User Guide

Last updated: 23 July 2026

Your arcade in a box. No coding required. All play.

Welcome to ARCADEBOX.AI — the AI game maker for people who love games but don't write code. You describe a game in plain English, and BIT AI (our box-bot host) builds you a real, playable game right in your browser — some games run on our hand-built engines, and in the newest engines BIT AI writes real game code for your game while you watch. Then you keep talking to BIT AI to change it, share it, and play it with friends.

This guide walks you through everything, in the order you'll actually do it. No jargon, no setup, no engine to learn. If you can type a sentence, you can make a game.

1. Getting started

Create your account (it takes about 10 seconds)

You don't need a credit card to start.

1. Go to arcadebox.ai and click Sign in (top right).
2. Pick whichever way in you like:
   • Create an account with an email and a password — enter your email, choose a password, and add a display name if you'd like.
   • Continue with Google, Discord, or GitHub — one tap and you're in.
   • Email me a magic link — a one-time sign-in link tucked behind the "email" toggle: pop in your email, click the link we send, and you're in.
   (Some of these sign-in options may still be rolling out.)
3. That's it. The very first time you sign in, ARCADEBOX.AI automatically sets up your profile.

If you create an account with a password, choose one you don't use elsewhere and keep it secret. Forgot it? No problem — you can reset it anytime with a link we email you.

Your Credits

Building runs on Credits, at posted rates: an AI build is 10 Credits, an AI edit is 3, and a custom 3D model is 15. New accounts get 15 Credits to welcome you, and the Free plan adds 10 more every month. Starting from a template is free, and playing and sharing are always free. (Paid plans top you up with bigger monthly allowances and add perks around your games — see Plans & pricing.)

In practice: your 15 signup Credits cover a first build and an edit or two — enough to make something and start shaping it. Most people upgrade once they're hooked, then keep nudging it ("add a boss", "make it night") a few Credits at a time.

2. Building your first game

Open the Studio

The Studio is your workshop: a chat with BIT AI on the left, and a live, playable preview of your game on the right. You get there by starting a new game from the landing page or from + Make a new game in your Cabinet.

Pick an engine

The first thing the Studio asks is which engine your game runs on — each game is built on one engine, and they come in two families:

• BIT AI Arena & BIT AI Arcade — instant 3D arena games and classic top-down 2D arcade. BIT AI designs your game as a validated blueprint and our hand-built runtimes play it — the instant, rock-solid path, and the one multiplayer runs on.
• BIT AI Code (2D, and 3D as the newest thing we make) — BIT AI writes and edits real game code for your game, and you watch it work. The code is checked before it's saved, runs in a locked-down player, and if the game ever breaks, BIT AI spots the error and heals it itself.

You can also start from a hand-tested template instead of a blank page. (BIT AI Labs is experimental, and the biggest cinematic engines are still rolling out.)

When the Studio opens, BIT AI greets you with "What should we build?" and a few starter ideas you can click to try instantly, like:

• A first-person doom shooter in a dungeon
• A coin race through a neon maze
• Team up to beat a giant boss
• Defend the base from waves of robots

Type your idea

In the box at the bottom (it says "Describe your game, or the next change…"), write what you want — a single sentence is plenty:

Press Enter (or tap the ↑ button) to send it.

Watch BIT AI build it

BIT AI gets to work and shows you each step as it happens:

That last step matters: every game is checked to make sure it actually runs before it reaches you. Reliability is the whole point of ARCADEBOX.AI.

On a raw-code engine, the show is even better: BIT AI writes your game's actual code in front of you (you'll see a "raw code" badge over the preview). If the game ever throws an error, BIT AI catches it and repairs the code itself — you'll just see it quietly fix things and carry on.

When it's done, BIT AI replies with something like "Built Asteroid Arena ✓" and a quick summary of what it made (theme, enemies, the goal). Your game appears in the preview panel on the right and starts loading.

The live preview

The right-hand panel is your game, running for real. When it's ready you'll see the hint "▶ Click the game, then use WASD / mouse." Click into it and play.

• The preview title shows a version number (v1, v2, …) that ticks up every time you make a change.
• Open full ↗ (top right of the preview) opens the game full-size in its own tab.

3. Meet the engines — a manual for each

Every ARCADEBOX.AI game is programmed and created by BIT AI, our AI — you describe what you want in plain words, and BIT AI writes and builds it for you. What changes from one engine to the next is the underlying runtime BIT AI builds on, and what each one is best at. Here's a plain-English manual for every engine, so you can choose with confidence.

BIT AI Arena · 3D instant

A quick, reliable 3D arena game that runs right in your browser.

• Programmed & created by BIT AI Studio using the Godot runtime.
• Type: 3D · Instant — BIT AI assembles a validated game fast.
• What it's like: real 3D meshes and a camera, with the action on the ground plane. It runs right in the browser, is shareable by a link, and can be played with friends (joining rooms is free on every plan; hosting your own is a Player/Studio perk).
• Best for: a quick, reliable, playable 3D game — the fast draft.
• Controls: WASD or arrow keys to move, mouse to aim and look.
• Status: Ready.

BIT AI Arena · Desktop

The best-looking version of an Arena game, as a downloadable Windows app.

• Programmed & created by BIT AI Studio using the Godot runtime.
• Type: 3D.
• What it's like: build it in the browser, then download a high-fidelity Windows build of your blueprint game — a richer renderer than the browser version, with real lighting, fog and effects. (Lumen/RTX belongs to BIT PRO AI below.)
• Best for: the best-looking version of an Arena game, to install and play offline.
• Status: Windows download — rolling out now.

BIT AI Arcade · 2D instant

Classic top-down 2D arcade games that load instantly.

• Programmed & created by BIT AI Studio using the Phaser runtime.
• Type: 2D, top-down · Instant — BIT AI assembles a validated game fast.
• What it's like: featherweight — it loads instantly and plays anywhere.
• Best for: classic / retro 2D arcade games and the fastest iteration.
• Controls: arrow keys or WASD; on-screen touch on mobile.
• Status: Ready.

BIT AI Code · 2D

Custom 2D games where BIT AI writes the real code, live.

• Programmed & created by BIT AI Studio using the Phaser runtime.
• Type: 2D · Raw code — BIT AI writes and live-edits real game code you can watch; it self-heals on errors and keeps a versioned history so you can roll back.
• Best for: custom 2D mechanics beyond the instant templates.
• Status: Ready.

BIT AI Code · 3D

The most ambitious, best-looking browser 3D — our newest path.

• Programmed & created by BIT AI Studio using the Babylon.js runtime.
• Type: 3D · Raw code — BIT AI writes and live-edits real game code you can watch; it self-heals on errors and keeps a versioned history so you can roll back.
• What it's like: BIT AI writes real 3D game code and now places real 3D models from our built-in library into the world, with real lighting, shadows and effects.
• Best for: the most ambitious, best-looking browser 3D — our newest and most capable path.
• Controls: WASD and mouse.
• Status: Ready.

BIT PRO AI · Cinematic desktop

The highest-fidelity, cinematic 3D — built by BIT PRO AI, the desktop builder with its own bigger brain and its own version line.

• Programmed & created by BIT PRO AI using Unreal Engine.
• Type: 3D · cinematic · plays in the free Windows app.
• What it's like: describe your game — full design documents welcome — and BIT PRO AI builds it to play on your own graphics card, with Lumen real-time lighting and RTX ray tracing on supported cards.
• Cinematic toolkit: named particle effects (explosions, magic, portals…), live weather with real lightning, a sun BIT AI can move from dawn to midnight, forests of instanced 3D scenery drawn from the 7,000+ asset catalog, looping mood music and a real sound-effects kit — BIT PRO AI uses all of it on its own.
• Best for: the biggest, best-looking games.
• Status: Live on the Studio plan.

4. Iterating

This is where the magic really happens. You don't get one game and you're done — you keep talking to BIT AI to shape it, one message at a time. Each message is a small instruction, and BIT AI rebuilds the game around it.

Just type the next change in the same box:

• "Add a boss at the end."
• "Make it a space theme."
• "Give me a shotgun."
• "More enemies, and make them faster."
• "Make it night-time."
• "Switch to first-person view."

BIT AI updates the game, reloads the preview on the right, and tells you what changed (e.g. "Updated ✓ — added boss; theme → space"). Keep going until it's exactly your game. There's no limit on how many times you can refine — that's how a one-sentence idea becomes your dream game.

Version history & Undo

Every build is saved as a numbered version (v1, v2, v3…). If a change isn't what you hoped, you're never stuck:

• In Your Cabinet, each game shows its current version with an ↶ Undo link that rolls it back to the previous one.
• Don't be shy about experimenting — you can always step back.

Attaching a reference image

See the 📎 (paperclip) button next to the prompt box? Use it to attach a picture — a mood board, a screenshot, a sketch — and BIT AI will match the vibe (colours, feel) of your game to it.

5. Credits — what things cost

Building runs on Credits, and the rates are posted — never per minute, never per "complexity". Here's the whole pricing model for making things:

What things cost

Where Credits come from: new accounts get 15 Credits to welcome you, and the Free plan adds 10 more every month. Paid plans top you up monthly — Player 500, Studio 1,500 — and add power around your games: hosting multiplayer rooms, private games, badge removal, commercial rights, and the biggest engines first. See Plans & pricing below.

If a build goes wrong

Raw-code games look after themselves: if your game's code hits an error, BIT AI catches the error and repairs the game automatically. Reliability is the product.

Fair use

To keep the arcade healthy for everyone there are generous behind-the-scenes limits on extremely heavy back-to-back generation. Normal creative use — even a long building session — won't touch them; if you ever do hit one, BIT AI will say so plainly and it resets on its own.

6. Generating 3D models

Want your character, creature, or prop — not just a coloured shape — in your game? That's the ✨ (sparkle) button next to the prompt box. It turns text or an image into a real 3D model (where the feature is available — it's rolling out).

From text

1. Type what you want in the prompt box, e.g. "a stone golem" or "a horned demon with a plasma rifle."
2. Tap ✨.
3. BIT AI sends your idea to its model maker and shows a progress bar. This usually takes about a minute — grab a sip of coffee.
4. When it's done: "Your 3D model is ready ✓."

From an image

1. Attach a picture with the 📎 button (a photo, a drawing, concept art).
2. Tap ✨ to turn that image into a 3D model.
3. Same ~1-minute wait, same "ready" message.

Putting it in your game

Once your model is ready, just tell BIT AI where to use it, in plain English:

• "Use that model for the player."
• "Make the enemy use my model."

Your next message wires it into the game, and the preview updates to show it.

7. Playing your game

Controls

ARCADEBOX.AI games play with keyboard and mouse:

The exact controls depend on the game you built — when you play from the full play screen, the controls for that game are listed right under the screen (for example WASD / arrows: Move · SPACE: Dash · J or Click: Smash).

The game page

Every shared game has its own game page — the game up top, ready to play, with the community underneath:

• Play — the game runs right on the page.
• Edit this game — open it in the Studio to make it your own.
• ♥ Like the game, and Follow its creator.
• Scoreboard — finish a run and your best score lands on the leaderboard.
• Comments — say something nice, or suggest an edit.

Game controller support

ARCADEBOX.AI is built to play with a gamepad, not just a keyboard — great for couch co-op, where a second player can "drop in" with a controller.

Audio

Games have sound effects and music. Browsers stay silent until you interact with the page, so click the game once if you don't hear anything — that "wakes up" the audio. Check your device/tab isn't muted, too.

8. Your Cabinet & The Arcade

Your Cabinet — the games you made

Your Cabinet is your personal shelf. Every game you build lands here automatically. Open it from the Cabinet link in the top bar. Each game shows its cover, title, play count, current version, and a row of actions:

• ▶ Play — fire it up and play it.
• ⧉ Duplicate — copy it into a brand-new game you can change freely.
• ⤴ Share — copy a link to send to friends.
• ✎ Edit — jump back into the Studio for this game.
• ↶ Undo — roll back to the previous version.

If your Cabinet's empty, BIT AI cheerfully nudges you to make your first one.

The Arcade — everyone's games

The Arcade is the public gallery of games the community has built and shared. Browse it, search by name/author/theme, sort by most-played or newest, and:

• Play any cabinet for free — playing is always free, on every plan.
• Edit any cabinet into your own — it copies into your Cabinet as a fresh game you can change however you like (creators on the Studio plan can switch editing off for their games).
• Like, comment, and chase scores on any game's page — and follow creators whose stuff you love. More social features are on the way.

Sharing your game

Anywhere you see Share or Share cabinet, ARCADEBOX.AI copies a link to your clipboard. Anyone with the link can play your game right in their browser — no account or install needed.

To put your game in the public Arcade for anyone to discover, use Publish from the Studio's project menu.

9. Downloading your game

Every ARCADEBOX.AI game lives in the browser — it runs instantly and you share it with a link, no install needed. Taking your game away as a download works like this:

• Your game's source code (for raw-code games, where BIT AI wrote real code for you) — live today as a Studio-plan perk: ⬇ Download your game in the Studio packs a complete project — a ready-to-open index.html plus game.js, your game's real code — that runs offline, no ARCADEBOX.AI needed.
• Your game's blueprint (for blueprint games) — also a Studio-plan perk: download the .gamespec.json design file, the real data your game is built from.
• Windows (.exe) — for BIT AI Arena games, an installable Windows app built with the full engine (proper lighting, shadows, effects), from Export in the Studio's project menu. Rolling out now.
• Connect your own GitHub repo — live on the Studio plan: connect your own GitHub repository and push your game's real code straight to it. Your game is yours, so you can take the code anywhere. On other plans you work your saved game inside ARCADEBOX.AI.

Where export is available, builds run in the background, so you can keep working — BIT AI will ping you when they're ready.

10. Multiplayer

ARCADEBOX.AI games can be multiplayer — play together in real time. Games support 1–4 players (solo, co-op, versus, or free-for-all, depending on what you built).

Who pays for what

Simple split: joining is always free — anyone with an invite link can jump into a room, on any plan. Hosting your own rooms is a Player/Studio perk (the hosts are what keep the servers running for everyone).

How it works

1. Build or open a game that supports multiple players (ask BIT AI for "co-op for up to 4 players" when building, or pick a game tagged for co-op). Multiplayer runs on the blueprint engines — raw-code games are solo for now.
2. Hit 👥 Play with friends in the Studio preview to open a room and copy the invite link.
3. Send the link to friends. When they open it, they join your room and play alongside you — free.

Behind the scenes, the game is hosted on ARCADEBOX.AI's servers (not on anyone's browser), which keeps everyone in sync and fair.

Current limits

• Up to 4 players per room.
• Both keyboard and controller players can join — handy for couch co-op on one screen.
• Multiplayer works best on a solid internet connection.

11. Tips for great prompts

BIT AI is good, but a clear idea gets a better game. A few habits that help:

• Start simple, then layer. Get a basic game first ("a top-down arena shooter"), then add to it ("now add waves of enemies," "now a boss"). Small steps beat one giant paragraph.
• Name the genre or vibe. Words like shooter, race, survival, boss fight, maze, defend-the-base, first-person steer BIT AI fast.
• Say the goal. "Survive 90 seconds," "collect all the coins," "defeat the boss," "reach the exit." A clear win condition makes a tighter game.
• Pick a theme. Dungeon, forest, neon, arcade, space, ruins all change the whole look in one word.
• One change per message when refining — it's easier to see what each tweak did, and easier to Undo if you don't like it.
• Use ✨ for "that's literally my character." Generate or upload a model when a coloured shape isn't enough.
• If something's off, just say so. "Enemies are too fast," "make the arena bigger," "fewer obstacles." BIT AI adjusts.

12. Troubleshooting

The first game takes a while to load. The very first time, your browser downloads the game engine. After that it's cached and loads much faster. Give the first one a moment.

A rate-limit message mid-session. There are generous fair-use limits on extremely heavy back-to-back generation. Normal building won't hit them; if you do, take a short breather and it resets on its own.

No sound. Browsers block audio until you interact with the page. Click the game once to wake the sound up, and check the tab/device isn't muted.

Controls aren't responding. Click directly on the game first so it captures your keyboard and mouse. In first-person games, clicking also locks the mouse for aiming (press Esc to release it).

The game looks rougher than I expected. The in-browser preview is a fast draft. Where export is available, the downloadable Windows version (see Downloading your game) is the full-quality build with proper lighting and effects.

My controller isn't working. Press any button on the pad once the game is running (browsers only expose a gamepad after its first input), and click the game once so it has focus. Still stuck? Tell BIT AI — the mapping lives in your game's code and BIT AI can adjust it.

A build failed. In a raw-code game, BIT AI catches errors and repairs the game automatically. Otherwise, try again or reword the request slightly; if it keeps failing, simplify the request and add detail back one step at a time.

Still stuck? Reach our support team at support@arcadebox.ai.

13. Plans & pricing

Pick the play that fits you. Every plan runs on Credits at the same posted rates (build 10 · edit 3 · 3D model 15) — plans differ in how many Credits you get and the power around your games:

Building something bigger? The custom Developer tier (10,000 Credits a month, full Godot & Unreal Engine as they roll out) is arranged directly — talk to us.

You can switch plans anytime — upgrade and the perks unlock instantly; cancel and your games stay playable and shareable, with commercial rights on games you made while subscribed surviving cancellation.

14. Your privacy & your games

We keep this plain.

• Your account & games are stored securely in a managed EU-region database (hosted in the EU). Your games are private to you until you choose to Publish or Share them.
• Payments are handled by Stripe. ARCADEBOX.AI never stores your card details.
• Building a game sends your prompt (and any reference image you attach) to a third-party AI provider, which turns your idea into the game's design — or, on a raw-code engine, into your game's code. (When a raw-code game heals itself, the game's code and error go to the AI provider too.)
• Generating a 3D model (the ✨ button) sends your text or image to a third-party 3D-generation service, which creates the model.
• Serving & multiplayer run on Cloudflare.

ARCADEBOX.AI does not train its own AI models — we use these trusted third parties to do the heavy lifting, each under their own terms.

For the full details, see our Privacy Policy. Privacy questions? Email privacy@arcadebox.ai.

The legal bit

ARCADEBOX.AI is operated by Ailora Limited. These guidelines, your use of ARCADEBOX.AI, and any disputes are governed by the laws of England and Wales. For the full terms and privacy policy, see the links in the site footer.

ARCADEBOX.AI — your arcade in a box. No coding required. All play. 🕹️