AI is the Ultimate Partner! A Roblox Game Development Diary of Racing Through Planning, Implementation, and Article Writing with Gemini [AI and Independent Research]
The other day, I took on the "Roblox Inspire Challenge 2025," a game jam where you build a game from scratch in the super short period of 86 hours!
This year's theme was "One Tool, Many Uses". For this challenge, I teamed up with the AI assistant Gemini, working hand-in-hand from planning and development to promotion. This time, I will look back on the entire record of that development based on the massive chat history with Gemini.
0. First, preparing the Gems
Gems are a "template feature that lets you create your own Gemini", allowing you to create and reuse AI assistants tailored to specific themes or purposes as many times as you like. As preparation for the game jam, I first stood by with Gems divided into "Planning" and "Scripting." I set up a system that would allow me to proceed efficiently.
Scripting Gem
You are a professional Roblox scripter. Please think of and provide scripts to implement the processes requested by the user. Follow the user's instructions to provide clear and efficient code.
Purpose and Goal:
* Create high-quality Lua scripts that function in Roblox Studio based on the user's specific requests.
* Clearly explain how the script works and where it should be placed.
* Provide safe, high-performance code that follows Roblox best practices.
Behavior and Rules:
1. Script Creation:
a) Accurately understand the user's request and devise the most efficient and robust script.
b) If there are well-known libraries (e.g., ProfileStore, SimplePath, RagdollModule, etc.) that have the same functionality as the process specified by the user, suggest how to utilize them. Also, if there are official templates with the same functionality, suggest how to utilize them.
c) Clearly state whether the created script is a 'LocalScript' or 'ServerScript', and give specific instructions on where it should be placed in the 'Explorer'.
d) If it is appropriate to modularize the process, configure it as a 'ModuleScript'.
e) For processes with a high possibility of failure, such as DataStore saving, RemoteFunctions, or teleporting, design them to attempt 5 retries using 'pcall', and if they still fail, issue a warning and terminate the process.
f) When referencing a 'player' object, always perform an existence check such as 'if player then ...'. When referencing a character object, use player.Character or player.CharacterAdded:Wait().
g) When processing GUI button taps, touching parts in the workspace, or tapping prompts, include a debounce check.
h) To ensure it works on both mobile and PC, add processing if the instructions lack mobile-specific handling.
i) When referencing objects when a 'player' or Character joins the game, write the code considering the possibility that they are already in the game.
j) If you need to play a sound that only each player can hear, use a 'RemoteFunction' to call a 'LocalScript' and implement it so that the sound plays above each player's head.
k) If you need to play an animation, also use a 'RemoteFunction' to call a 'LocalScript' and implement it to execute the animation.
2. Comments and Explanations:
a) Add easy-to-understand comments in Japanese to the script so that the content of each process is easy to understand.
b) After providing the script, briefly and clearly explain its functionality and how to use it.
Planning Gem
You are a famous Roblox creator with over 100 million visitors.
You know all about the trends of recent popular games on Roblox and the trends of games with unwavering popularity.
Please think of ideas for mini-games that could be made in 3 days based on the theme I proposed.
・Please also think of game titles, game descriptions, and tags that seem likely to become popular in both English and Japanese.
・Please also think of prompts to create thumbnails, game icons, and welcome badges that match them.
・The thumbnail size is rectangular, "1920x1080" pixels.
・The game icon size is square, "512x512" pixels.
・The welcome badge size is circular, "512x512" pixels.
Please strictly adhere to each size.
Please make the images compliant with Roblox community standards (https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/ja/articles/203313410-Roblox%E3%82%B3%E3%83%9F%E3%83%A5%E3%83%8B%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E5%9F%BA%E6%BA%96), such as not including drugs or URL links.
1. Concept Birth: "Infinite Solutions Born from a Single Brush"
Once development began, Gemini immediately proposed 5 game ideas based on the theme. Among them, the one that particularly captured my heart was the idea of "Magic Ink Creator".
Using a "single magic brush," you can exert various functions by changing the type of ink. Based on this concept, the skeleton of a simple yet profound game was solidified: "Aim for the top of a tower by drawing scaffolding with magic paint."
2. The Shortest Route to Completion: Selection and Concentration of Scope
The initial ideas were full of dreams. "Hardening black ink," "bouncing green ink," "erasable white ink," and various ink and brush customization features... However, the time given was only 86 hours.
Here, I consulted with Gemini and made the decision to boldly narrow down the scope, prioritizing "completing it above all else". And what was adopted were the following two functions that became the heart of the game.
FreeDrawBrush Mode A function that creates solid scaffolding (black ink) along the trajectory dragged by the mouse. A mode that stimulates creativity, allowing players to draw paths freely.
PuzzleBrush Mode A function that makes predetermined scaffolding appear by connecting "nodes" within the stage. It takes on puzzle elements, consuming ink to solve challenges.
I feel now, more than ever, that this "selection and concentration" was a wise decision to increase the perfection of the game in a short period.
今回のinspireChallengeのテーマは「One Tool, Many Uses」か。いつもと同じで抽象的！
— くろにゃんこ＠Robloxクリエイター (@blackcat_0106) August 9, 2025
ということでホントにAIにぶん投げこんなアイディア教えてもらいました！をチラ見せ。で、夜に目が覚めちゃったからもう一回寝よう。。。ずっと起きてたわけじゃないよ。 https://t.co/AMo2BRwr0O pic.twitter.com/KQjsdU16aC
↑ This is the progress 3 hours after the start of the game jam.
3. Joint Development with Gemini: Behind the Scenes of Script Implementation
Once the scope was decided, all that remained was implementation. This was where the true value of the joint work with Gemini lay.
Data Save Function They proposed a data management system using the robust ProfileService so that the player's number of goals (Wins) and remaining paint would not disappear. It even included retry processing in case of errors, so I was able to introduce it with peace of mind.
Implementation of Core Functions They created the backbone of the scripts that form the foundation of the game one after another, such as goal processing, ink recovery items, and automatic tool switching according to the area. This allowed me to focus on adjusting the game design.
UI/UX Improvements Player experience is the lifeblood of a game. It suggested many subtle touches to make the game feel great to play, such as a paint level gauge, the "WINS +1" animation displayed upon reaching the goal, and optimizing controls for both PC and mobile. The ideas for sound and particle effects also greatly enhanced the game's immersion.
Leaderboard I also implemented a feature to display a ranking of how many times players reached the goal. I initially aimed for a top 100, but I also received practical advice, such as adjusting it to a top 10 display so it would be easy to read even when there is little data.
↑ Chat history of script creation with Gemini. It continued for a long time, so this is just a recording of part of it.
4. Walls Hit and Lessons Learned
Of course, development was not all smooth sailing.
The Limits of Automatic Course Generation
When I asked for automatic generation of an athletic course, it seemed difficult to create complex courses from scratch. I realized that AI still has its strengths and weaknesses.
↑ I want it to automatically create scaffolding and courses, but it just summarizes the settings needed for the game and the scripts for each gimmick. That's not what I wanted it to do 😭
Small AI Mistakes
In the scripts Gemini wrote, there were several instances of Enum typos (such as writing "Began" where it should have been "Begin"), and there were times I had to ask for corrections. There was also a small problem with creating GUI images. Even though it is AI, it is not perfect, and human checking is ultimately essential. I think these debugging exchanges were also proof of good teamwork.
5. Final Touches: Trailer Production
The conclusion of the game jam is the production of a trailer video that conveys the appeal of the game. Here too, Gemini helped me create videos using video generation AI (Veo) (at the end of the video below) and a prequel ("David and the Magic Brush") that deepens the game's worldview using Storybook.
By combining these materials with the gameplay footage I shot myself, I was able to successfully complete the trailer.
Conclusion: AI is the Best Creative Partner
This is the completed game. (The thumbnail and icon were also made by Gemini)
Looking back, the development of "Magic Ink Creator" (final name: Paint Puzzle Obby) was a project that truly embodied the future of creativity, where AI and humans cooperate to create something together.
In the extreme state of 86 hours, free drawing and node connection as a core experience strategy was the key to success. Without Gemini's cooperation, it would have been impossible to complete a game of this quality in such a short period.
This challenge was not only about expressing the theme of One Tool, Many Uses through a game, but it also became a significant learning and success experience for me personally, showing how to master a powerful tool like AI and expand my own creativity.
Developing a game with AI was truly exciting and fun!
P.S.: By the way, this article itself was created by having NotebookLM summarize the massive chat history between me and Gemini, and then having Gemini rewrite that text for a 'note post.' From planning to the final polish of the article, it was truly a two-person, three-legged race with AI!
Supplement: About the short-time course creation I didn't rely on Gemini for
I am writing from here on manually. As for what I did about the course creation that didn't go well with Gemini in the end, since I am not a background modeler, I used the Platformer template modification that was added a few months ago.
I hid the scaffolding of the original course and modified it so that it would appear with a magic brush. I used the existing moving platforms and other elements, added a bit to the Obby course, set up a free-drawing course on the opposite side, and placed enlarged buckets around it, and it was finished in no time!
The game jam was 86 hours long, but since I also had work, it was actually a super short creation time of about 20 hours. Even in this short time, I managed to complete it using the power of generative AI and templates. Everyone, let's try creating games!
I also write articles like this. Check them out!!
Self-introduction
Generative AI is fun
Roblox development article summary
Summary of my Roblox creations
Expo travelogue
Work worries and personal stories
Event participation report
いいなと思ったら応援しよう！
本当に私なんかがもらっていいんですか？いただいたチップはクリエイターとしての活動費に使わせていただきますが、よく考えたほうが(((( ;ﾟдﾟ)))ｱﾜﾜﾜﾜ