Case Study:
AI Assisted Game Design Doc (GDD) to Previz
Rapidly Transforming GDD Concepts into Dynamic Video Animatics with AI
Above: "AI Assisted Process & Pipeline Integration" *Sound on*
The Challenge: Accelerating Early Vision
In the early, pre-funding stages of the LBE mobile game "Wayfarer," we needed a way to quickly visualize core narrative features and gameplay concepts directly from the Game Design Document (GDD). Traditional pre-visualization methods were too resource-intensive. The primary challenge was to iterate rapidly, validate ideas visually, and generate compelling material for stakeholder discussions and potential investor pitches with an extremely lean team.
My Solution: An End-to-End AI-Integrated Workflow
As Co-Founder and Head of Production/Creative Lead, I architected and executed a novel pipeline leveraging a suite of AI tools:
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Strategic Feature Focus (AI Analysis): Utilized LLMs (Claude, ChatGPT) to analyze the GDD and marketing materials, identifying high-impact game features and narrative themes for initial visualization. This ensured our pre-vis efforts were strategically aligned.
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AI-Driven Scripting: Prompted LLMs to generate targeted narrative scripts based on these prioritized features, immediately breaking them down with sequence/shot numbers for organized pipeline tracking.
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Rapid Prototyping (Text Animatics & AI Voice): Generated scratch voiceovers (Eleven Labs) and assembled them with timed text cards (from the script) in Davinci Resolve, creating a foundational "text animatic" to lock down pacing and narrative flow before visual generation.
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AI Visual Development (Keyframes & Motion): Guided text-to-image AI (Dzine AI, Gemini/Imagen 3) to produce key visual frames for specific shots, then brought these stills to life with motion using RunwayML's image-to-video capabilities.
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Efficient Assembly: Replaced text card proxies in Davinci Resolve with the AI-generated video clips, streamlining the creation of the final pre-visualization sequence.
Impact & Value Delivered:
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Dramatically Reduced Pre-vis Time: Enabled the creation of multiple narrative video concepts in days, not weeks or months.
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Cost-Effective Iteration: Allowed for broad exploration of visual and narrative ideas with minimal financial outlay.
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Enhanced Stakeholder Communication: Provided tangible video assets that clearly communicated core game features and story beats for internal alignment and external pitches.
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Demonstrated Innovative Capability: Showcased a practical, forward-thinking approach to leveraging emerging AI technologies to solve real production challenges.
This AI-assisted pipeline proved invaluable for rapid prototyping and strategic content creation in a resource-constrained startup environment.