A year ago I could not write code. I did not even know what a game engine was.
Today I run GameShipKit, a set of 63 small browser tools for game developers.
I built all of it by describing what I wanted to an AI and testing the result. Here is what that taught me.
Why small tools
Every time I made a game I hit the same small jobs.
Turn a drawing into a sprite. Try a hit-stop value. Make a fire effect.
Each job is too small for a big program, but it still eats an hour.
So I started making one tool for each job.
Four tools I use the most
1. Image to Pixel Art
A plain resize turns art into blurry mush. This tool keeps the strongest colour of each pixel instead.
- Drop a drawing, a 3D render or a photo.
- Pick the width, like 32 or 64 pixels.
- Lower the colour count and keep "Remove stray single pixels" on.
- Download the PNG.
2. Hit Feel Designer
Hit a test dummy and tune what makes a hit feel good.
- Start from a preset like Arcade or Heavy brawler.
- Press J, K and L for light, heavy and critical hits.
- Move the "Juice amount" slider until it feels right.
- Turn "Juice" off to compare. The difference is huge.
- Download the settings as JSON and the hit sounds as WAV.
3. Particle Effect Builder
Fire, smoke, explosions, sparks, coins and more, live in the browser.
- Pick a preset.
- Change the particle shape, count and colours with sliders.
- Export a looping sprite sheet that works in any engine.
4. 2D Character Rigging
Turn one character image into bone animations.
- Drop one character image.
- The tool places a skeleton. Drag the joints to fix them.
- Pick a motion like idle, walk, attack or hurt.
- Export a sprite sheet or a GIF.
Rule 1: everything runs in the browser
No sign-up and no upload. The files stay on your own computer.
This made the tools simple to build and simple to trust.
It also means there is no server cost, so the free tools can stay free.
Rule 2: test the export in the real engine
Many tools export straight to Godot 4 or Unity.
At first I only checked that the file looked right. That was a mistake.
When I finally opened every export in Godot 4.7 and Unity 6.3, I found real bugs:
- A generated Unity shader failed to compile. A loop variable had the same name as the shader input.
- Inventory icons were cut from the wrong place. The importer read the scaled texture size instead of the source size.
- A wave spawner spawned zero enemies. The prefab list was built too early and came up empty.
None of these showed up in the browser. All of them would have broken someone's project.
Now no export ships until it runs inside the engine.
Rule 3: AI writes the code, I check the behavior
The AI is fast, but it is confident even when it is wrong.
My job became writing clear requests and checking what actually happens.
I cannot read every line, so I test every feature by using it.
What is next
I am adding tools that people ask for.
If there is a small game dev job that keeps eating your time, tell me in the comments.
I might build it next.
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