THE CRUNCH
Yuji Horii, the 72-year-old creator of Dragon Quest who is known for his work on Chrono Trigger, has released a new game he says was made in "just about 30 minutes" using generative AI. The game, Interrogation Room Komiya, has players pick from a series of text prompts to try to make a suspect confess to a crime. Horii announced it on X, contrasting the process with his earlier detective title The Portopia Serial Murder Case, which he wrote, illustrated and programmed entirely himself.
"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," Horii wrote, adding a warning to players: "don't press the boost button." The claim is his own account of the production time, not an independently verified figure.
The release lands roughly a year after Horii mused at the G-Star 2025 conference in South Korea about using AI chatbots in future games, suggesting an interrogation scenario where the AI could take the suspect's role and players could solve a case through conversation. Asked at the time whether he was considering incorporating AI into future games, he reportedly replied "yes". Interrogation Room Komiya looks like that idea made real, in miniature.
Generative AI remains a contentious subject in game development, with concerns ranging from plagiarism to the perceived poor quality of its output, even as many studios adopt it to cut costs and speed up production. A 30-minute game from one of the industry's most storied designers is unlikely to settle that argument, but it is a striking demonstration of what he means by "astonishing".