Dragon Quest co-creator Yuji Horii releases new AI-generated game, and he says it took 30 minutes to make

Dragon Quest co-creator Yuji Horii has just released a new game that he says was made (or, rather, prompted) in about half an hour thanks to gen-AI.

In an online post from this weekend, the famed game developer recalled how he created 1983's The Portopia Serial Murder Case mostly on his lonesome. "I came up with the story myself, drew the pictures myself, did the programming myself, and created the game all by myself," Horii wrote on X.

"And now, by using AI, even if I can't draw pictures or program, I can just give instructions to the AI and create a decent game all by myself. It's truly astonishing. By the way, the production time for the game below was just about 30 minutes. Oh, and don't press the boost button," he adds, while linking to a text-based interrogation game.

その昔、PCで『ポートピア連続殺人事件』を作った時は、自分で物語を考え、絵も描いて、プログラムもして、ひとりでゲームを作りました。そして今、ＡＩを使えば、絵を描けなくても、プログラムしなくても、ＡＩに指図するだけで、ひとりで、そこそこのゲームを作れてしまいます。ホントびっくりです。ちなみに下のゲームの制作時間は、ほんの30分ほどでしたよ。あ、ブーストするボタンは押さないように。 https://t.co/slczyG52ZQ

— 堀井雄二 (@YujiHorii) October 11, 2026

Horii's love affair with the tech started a while ago. Earlier this year, MMO Dragon Quest 10 teamed up with Google's Gemini AI to power an NPC chatbot called "Chatty Slimey", an in-game character that can talk to players in case they're, you know, starving for human interaction in a massively multiplayer online RPG. The 72-year-old dev defended the decision in an interview with Famitsu, translated by GamesRadar, months later: "Because nowadays AI is really smart, it's fun. It doesn't matter what I ask it, it hardly ever makes things up [anymore]... It's evolving, and lately there are a lot of things you can do with it. Slimey is a conversational partner, so I think it lowers the barrier of entry to interacting with AI."

As noted by VGC, Horii is also toying with the idea of an AI-powered chatbot for one of his future games, as well. He's currently involved with Dragon Quest 12: Beyond Dreams and a surprise sequel to The Portopia Serial Murder Case decades in the making.

Generative-AI and its uses in game development have been hugely controversial in recent years - with players, developers and video game actors worried about job security. Just this month, Google and Unity revealed a quite depressing AI-game-making tool, too.