Indie Studio Bets on AI as Gameplay, Not Shortcut
City From Naught built Brave New Wonders around a specific problem: factory automation games are fun but their control systems are brutally complex. The Canadian studio's solution uses AI to let players command automatons through text prompts instead of wrestling with traditional programming interfaces.
The game launched in early access this year. Players type instructions to explore ruins, battle enemies, build factories, and automate production lines. The AI system interprets what they want and translates it into automaton actions.
Where the red lines are
Shala Chen, co-founder and CEO, was explicit about what the studio would and wouldn't do with AI. The company uses large language models only for gameplay mechanics-understanding player intent and generating automaton instructions. It does not use AI to create visual assets.
"We strongly believe in the role human artists have had, and will continue to have, in this industry," Chen said. "We don't support the use of generative AI that exploits artists by denying them fair compensation or diminishing the value of their work."
All visual content comes from the studio's artists. The game's art direction remains fully human-controlled. AI exists only in the gameplay layer.
What players actually do with it
The system proved more flexible than expected. Because large language models naturally handle multiple languages, the command system works across locales without extra engineering. Players discovered they could create commands the team hadn't anticipated-reacting to signals, communicating between buildings, automating sequences that would be tedious to set up in traditional factory games.
After the demo launched, players responded with enthusiasm. City From Naught adjusted the opening to introduce the AI command system earlier and made it mandatory, recognizing it was the feature that set the game apart.
The misconception problem
Chen noted a persistent assumption: because the game looks polished, people assume the art was AI-generated. "Five years ago, people would have just said it's beautiful art," she said.
She acknowledged that some larger studios have reduced hiring by using AI as a cost-cutting tool. But the technology itself isn't the problem. "AI is still just a tool," Chen said. "It's only as good as the person using it."
What AI can't replicate is emotional expression. Human artists bring nuance and feeling that AI-which essentially averages patterns from training data-cannot match. That's why City From Naught invests in human creators rather than treating art as a cost to minimize.
The bigger picture
Chen expects studio roles to remain largely unchanged over the next five years. AI will handle repetitive, time-consuming work, freeing people to focus on actual creativity. The technology struggles with truly innovative gameplay because that requires ideas it hasn't encountered before.
"Creativity won't be replaced," Chen said. "If anything, people will offload the boring parts to AI and spend more time on what actually matters creatively."
For creatives evaluating AI tools, the distinction matters. Understanding how large language models work and how they fit into design workflows helps separate hype from practical application. Brave New Wonders demonstrates one path: using AI to solve a specific design problem while protecting human craft in areas where it matters most.
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