Thoughts on Watching the GPT Astra Release

Over the past few years, people who didn't care much about making games or apps seem to have taken an interest, through AI, and started making things. I, too, have been developing for ten-some years, and even so creative work drifted away. Thanks to AI agents like Claude and Codex, the cost of creation dropped sharply. For the past few months I could immerse myself in development, with the will to do it, and without much wavering.

Astra

People doing development with AI, vibe coding, are still early adopters. A few days ago, with the GPT Astra release, that number seems to have jumped. The cases I've seen around me are already quite a few. Astra got talked about in the news, so the reach feels considerable. I tried Astra myself, came across use cases and reviews, and I was quite surprised, and afraid. Models up to now felt like just good tools. From Astra, I felt that something.

Once it's this much of a topic, of course more people make something with GPT. They meet vibe coding for the first time, get caught up in the fun of making this and that, and show it off right after making it. It comes out fast, so it's exciting. Watching from the side, I remembered the old days sunk in RPG Maker and mods.

The pain of creation

However far AI has come, it still doesn't reduce the pain of creation. What it reduced is only the pain of production. You say "make me a game like XXX" and something comes out. Is that creation?

At a minimum: analyze and build a plan with "what are the traits of XXX-genre games, of A/B/C, and what are the fun parts?", or direct it with "this isn't what I want." In game development with AI right now, that might be the minimum creative act. Go further and it's the visual side. About this far.

• "I want to use low-poly."
• "I'll change the controls like this."
• "This UI has too much information. This information can go."

Put another way, passing my intent to the AI might be what a creator looks like in the near future.

The track

As AI advances, people already running on the track feel rushed. People newly standing at the starting line make it feel like the effort and time you've spent get caught up to in an instant. I felt that this time. At some point in the past, though, I too would have been one of 'those people newly at the starting line.' And I'm still running.

Not everyone will reach the finish line. The pain of creation wears you out easily if you're not used to it. However far AI has come, it still hasn't reduced that pain. Because there's more you can do, you have to bear a wider pain.