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    <title>Forem: Jonas Olofsson</title>
    <description>The latest articles on Forem by Jonas Olofsson (@jonas_olofsson_cdf7608bde).</description>
    <link>https://forem.com/jonas_olofsson_cdf7608bde</link>
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      <title>Forem: Jonas Olofsson</title>
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      <title>I Quit My Job to Build the Game Dev Platform I Wish Existed</title>
      <dc:creator>Jonas Olofsson</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 30 Dec 2025 11:10:34 +0000</pubDate>
      <link>https://forem.com/jonas_olofsson_cdf7608bde/i-quit-my-job-to-build-the-game-dev-platform-i-wish-existed-6jg</link>
      <guid>https://forem.com/jonas_olofsson_cdf7608bde/i-quit-my-job-to-build-the-game-dev-platform-i-wish-existed-6jg</guid>
      <description>&lt;h1&gt;
  
  
  I Resigned to Build the Game Dev Platform I Couldn’t Find
&lt;/h1&gt;

&lt;p&gt;About a year ago, I was genuinely excited when I found the first “vibe coding” platforms for games.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The idea felt obvious in the best way.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Describe a game. Let AI handle the rest. Focus on creativity instead of boilerplate.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;For a while, it felt like the future had arrived.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;By this summer, that excitement had turned into frustration.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;How could it &lt;em&gt;still&lt;/em&gt; be this bad?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;At work, I had already built better coding agents than what these platforms were shipping.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
In a hackathon, I built a better animation solution — one that actually worked — and won with it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Yet the tools claiming to be the future of game creation were still producing:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Unplayable prototypes
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Weak art direction
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Broken mechanics
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Systems that collapsed the moment you tried to iterate
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;They tried to do code &lt;em&gt;and&lt;/em&gt; art — but nothing was close to good enough.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;And that’s what bothered me most.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It was obvious the &lt;strong&gt;underlying AI models were finally good enough&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
The limitation wasn’t technology anymore.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It was focus.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I resigned on the spot to build the solution I wished existed.&lt;/p&gt;




&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  Why Every “Vibe Coding” Game Platform Failed for Me
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Most platforms I tried failed in the same way.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Not because they lacked ambition — but because they optimized for the wrong things.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;They were built by:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;People thinking too much about web design&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Teams “playing company” too early&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Products optimized for dashboards and landing pages&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Demos that looked impressive but weren’t fun to play&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;They weren’t 100% focused on the agents, systems, and tools that actually create value for game developers.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Games aren’t assets.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Games aren’t snippets.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Games are &lt;strong&gt;playable loops&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If movement, enemies, feedback, and progression don’t work together, you don’t have a game. You have a folder.&lt;/p&gt;




&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  What I Wanted Instead
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I didn’t want another “AI-powered” platform.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I wanted something brutally focused.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Go all in on the &lt;strong&gt;coding agent&lt;/strong&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Go all in on &lt;strong&gt;art tools that are actually game-ready&lt;/strong&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Build a platform where you can create &lt;strong&gt;fun, great-looking games&lt;/strong&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Code and art are just the starting point.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Once quality is there, the real problems become interesting:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Music and sound&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Procedural generation&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Proper tools for creating content &lt;em&gt;inside&lt;/em&gt; the game&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Systems that make iteration fast and enjoyable&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Everything else?&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Do the bare minimum.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;That philosophy became &lt;strong&gt;DreamForge.ai&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;




&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  What Is DreamForge.ai?
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://dreamforge.ai" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;DreamForge.ai&lt;/a&gt; is an AI-powered game creation platform designed to turn ideas into playable 2D games as fast as possible.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You describe a game in natural language, and DreamForge generates:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Game logic and mechanics&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Characters, enemies, and environments&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Animations and VFX&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A complete gameplay loop&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A playable build you can test instantly in the browser&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The goal isn’t to replace developers.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The goal is to remove everything that prevents people from getting to the fun part: &lt;strong&gt;playing, tweaking, and iterating&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;




&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  Two Small Experiments That Validated the Direction
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Once DreamForge started feeling solid, I ran two small experiments.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Not benchmarks.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Not marketing stunts.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Just sanity checks.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3&gt;
  
  
  Experiment 1: Vampire Survivors–Style Game in 5 Prompts
&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I wanted to see how fast I could reach a familiar, working loop.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In five prompts, DreamForge generated:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A top-down arena&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Auto-attacking survival mechanics&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Continuous enemy waves&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Scaling difficulty&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Playable here:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;a href="https://dreamforge.ai/play/0a25d9-create-a-complete-vampire-survivors-style-arena-" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;https://dreamforge.ai/play/0a25d9-create-a-complete-vampire-survivors-style-arena-&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;What mattered wasn’t novelty — it was feel.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
The pacing, density, and loop made sense immediately.&lt;/p&gt;




&lt;h3&gt;
  
  
  Experiment 2: A 2D RPG Boss Fight in 5 Prompts
&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Boss fights expose everything:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Animation clarity&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Telegraphing&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Timing&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Feedback&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Again, five prompts.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The result:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A focused boss arena&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Readable attack patterns&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A fight that’s challenging but fair&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Playable here:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;a href="https://dreamforge.ai/play/0a25d9-lets-build-a-super-cool-boss-fighting-game-inspi" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;https://dreamforge.ai/play/0a25d9-lets-build-a-super-cool-boss-fighting-game-inspi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This was the moment I knew DreamForge was on the right path — not because it was perfect, but because it was &lt;strong&gt;playable enough to iterate on&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;




&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  Why I’m Betting Everything on This
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;DreamForge.ai exists because I couldn’t find a platform that respected how games are actually made.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Not as code exercises.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Not as asset generators.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
But as interactive systems that only make sense once you can play them.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If AI is going to matter in game development, it has to meet creators where the real friction is:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Starting&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Iterating&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Testing ideas fast&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;That’s what I’m building.&lt;/p&gt;




&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  If You’re Curious, Try It
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The best way to understand DreamForge isn’t reading about it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It’s playing.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Platform: &lt;a href="https://dreamforge.ai" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;https://dreamforge.ai&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Vampire Survivors experiment:
&lt;a href="https://dreamforge.ai/play/0a25d9-create-a-complete-vampire-survivors-style-arena-" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;https://dreamforge.ai/play/0a25d9-create-a-complete-vampire-survivors-style-arena-&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Boss fight experiment:
&lt;a href="https://dreamforge.ai/play/0a25d9-lets-build-a-super-cool-boss-fighting-game-inspi" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;https://dreamforge.ai/play/0a25d9-lets-build-a-super-cool-boss-fighting-game-inspi&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you’ve ever felt like game creation tools were &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; right — but never quite there — you’ll probably understand why I resigned to build this.&lt;/p&gt;

</description>
      <category>gamedev</category>
      <category>vibecoding</category>
      <category>founder</category>
      <category>bootstrap</category>
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