Originally published as an Advisory Hour Substack post on 2026-08-22. This first-party site copy preserves the text, localizes public supporting media, and connects the record to its project trail.
Original post
Explore mashups when it comes to what’s possible with AI to bring forward entirely new types of games. We are at the very beginning of an artistic renaissance when it comes to games reminiscent of the flash era. For example, what if Luke Skywalker were in Mario? How might that work? I think it’d work something like this clip-with obvious rooms for improvement.
“Where can I play this?” might be lurking in someone’s mind. It’s coming. I don’t yet have this build posted up on Gamelab because it’s still rough in some key areas. There’s still little things that need resolved-things that I’m experimenting with. For example, I am not real crazy about the graffiti painted AT-AT walker that walks in the background. If you run fast enough in the stage though, you’ll see it blasting piles of Goombas, which get sent flying in the air. It was a late night idea that I still like, but the execution needs room to breathe. There are multiple stages implemented, inspired and distant from the original.
There are also a significant number of other stages. These are stages that I’ve not yet done full playthrus myself yet. This is a learning I’m going thru myself. What happens when AI builds something so large, and yet you yourself don’t have time to play thru all the stages? I am leaning on video recordings showing the gameplay of each stage. It’s a puzzle-navigating abundance.
There are interesting boss mechanics. There’s a good deal of polishing that could be done still, but that I was able to one-man a game this large is still awe-inspiring for me. It’s daunting. I’ve worked pixel editors and hand-drawn sprites. In fact, for years I kept a pixel tool on my phone when traveling to doodle sprites. Now an AI system just cycles them out in as-if a sneeze.
If you notice, there are coins that are collected like Sonic. I pulled game play mechanics across several titles. Instead of hearts, there are coins. This rewards a skilled player. I started with hearts and didn’t like how it functioned. Coins work really well with Mario like functionality. I changed the brick breaking from a simple jump to a sword swipe. Sword-slash the enemies in halves, too.
This weekend I’d encourage you to take two unrelated game genres and have AI mix them together in a paint bucket sitting in the corner in the garage. You never know what might spill out of that bucket as a result. There might be real gems lurking out there that no one has ever thought to combine.
To get you dreaming, I’ve created a few that I just don’t have tokens for today. Ideas that might be fun to explore-or at least look fun to open the door on and see what lays just beyond.
Connected work
- Mario Walker: See the finished public overview, screenshots, play flow, and Character Lab.
- Play Mario Walker: Put the cartridge on Channel 3 and choose from all sixty-two stages.
- Mario Walker Character Lab: Inspect the production animation controls for the hero, enemies, bosses, and Retro roster.