Artificial intelligence is often presented in extremes. Some people believe it will replace software developers, while others dismiss it as an advanced autocomplete tool. After spending several months building GamesMom, a platform with more than 50 browser based educational games, my experience landed somewhere in between. AI never designed the product, made architectural decisions, or understood the needs of my users. What it did exceptionally well was reduce the time spent on repetitive work so I could focus on building a better product.
Every Product Starts With a Problem
The idea behind GamesMom was simple. I wanted to create a collection of educational browser games that children could play instantly without downloads, sign ups, or subscriptions. As development progressed, I realized the games were only one part of the project. There were layouts to design, pages to optimize, accessibility improvements to make, performance issues to solve, documentation to write, and content to publish. Building a complete product as a solo developer required far more than writing JavaScript.
Planning Before Coding
One of the biggest changes in my workflow was using AI before writing a single line of code. Instead of asking it to generate an entire feature, I used it to challenge my thinking. I would ask whether there was a simpler approach, what edge cases I had missed, or which architecture would scale better. Those conversations helped me refine ideas before opening my editor, saving time that would otherwise have been spent rewriting code later.
