Press Start: What a Platformer Can Teach Us About Design and AI

This talk is a game. But it isn't about games.

I'm a designer and developer, and I built a 16-bit platformer from scratch with AI – without writing a single line of code myself. I play it live on stage, starting on the Stavanger waterfront. Every time I headbutt a question block and grab the egg that pops out, the next part of the talk opens.

The game is just the example. The same approach works for any project a designer is part of, whether it's a service, an app or an internal tool. Along the way, I'll show how AI can support the whole process:

• Research: Is this even possible, and what's a realistic scope? • Ideation: from a vague idea and a quick sketch to a clear concept • Context and references: giving AI something concrete to work with • From design to something that works: building what you design • Critique, iteration and testing: why the first result is rarely the right one, and what still needs a human eye

The point: AI lets designers take an idea much further on their own than before. But direction, understanding and judgment still decide whether the result is any good.

Unlimited lives. One shot on stage.