Amazing! AI-made games can actually be monetized!

Introduction

Hello everyone, I'm 亿元程序员, a lead programmer with 8 years of game industry experience.

In previous articles, I shared the actual process of using AI to launch mini-games, generating PSDs, and directly generating Cocos prefabs.

Even without using a game engine, I used AI + a mini-game development tool to launch a mini-game.

"Making games is indeed getting more and more convenient."

However, after making a game through chat, there are still some things to handle:

• Modification: Spot a problem, take a screenshot, and tell your assistant where to change.
• Testing: You might think it's fun, but players may not feel the same.
• Publishing: After the game is ready, you still need to get others to play it.
• Monetization: Once people play, can the work generate revenue?

This time, I came across SoonPlay, an AI light-game generation and interaction platform launched by Ji Yi AI.

What it offers is:

"Upload a video to generate a game, tweak it while playing, and after publishing, participate in revenue sharing."

Wow, they even thought about what happens after the game is done?

Back to the point, this issue combines a music ball game video and talks about generating a game from video, modifying it, and publishing it for monetization.

I. Practical demonstration

1. Prepare a video

Previously, when we generated interfaces, we usually provided a reference image and let the assistant follow it.

This time, we use a different kind of material: directly giving a video.

The material used is the music ball game implemented with pseudo-3D in a previous article:

2. Upload and generate

SoonPlay supports generating games from videos. According to the platform, its capability relies on the Ji Yi SOON large model.

We choose to generate with a video reference:

Based on the game we want, select:

• Work type: includes Pixel 3D, 3D, Top-down 2D, and 2D. We choose 3D.
• Creation level: The creation level is divided into First Glance, AP1, and AP2, each with its own characteristics, and resource consumption is tied to the level. We directly choose the highest, AP2.

Click "Start dispatch" and the creation begins. At this point we can leave and check out games others have made.

During the creation, I browsed the platform and played a few games made by other people.

From playing, I found that SoonPlay combines watching videos, playing games, and making games into one, feeling a bit like TikTok for games.

Swipe up to browse the next game video. When you see something interesting, tap "Try it" and you can play it directly.

When I found something fun, I could try it myself. This experience is quite novel.

I also tried a few platform-selected games. There are quite a lot of games, and the genres are diverse. As I scrolled, I could always find gameplay that caught my interest.

What's even more comfortable is that the platform's games have no ads and no in-app purchases. They are completely free to play.

No need to stop mid-game to wait for ads, and no need to worry about whether to spend money on items. Just click in and play when you see something you like.

3. Check the result

Swiping is fast, and time passes without notice. The work is also completed successfully:

We directly run it to see the effect:

The game's overall framework is done, similar to the original video, but there are some issues. Let's adjust step by step.

4. Further refinement

Readers who follow my articles regularly know that making games with AI mainly involves continuous chat ↔ testing.

SoonPlay also supports chatting with SOON AI to continue modifying game content.

First, let's fill in the platform's generation rules and operation method:

The modification time is very fast compared to generation. We can directly look at the corrected result:

The effect basically reproduces the video, but when playing further, I found that the platform suddenly stopped generating, and there were some horizontal bars under the moon:

We move to the next round of modifications:

Soon after, the modification is complete, and the hits are very accurate:

II. Besides chatting, you can also directly select and edit

In previous articles, when we modified interfaces, we mostly took screenshots and told the assistant what was wrong.

Sometimes the assistant couldn't get your point, and rounds of back-and-forth couldn't solve the problem, which is annoying.

SoonPlay provides another way to modify: enable the platform's debug feature, and during gameplay, directly select the target content, then adjust and edit it.

Enter debug below the chat:

After entering debug mode, we can see that besides the game screen above, there is a row of buttons below:

For example, if we feel the game logo is too high or too centered, we can use debug mode to manually adjust it directly:

Even if we don't want to adjust manually, we can directly select a UI element and tell it what we need. This is especially useful when it's hard to describe which object we mean:

The effect is as follows:

III. Publishing

Previously, when making WeChat mini-games, besides development, I had to handle platform integration, ads, review, and publishing.

Switching to SoonPlay, it puts game creation, player experience, and content distribution on the same platform.

Developers can attempt to publish at the prototype stage, get feedback, and then decide how to change next.

No need to wait until all levels and systems are done before showing it to players.

This process is important, because developers who play their own games a hundred times may have a completely different experience than players playing for the first time.

After publishing, according to the platform design, players can choose "Like" or "Tip", or even send private messages to encourage the author. They can also save the game to their library for later play.

IV. Direct monetization

The game is done, can it generate revenue?

Creating and publishing games on SoonPlay allows you to participate in the commercialization of your work. Revenue is shown in "My" and supports withdrawal.

In other words, after the work is done, besides letting others experience it, there is also a channel to continue generating revenue.

For independent developers, this is very practical.

After all, making games continuously, besides doing it for love, also needs creative work to be rewarded.

V. Final result

After my constant debugging, the final result is as follows, and it's officially launched. You can try it via Read the original article if you're interested~

That's all for this issue's share on SoonPlay's video-to-game generation, editing and modification, and publishing for monetization. If there's anything wrong, please point it out.

Conclusion

Previously, we've tried using AI to make interfaces and levels, and even launching mini-games without a game engine.

This time, there's another way: starting from a video, connecting game creation with post-publication feedback and revenue.

If you also have a light game you want to make, you can try SoonPlay. Start with a small gameplay idea, then keep improving based on player feedback.

Start early, and you can accumulate works and players sooner, and have more time to find the creative direction that suits you.

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I'm "亿元程序员", a lead programmer with 8 years of game industry experience. In game development, I hope to help you, and I hope through you to help many others.

To be honest, I want a like and heart! Please share this article with others who you think might need it. Thanks!