Dev builds two playable games in a week with Claude Haiku and GPT small models, with cost breakdowns
chongdashu · x · 2026-10-09
Developer chongdashu built two games in one week using non-flagship models: a 2.5D multiplayer 'Where's Wally' game with hundreds of NPCs on screen, and a cozy farming sim in the vein of Animal Crossing / Stardew Valley — powered by Claude Haiku 5.5 and GPT 6.1 Sol.
The video walkthrough covers the full workflow:
- Model stack selection and cost breakdowns per model
- Rust + WASM + WebGPU setup, 2D sprites in 3D
- Spriterrific sprite pipeline, mockups and floor plans
- Parallel subagents workflow, fast animation fixes, progression and UI iteration
- Multiplayer optimization and hosting
The thesis: you don't need the biggest models to make games — small models plus a solid engineering pipeline suffice.
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