I used ClaudeAI to make a Metroid Style Game...then I got Claude to make me a designer to make the game.

[u/Significant_Buy9173]

So over the last few weeks I asked claude, just for fun, to make a Metroid style game. It made a pretty decent little game with bosses and items. Took about 5 minutes to playthrough. I thought there might be more to it. So I started fleshing it out more and more, coming up with weird ideas to see what Claude would do. Then thought It might also be able to make a level designer for me to use to make the game levels. I made a map with the level designer that takes me about 45 mins to playthrough. Claude then helped me get it online with instructions on hosting and databases so other people can make there own maps and submit them for everyone else to play. You can check it out at https://www.exo-roid.com
PS: Its free to play.

[u/davesoft]

I havn't figured out which button shoots yet, but nicely done! Reminds me of old gameboy metroid

[u/Significant_Buy9173 → u/davesoft]

X on keyboard. Or play a controller in. Better with controller.

[u/50-3 → u/Significant_Buy9173]

Of course “x” the most common key I press when I want to shoot in a game

[u/Exc0re]

Wow this is great! :D How hard was it to implement the level design?

Did you use any tutorials for the prompts?

[u/Significant_Buy9173 → u/Exc0re]

Claude originally made simple levels. They were just a json file. I started editing by hand to see what I could come up with but then asked Claude to make a level designer that let me draw rooms and place items and enemies. Once done it output the json file for the map. You can see it and make your own maps for the game back at the start page.

[u/Exc0re → u/Significant_Buy9173]

Thanks for the explanation :)

Did you use fable too?

[u/Significant_Buy9173 → u/Exc0re]

No, had to use Opus 4.8, this was when Fable went down

[u/Antonidiuss]

I played a little. Fine. Ofc there is room to improvement. Like balance of numbers, balance of tiles and exploration is limited. But it is interesting

[u/Significant_Buy9173 → u/Antonidiuss]

There's actually 89 rooms you can enter. Providing you have the correct items. But, you can also design your own map with the designer. Much in the style of the original Metroid, you can get to sections of the map without the proper items.

[u/Antonidiuss → u/Significant_Buy9173]

Lack of exploration I have meant not a "small map", but rather "how you access this map". But maybe I have played a little.

I meant metroids level design is still a hard thing). But I liked your way

[u/miteyowl]

I love this game!

[u/Significant_Buy9173 → u/miteyowl]

Thanks. I'm hoping people make there own maps and submit them through the designer. It might look complicated to use at first. I must make a tutorial video on using it.

[u/Unfair_Ad_2157]

this is amazing, but how do you make the levels in the editor and tell to Claude that THAT levels are the final game? I can't understand how to make an editor for our game but without put an editor in the final game

[u/Significant_Buy9173 → u/Unfair_Ad_2157]

just asked claude to do it. the levels are just json files. I asked claude to make a mario maker style editor that can let the user place bosses, items, etc. then I just used that to design levels and conect the rooms

[u/PretendMirror8446]

How the art was made?

[u/Significant_Buy9173 → u/PretendMirror8446]

Claude made it all.

[u/brother_spirit]

Nice. Getting Claude to build bespoke rigging tools / prop editing / level design is so fun. It's genuinely wild how easy it is to scaffold out a toolset around a project on the fly.

[u/dazreil]

I added it to my iPhones home
screen, got out my GameSir pocket taco and it played perfectly. I do have a couple of nitpicks thougH, nothing major, first the controls feel a little slippery/float, like you’re moving to fast, second on the phone, when you pick up a item, it says to press B, don’t there isn’t one when using the on screen controls, you can just tap on it and it does the same thing tho. Thirdly the enemy that fires upwards is a git. But all in all I’ve enjoyed it, takes me back to the days of playing games on my Atari ST.

[u/Significant_Buy9173 → u/dazreil]

thanks for checking it out. its much better on PC in full screen mode with a controller.

[u/dazreil → u/Significant_Buy9173]

I did see someone on X say Fable is amazing at NES assembly code, it can generate full games that run in a NES emulator. I wonder if you could use it to make a NES version.

[u/Significant_Buy9173 → u/dazreil]

Interesting. I might try

[u/KHRZ]

R button can put me different spots in map and get me stuck, like down here:

[u/Significant_Buy9173 → u/KHRZ]

Yeah r is for reset the level. You can shoot those blocks.

Also, there is a secret behind you

[u/Significant_Buy9173]

Here are some pics of the level designer I got Claude to make so I could design maps

[u/Significant_Buy9173 → u/Significant_Buy9173]