour · x · 2026-09-11

Em-8ER developer Grummz says he spent 6 months building a custom, fully "AI-first" game engine called Kun-Zhi (Tibetan for "Ground of all"), replacing Unreal Engine entirely — and claims the game now develops 93x faster than it did on Unreal.

His thesis: rather than bolting AI onto a traditional engine, build the engine from the ground up for AI-driven development, eliminating expensive engine licensing altogether. He stresses it's a production-ready engine, not a one-shot toy.

The latest update ships an advanced character animation system, world collision meshes, an AI-assisted Blender animation exporter and workflow, outfit swapping, physics-driven character effects, fully networked client/server player capsules, and pilotable vehicles. The engine is planned for public release.

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