A solo maker used Claude Code to build an AI image party game
A 2024 computer science graduate wanted to keep coding skills active because daily work did not involve much programming. The project began with running on a personal desktop, including on a 3080Ti . became more useful once it could access files, because model settings and code could be changed and tested faster.
The project grew into a party game where players get 2 minutes to create the funniest image for a round theme and compete head to head with friends. The first complete version was built around the time of 3.5, using SDXL Turbo as part of the game setup. A better image model later fit the game format, but it could no longer run on the personal machine.
That created new engineering problems, including slow server startup times and avoiding unnecessary spending. The path from to Claude Code helped turn a hobby game idea into something closer to a working product.
Key points
- The game gives players 2 minutes to make the funniest image for a shared theme.
- The early version used on a local desktop with a 3080Ti .
- file access made coding and model setup easier to iterate on.
- The first complete version was built around the 3.5 period.
- Moving to a stronger image model created server startup and cost problems.