John Comes

How I use AI, and how I teach teams to.

I’m not interested in AI that replaces designers and artists. I want creatives to stay in the flow zone and not get bogged down by the tedious legacy tasks. Everything here is something I built and use myself.

There is always a human in the loop.

Every system I build keeps a designer or artist in charge. The AI drafts, builds, and checks its own work in passes. A person approves the plan, gives the notes, and decides when it’s done.

That’s what makes it safe to adopt: the craft stays with your people, and the AI handles the tedious work.

Featured project · an unannounced dungeon crawler

The Design Loop

How I build game levels with an AI. It plans, builds, and checks its own work in passes. I approve the plan, give notes each round, and decide when it’s done. It started as one crypt room in eight rounds. Now it’s one engine for any game part, from rooms to doors on a timer.

passes approved brief go commit build evidence checks fresh eyes me write back same inputs
  • A roundI see the result
  • PassesThe AI alone, 3 to 6 times (up to 21)
  • MeApproval, notes, and the go
The crypt after round 7: candlelit burial niches, stone piers and a red runner leading to the tomb The crypt on the first try: a plain vaulted room
rounds
42
core rules
30
checklist items
79
system changes
57

How a round works

AI works on its own Me I decide

Before anything is built

  1. AI Place it

    Every part gets a profile (how it’s judged) and a style (how it looks).

  2. AI Library first

    Past rulings are loaded before any new ideas.

  3. Me Plan with me

    The AI asks questions in short rounds, six at most.

  4. AI Three sketches

    Three truly different answers, not three versions of one.

  5. Me Approve

    Nothing gets built until I say “approve, build it.”

Every round

  1. AI Build

    The AI builds from the approved brief.

  2. AI Evidence

    Screenshots and measurements of what was built.

  3. AI Checks

    Automated tests for doors, physics, budgets, and more.

  4. AI Fresh eyes

    A separate reviewer that didn’t build it judges the work.

  5. Me My notes

    I look at the round and give notes, or say go.

  6. AI Write back

    Every lesson is written into the rules, so the next round starts smarter.

Between my notes, the AI runs three to six passes on its own, sometimes up to twenty-one. Every round rebuilds from the same inputs and the same random seeds, so changes are easy to compare. And “go with your recs” answers a question. It never approves a design.

Eight rounds of one crypt

  1. The crypt entrance, round 0: first try

    Round 0 First try

    My note: “Needs improvement”

  2. The crypt entrance, round 1: trim and candlelight

    Round 1 Trim and candlelight

  3. The crypt entrance, round 2: real alcoves

    Round 2 Real alcoves

  4. The crypt entrance, round 3: grid and physics

    Round 3 Grid and physics

  5. The crypt entrance, round 4: sunken hall

    Round 4 Sunken hall

  6. The crypt entrance, round 5: nothing floats

    Round 5 Nothing floats

  7. The crypt entrance, round 6: doubled

    Round 6 Doubled

    My note: “HUGE improvement!”

  8. The crypt entrance, round 7: its own doors

    Round 7 Its own doors

That crypt is now a 40 by 40 hall of piers, eleven rounds in.

The checks every round has to pass

  • Doors clear

    Every doorway can actually be walked through.

  • Nothing floats

    Every stone has a load path and stays balanced.

  • 100 seeds

    The random layout is tested a hundred ways.

  • On budget

    It stays within its performance budget, load cost included.

  • Nudge test

    Real physics settles every loose object.

  • No shared faces

    A probe catches flickering, overlapping surfaces.

  • Stairs walkable

    A probe walks every stair lane.

  • Breaches are real

    A broken wall is made from that wall’s own stone.

  • It happened

    The scene reads as something that physically took place.

  • Can fail

    Every check is shown failing on purpose before it’s trusted.

One engine, three layers

Engine

How a round runs, for anything. The rules every part inherits: process, craft, and the physical world.

Profiles

How a kind of thing is judged: its evidence, inputs, checks, and checklist. Levels have 79 checklist items. Game systems now have their own profile.

Styles

How a set looks: kits, palette, light, budgets, and taste rulings. The gothic crypt style covers eight rooms so far.

Any game part is one profile plus one style. A village would use the level profile with its own style, and borrow no candles from the crypt.

In the loop now

  1. The Ossuary Hall

    Crypt

    Things rest where real physics would leave them.

    Round 11

  2. The Question Room

    Torture room

    Chains drawn at distance, cell doors arranged.

    Round 9

  3. The Deep Stair

    Stairs

    Far stones drop detail; loose things settle by physics.

    Round 7

  4. The Crossways

    Five junction halls

    Breach edges hang their stones.

    Round 5

  5. The Watch Hall

    Guardroom

    Every loose piece dropped by real physics.

    Round 4

  6. The Pit of Kings

    Boss room

    The causeway’s collapse rebuilt from its own stones.

    Round 4

  7. Throne of the Dead Lord

    Boss room

    Approved. Round one next.

    Approved

  8. The Desecrated Chapel

    Boss room

    Approved. Round one next.

    Approved

  9. Timed interaction

    Game system

    Tap to start; tap or move to stop.

    Round 1

  10. Timed doors

    Game system

    Doors built on the timed interaction.

    Round 1

The rules I teach

These came out of working with AI, round after round. They’re how I’d start with any team.

  1. A human stays in the loop.

    The AI does the passes. A designer or artist decides what’s good, and nothing ships on the AI’s say-so.

  2. The designer mentors the AI.

    I teach it the rules of the world: how stone sits, what this place would hold, what the player should feel. Each ruling is written down word for word, so it never has to be taught twice.

  3. Approve before building.

    The AI plans and sketches options. Nothing gets built until a person says yes.

  4. Physics before story.

    If it couldn’t stand up in the real world, it doesn’t get a backstory.

  5. Every check can fail.

    If a test can’t catch a bad result, it isn’t a test. Each one is shown failing on purpose first.

  6. Copy the real thing.

    Real crypts, real physics, real reference. Taste comes from the world, not from the model.

  7. Fresh eyes first.

    A separate reviewer that didn’t build the work judges it before I ever see it.

  8. Write the lesson back.

    When a round teaches something, the better way replaces the old text everywhere, the same day.

More things I’ve built