Finding Good Work in Speculative Game Development

Abstract

Game development is shifting from creation of finished, static media towards performative and emergent systems driven by game engines, modular asset libraries, procedural generation, and generative AI. Far from a transformation, generative AI builds on gaming’s long use of procedural tools, driving what humanities scholars call a “speculative” shift from fixed artefacts to open-ended generativity. Yet, breaking work into modular chunks often fragments the creative process, devalues specialized skills, and worsens workplace inequities. Bridging labour and design studies of creativity on the shift from creation to curation or “meta-creation,” I show how speculative game development may erode core tenets of “good work” – including craft autonomy, holistic control, and career progression – and what can be done to reshape generative systems for more meaningful and sustainable work in games.