---
description: 15 October 2026 · Thoughts
url: https://www.schmalzl.tirol/en/blog/2026-10-15-spiele-und-3d-bauen-mit-ki
lang: en
date: 2026-10-15
deutsch: /blog/2026-10-15-spiele-und-3d-bauen-mit-ki.md
---

# Building games and 3D worlds with AI

_15 October 2026_

For a long time, building a video game was work for a whole team: models, animations, game world, programming. This week several finds landed in my collection inbox that show how much this is changing right now.

## A fishing game by one person

On Instagram, @darkvex.ai shows a cosy fishing game built by a single person. The work is split into steps:

- **Tripo AI** generates the 3D models.
- **Claude** and **Blender** arrange the models and create animations.
- **Unity 6** builds the game world and the game mechanics from them.

Boat, river, fishing: all from one pair of hands. How well the game plays is hard to judge from a short video. The scene may look good. The result still has to be checked.

## Bringing characters to life

A model alone does not move. For that it needs a skeleton and animations. [Mesh2Motion](https://github.com/Mesh2Motion/mesh2motion-app) does this in the browser: load a model, fit the skeleton, try out animations such as walking or running, export. The code is open (MIT licence), the included animations are free to use (CC0).

## When the AI understands the room

For games and VR, an AI has to recognise not just images, but rooms. The research project [OneCanvas](https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.19253) by Bartłomiej Baranowski, Dave Zhenyu Chen and Matthias Nießner combines video frames of a room, with depth and camera position, into a single all-round image. A normal image model can read this panorama and answer questions about the whole room, for example where something is. This is research, not a finished tool. But it shows the direction.

## Scanning the real world

The opposite way: capturing objects from the real world as a 3D model. There are now handheld scanners for home use, for example the [Creality Pika](https://store.creality.com/de/products/creality-pika-3d-scanner). Whether the quality is good enough for games, you would have to try for yourself.

## My view on it

I am currently bringing old games into virtual reality. What is often missing there is exactly what these tools provide: 3D models, animations, rooms you can step into. Some of this I already create with the help of AI.

That does not change an old rule: good games are not made by tools, but by decisions. What should feel good? What can go? No AI answers these questions.

Sources: [Instagram @darkvex.ai](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Deb-_H5yrdo/) · [Mesh2Motion on GitHub](https://github.com/Mesh2Motion/mesh2motion-app) · [OneCanvas on arXiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.19253) · [Instagram @simplifyinai](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeFDwTrxrZf/) · [Creality Pika](https://store.creality.com/de/products/creality-pika-3d-scanner)