I’m a developer and currently use a main development tool along with 5–6 other AI-powered tools in my workflow. I’ve noticed that my monthly subscriptions have crept past $200 without me even realizing it.
For those of you working in game development (designers, programmers, artists, producers, etc.), which AI tools have become essential for you? What do you like most about them, and how much are you roughly spending per month?
Also, why do you think AI adoption in game development is still slower compared to other fields like software engineering or marketing? Is it a workflow fit problem, creative control concerns, lack of trust in the output quality, or something else entirely?
To be fair, I think all the models and tools are essentially functionally equivalent, like word processors or washing machines. People report the same kind of good results with command line tools like Claude Code.
As regards the game industry and tech, it's often not innovative. Yes, of course there are breakthrough graphic developments and such, but game implementation is all ugly spaghetti under the hood. It's an industry that's slow to adopt new tech and tooling and AI is in that bucket.
I also think the art side of the game business strongly objects to generative AI on principle and, on art quality, in practice. This anti-AI stance can bleed over into the dev team and prevent them from fully embracing the coding work that it's very good at.