Initial Reflections on GenAI-Based Game Remixing as an Explorative Practice

This paper explores the generative potential and structural limitations of GenAI-based game remixing as an experimental design practice. Through the creation and critical analysis of three hybrid games generated by large language models, we identify patterns of breakdown that render these remixed artefacts effectively unplayable. We introduce the concept of the mis-mix – a remix failure that reveals fundamental incompatibilities across game systems – and argue that GenAI’s value lies less in the automation of design than in its production of speculative source material. Reframing GenAI as a partner in intuitive, human-led remix processes, we propose that its misfires and inconsistencies can be reappropriated as raw inputs in the emergence of playable media: game-like structures informed by both conscious and unconscious human interpretation.