Skybound Relic

Process & Methodology

The idea behind this project was to use an AI video-generation tool to prototype the concept of a video game. This approach offers an efficient, low-cost way to visualize how a future game might look and feel without committing substantial time, budget, or specialized resources. It is also an effective way to communicate early ideas to clients or potential investors—reducing the risk of investing heavily in concepts that may not resonate. For independent developers like myself, working with limited budgets and minimal access to traditional production pipelines, AI provides a practical method for exploring creative possibilities before moving toward full-scale development.

Throughout the course, we discussed extensively the art and engineering of prompt design for AI media creation. The quality of this project is shaped largely—if not entirely—by the precision of the prompts used to generate its images, videos, and audio. During this process, I encountered a significant limitation: AI systems frequently refuse, modify, or sanitize prompts containing certain categories of language. These tools do not follow a universal list of restricted terms, but instead use safety filters that flag prompts involving sensitive topics. Even neutral descriptors, depending on the context, can trigger a block or an unwanted reinterpretation.

This presents a challenge for artists, students, and studios who rely heavily on AI-generated media. When a system rejects a prompt, individuals without traditional art, design, or software skills may struggle to manually create the required visual or narrative elements. In practice, relying solely on AI is rarely sufficient; creators must often combine AI outputs with external tools, reference-building techniques, or manual workflows to complete their vision. Prompt engineering therefore becomes not only a creative act but also a negotiation with the system's limitations—requiring adaptability and a hybrid skill set.

This project was created almost entirely through AI—from brainstorming the game concept, to generating prompts for reference images and video sequences, background music and sound effects. I began by explaining my general idea to ChatGPT and asking it to propose possible game concepts. From there, I worked with the AI to develop detailed prompts for Midjourney to generate the reference images for each scene, along with corresponding prompts for generating the video versions of those scenes. I also provided a brief description of the final edited clip and asked ChatGPT to generate a music prompt for SUNO to produce the audio for my project. The only part completed manually was assembling and editing the footages and the audio in Adobe Premiere.

Prompt Sample — Scene 4: Inside the Temple Core

Image Prompt
Cinematic screenshot from a fantasy adventure puzzle game, interior of an ancient floating temple, vast circular chamber with hovering stone rings and softly glowing glyphs, beams of blue and gold light linking floating platforms, the young sky explorer standing on a small platform in the center, looking up at a suspended crystal engine, soft volumetric lighting, floating particles in the air, intricate stone carvings, mystical atmosphere, 4k, stylized realism, slightly low camera angle.

Video Prompt
Slow circular camera pan around the chamber, glowing glyphs pulsing softly, beams of light shimmering, slight dust movement, mystical calm energy.

Below is the game concept I produced a promotional sequence for, including its core overview and the world and tone expansion.

Game Concept Overview

Skybound Relic is a cinematic third-person adventure where a sky explorer glides between floating islands to recover an ancient device holding the world together. The story follows a young sky explorer who travels across a vast world of floating islands suspended above an infinite cloud ocean. The islands are mysteriously destabilizing, drifting out of alignment, and slowly crumbling into the mist below. The key to saving them is the legendary Skybound Relic—an ancient mechanism built by a long-gone civilization to maintain the world's balance.

Players glide, climb, and escape fire-breathing dragons as they navigate sky ruins, abandoned temples, and ancient machinery in their search for traces of the relic. The game blends exploration with moments of intense airborne traversal and puzzle-driven discovery. It's a journey about courage, curiosity, and the fragile beauty of a world held together by forgotten technology.

World & Tone Expansion

Across the skies, the world of Skybound Relic reveals quiet mysteries and grand visual storytelling: cloud oceans stretching into infinity, ancient mechanisms humming back to life, and shimmering traces of a civilization that once shaped the heavens. Each region carries its own mood—some tranquil and haunting, others volatile and alive with fire and storm—and every discovery draws the explorer deeper into the hidden history of a world built above the clouds.

The experience is crafted to feel like a playable animated film, filled with awe, momentum, and emotional beats as each leap into the open air brings the world one step closer to collapse—or rebirth.

A list of all AI tools used in the project

ChatGPT - for brainstorming and prompt development Mid-Journey - for video production SUNO - for music production ElevenLabs- for sound effects