People Don't Actually See Video Games as Art

If you asked me what social media platform I use, I’d probably just say Bluesky. Which isn’t a complete lie; it’s the only social media platform I actually take seriously. But is it the only one I still use?

I’m ashamed to admit this, but I still linger on X the Everything App. I mostly post there to promote my work, because, unfortunately, I still get more engagement there than I get on Bluesky.

The issue is that I have a bad habit of not properly limiting myself to promotional posts, even though I should know by now that if I post anything even slightly opinionated, I’m going to get bombarded with replies from idiots who miss the point or don’t get the joke. But what can I say? I just never learn.

The post that started it all

If this post sounds familiar, that’s because it is. It’s quoting a classic copypasta from 2019, word for word. Pretty much nobody responding to my tweet got this reference. They took it at face value and got really mad at me. But that’s not the problem. All the people calling me slurs in the replies aren’t what really bothers me either. It’s the responses like this:

This is retarded. It’s a game port, not a fucking adventure. There’s nothing to learn, there’s only misery in the path, and other people will only care about the destination. No one cares if you used AI or not, they only care that THE GAME IS PLAYABLE.

I’ve gotten so many responses that share this exact sentiment. It seems like there’s a significant number of people who see video games as nothing more than a disposable product that helps you kill a few hours on a weekend. Like a bag of cheap weed, with no inherent value beyond that temporary high.

To them, AI-generated video game ports are an objectively good thing. What really matters is the end product, and AI will only help us get there faster. Anyone complaining about this does so because of their fragile ego and should be silenced before they ruin things for everyone else.

As one response puts it:

We need more AI ports and less people like you.

Shit gets personal now

See, I love tinkering with and modernizing old games. Over the years, I’ve taken on several such projects, like Super Mario 64 Plus, a HEAVY modification of the original fan-made PC port of Super Mario 64, and Moon Child Friend Edition, a full port of the 1997 PC game to modern platforms and the web.

I did not start these projects to play shiny modernized versions of these games. I mean, I did make them with the intention of eventually playing through them myself, but I’ve enjoyed the engineering process so much that, even five years after releasing 64 Plus, I still haven’t done a full playthrough of it! Same goes for Moon Child, really.

So, why did I bother? I’ll cut to the chase: It was because of the process. Diving into decades-old code, figuring out how the original developers approached problems with the tech and the understanding of their time, getting into their heads and finding elegant ways to update the game for a modern audience without losing the game’s soul… Now that’s the shit!

Like, let’s take Moon Child, for example. I was quite surprised when I first dove into its source code after the original developers released it. The code is written in C++, but it’s not written like any C++ codebase I’ve ever seen. It’s a bit of a mess, but a mess that’s clearly written by someone with an Assembly and C background. And somehow, you can just tell. You see it in the goto statements, the layout, the whole structure of the thing. It’s like digital archaeology. It tells a story on its own, as if it’s an art piece in and of itself.

It’s the same reason I always loved digging through The Cutting Room Floor wiki, and watching videos from YouTubers like The Gaming Historian (you will be missed!) or Displaced Gamers. It unlocks a whole new layer of appreciation for those games, and I absolutely love it! I don’t care what anyone says; for me, it absolutely IS an adventure. There is so much to learn in there, about both the game being worked on and game development as a whole. It’s great!

Now, you might be saying: “But Mors, it’s different with actual games. We’re talking about ports, which have no artistic value.” Are you sure though?

I mean, I just talked about how codebases can tell a story on their own, but ports are also rarely just 1:1 translations. I’m aware that Super Mario 64 Plus is a bit of an outlier here, since it’s got so much shit crammed into it, but even in a bare-minimum port, two different developers tackling the exact same game will make dozens of distinct small decisions that leave their own unique mark along the way.

And even if we disregard all that, if the only thing that matters is that the game is playable, then there’s no principled reason to stop at ports. Today it’s AI ports. Tomorrow it’s going to be gameplay code. The day after that it’s the level design, balancing, and the whole creative loop. Oh, and might as well generate the art while at it! Like, where the fuck do we even draw the line here?

Because as it stands right now, the line doesn’t exist. Or if it does, the executives at the top of the food chain are too busy snorting it.

The practical reality

…yet, I cannot help but feel like all the replies I got still have a point. Other people will only care about the destination. How we got here is irrelevant to most, because the journey isn’t the product.

If I’m some dude with three hours of free time a week and I want to play a game, I don’t give a fuck about the “digital archaeology” or whatever the developers went through. I just want the executable to launch and give me a good and convenient way to experience my favorite game. And if AI makes it work, it works, so who cares? My yelling at them “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CODE???” is not going to change anything. It’ll just make me look more like a pretentious asshole than I already do.

Who the fuck cares? Dude made it playable. Who cares about how he did this? You’re retarded and AI hate is retarded as fuck.

For all intents and purposes, video games are a product to most people. That’s just how most people approach the medium. And if it means that they’ll get their content faster, they’ll keep actively cheering on the replacement of human developers.

And no, this doesn’t invalidate my point. This is my point. If the only thing that matters is that the game launches and kills a few hours, then of course AI ports look like progress. You don’t get that reaction from a culture that actually treats games as art.

The best thing for me (and other game developers who feel the same way) to do at this point is to stop chasing people who will never care, and focus on the ones who already do. Because yes, they exist too!

While that tweet garnered a lot of negative attention, it also got tons of likes, retweets, and even quite a few responses from those who actually get it. There absolutely are people who see the value in the process, and the art that goes into it. They may not be as loud as the h8rs, but isn’t that how it usually goes?

Claude, port Sonic R to Dreamcast for me

AI is the biggest and hottest topic in the software engineering space right now. And that’s because it works, at least to an extent. I mean, there’s the fully vibe-coded port of Smash 64 to PC, but we’ve also seen a heavily AI-assisted port of Sonic R to Dreamcast pop up recently. And I’m fairly certain this isn’t the end of it. We are going to see more of this in the future.

Now, let’s make something clear: I don’t think all AI usage is equal. If someone with little programming experience uses AI to poke around with a decompilation, ask questions, and learn how the code works, I don’t think that’s the worst thing in the world.

Of course there are other concerns with AI too, like the ethics of the training data, the energy usage, the way large corporations are salivating over this stuff as a way to cut labor costs…the list goes on. But putting those aside for a moment, I think using AI as a tool for learning is one of the better ways you can justify using these models. It can even be a gateway into game development!

Vibe coding an entire port, or offloading all the hard parts to AI, is not that. It’s completely moving learning, curiosity, and the art of programming out of the picture. And it’s not something I want to be a part of.

I promise, everything I make will always be made primarily by me, reflecting my own taste, views, and story as a developer. This won’t change, even if we move towards a future where AI is the primary way to write software. I want to be able to say “I made this”. Not “Claude”, not “Codex”.

DUDE

YOU’RE JUST A SAD FUCKING HATER

LITTLE WUSSIES LIKE YOU MAKE EVERYTHING LESS FUN AND KEEP US FROM MOVING FORWARD

CLAUDE CODE IS AN EXCELLENT TOOL AND A GREAT WAY TO MAKE SMART USE OF TIME

YOU CAN BE A STUCK LOSER FOREVER

OR YOU CAN MOVE FORWARD !

Nah. Regardless of what anyone says, I’m going to keep digging through decades-old C code by hand, and treating these games with the respect they deserve. If this makes me a “stuck loser forever”, then so be it. I’d much rather be a stuck loser having fun than a lame ass prompt monkey.

I’m very well aware that my approach is neither the fastest nor the most efficient. That’s not the point. Efficiency is never the point in art.