How I develop these projects

(This text was entirely written by me)

So, I use Codex and Claude a lot during development. They help me with all my research, debugging, tests and documentation. They do write and modify a big chunk of the code.

So here I want to explain how I use it, what I do myself, etc. For those who are interested.

Research and planning

Before I start a project, I research its code, every existing work, and technical stuff. I use Codex and Claude Code to help investigate all this.

Then I try to see if project meets the limits of the hardware, which is usually the Nintendo 3DS. All this helps me decide whether the project is doable and what problems I will face.

Then I create a roadmap, I decide the goals, the approach and order of the work, etc.

Why I use Codex and Claude Code

I am a young developer, and I work on these projects on my own. I have studied computer science for four years +. So I still have a lot to learn, and I want to keep improving my skills.

Doing every task by hand feels like a step backward to me. I prefer to delegate repeated work that AI can do as well or much better than me. I still need to understand the changes, make decisions, and test the results.

To me, refusing these tools just because people don't like them or just because there is a lot of people that do slop out there, it would feel like writing programs by hand on paper like back in the day, while everyone else uses computers. I would not do that just to prove everyone that I am a "real programmer."

Some tasks involve the same change across 20 or 30 files. I know how to do many of these tasks by myself, but this can take hours. Codex and Claude Code can help me do it in minutes...

They also help me check super large logs and memory dumps. These files have information about bugs and crashes. Finding out the issue could take a lot of time, but they can find it super fast for me.

And this saves time that I can spend improving the project or working on new projects. Without this, I would just not have enough time, so I would not even start any of these.

These projects are a way for me to learn and to allow me to bring back games I want to play in a new way.

The work I do myself

Of course, I make the final decisions about the project lol. I check the bugs and problems, tests stuff, etc. I also modify the code by hand to improve the structure and to fix small things (usually visual things).

I make most of the graphics by hand. I do the pixel art with tools like as Photoshop (or the ArtCraft Suite lol).

I usually don't use AI-generated images, especially for pixel art, it looks awfull. I rather do it myself.

I am pretty perfectionist, especially with visual details. I care about the UI, things like spacing, colors, and how everything fits. I want the result to feel consistent and look good, almost like an official product.

Code organization and documentation

I have a set of rules to organize the code, documents, and my Gits. I use these rules to guide Codex and Claude Code.

I have them in Code Atlas. Check it out, it has material from a bunch of free coding books and my own investigation of tools and more stuff I use to document, and improve my projects.

What I think about AI and quality

Of course I don't consider my ports "AI slop."

I think everyone knows how slop looks like, broken projects, generic UIs, bad performance, no support at all, etc. There is a lot of this rn online, so I understand why people are concerned about the future, now anyone "codes".

But I try to put as much time as I can into research and documentation. The work doesn't end after Codex or Claude Code give me an answer.

My goal is always to publish something that works well and looks good. I also want to keep fixing and improving it after release.

These projects matter to me. I use them to learn, and I care about the result.

Disclamer

You are more than welcome to disagree with me and my use of AI. You can also call this method "vibe coding", "slop", or whatever you want.

But please avoid hate speech, personal attacks, or fights with other people over this. You don't have to agree but treat other people with respect. If you don't like these, just ignore them :)