WAVEBEAM
A free local arena game for two to four players; the designer says an AI coding agent wrote all of its code from a design document.
Links go to the official store or developer page. Last verified Nov 3, 2026.
Where to play
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Desktop · Steam
About WAVEBEAM
WAVEBEAM is a free arena game for two to four players sharing one screen. Each player steers a ship through a dark arena, trying to be the last one left. Your beam destroys other ships; your ping reflects enemy beams and lights up the area around you, but it also shows everyone where you are. The idea comes from the 2017 Global Game Jam, where the designer made it with a few others. Eight years later the designer, a software engineer, rebuilt it as an experiment with AI coding tools: about an hour writing a full game design document, which went to an AI coding agent, then about ten more hours of changes and iteration, without writing a line of code by hand, per the designer's note on the store page. The Steam AI disclosure says 100% of the code was generated by the agent, and that apart from the fonts and audio, every functional and visual part of the game comes from that code. The agent is not named. The designer says that, having made it with AI, they could not justify charging for it. Free on Steam for Windows and macOS.
Screenshots and art
WAVEBEAM key art · Steam store artwork
How it was built
Partially verifiedThe game's Steam AI disclosure says a software engineer wrote a complete game design document and 100% of the game's code was then generated by an AI coding agent; apart from the fonts and audio, all functional and visual parts are AI-generated code. In the designer's note on the store page, the designer says about an hour went into the design document, the agent's first version was surprisingly playable but missed the mark in places, and about ten hours of tweaks, additions and iteration followed, without writing a single line of code. Neither text names the agent.
Design-document-first: the designer distilled the 2017 jam concept into a full design document, handed it to an AI coding agent, and iterated with the agent until the game was ready to share, per the store page. The fonts and audio are the only parts the disclosure does not attribute to AI-generated code; it does not say where they came from.
- Engine / framework
- Not disclosed
- Languages
- Not disclosed
- Team size
- Not disclosed
- Initial build time
- About 1 hour writing the design document, then about 10 hours of tweaks and iteration with the AI agentDeveloper ReportedSteam
- Development time
- Not disclosed
- Development cost
- Not disclosed
- AI-written code
- ~100% of shipped codeDeveloper ReportedSteam
“Using a fully completed game design document created by a Software Engineer, 100% of the game's code was generated via an AI Coding Agent.”Verification notes: The AI claim rests on two developer-written texts on the game's Steam page: the AI disclosure (100% of the code generated by an AI coding agent from a design document) and the designer's note in the store description (about an hour on the design document, about ten hours of iteration, no code written by hand). The agent is not named and no devlog or website was found; the note mentions a Discord server, which was not checked. The developer is recorded as solo because Steam names one person as developer and publisher and the designer's note describes the 2025 rebuild in the first person (“I could have developed this game entirely myself”); the original 2017 jam concept was made with a few others. Release date, price, platforms and languages from the Steam store API; the review count from the store page (the review API returned nothing when checked). Steam lists the game as shared/split-screen PvP; there is no online play.
Development history
Game performance
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Steam
Free on the Steam store API on 3 Nov 2026. The designer's note mentions an optional “Dev Support DLC” for donations; it is on Steam as WAVEBEAM: Dev Support DLC (US$4.99, dated 15 Oct 2025 like the game), which unlocks an in-game debug menu and includes the initial prompt given to the AI agent and the game's music as an MP3. Windows and macOS.
All reviews as shown on the store page; Steam shows no score until a game has 10 reviews.
Not publicly available: Concurrent players, Positive Steam reviews, Estimated owners, Copies sold, Gross revenue.
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Sources
| Source | Type | Published | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| WAVEBEAM on Steam Steam | Store page | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
