Building the next playable frontier.
I am Jani Penttinen: a Finnish demo scene kid turned veteran game developer, founder, and CEO working where generative AI meets 3D games.
- Games
- 30+ years making games
- AI
- generative game creation
- CEO
- Bitmagic co-founder
- Code
- Finnish demoscene roots
AI-native game creation
- MAR 5, 2026Arizona State University and Bitmagic Pioneer AI-Assisted Game Development Education
- FEB 3, 2026Bitmagic unveils AI-created version of classic Civilization game
- OCT 29, 2024Top US Investors Rank Bitmagic Hottest Game Changer in Generative AI 2025
From Utopos to Guntech 2
Retro arcade DNA, modern platforms, and a long-running love for game feel.
Demoscene to Westwood
A 30-year path through Finnish game development, Remedy, Housemarque, and Las Vegas.
Gaussian splatting for games
Photoreal 3D from photos and video — the promise, the open problems, and what it unlocks for game creation.
ABOUT ME
GAME DEVELOPER. PROGRAMMER. ENTREPRENEUR.
My background is in the Finnish "demo scene". That's how I learned how to code. In the early 90s, I was one of Finland's first professional game developers. It's now over 30 years since my first game was released so I guess I can be considered a veteran game maker. Click here to read my full history as a game developer.
I was born in Finland. During my life, I have lived in the USA, China, Switzerland, and for a while even in Singapore. The longest time I've lived in one place as an adult has been in my favorite city - Las Vegas, Nevada. Currently, I live in Austin, Texas with my wife and kids.
I am CEO and co-founder of Bitmagic. We're building a platform that allows anyone to create games by just saying what kind of game they'd like to play! It's the most advanced generative AI system in the world, and by far the most excitng project I've ever worked on!
My previous startup was called Utopos Games, an indie studio focused on retro-style games based on learning AI. While Utopos is currently not actively developing its original IP, it pioneered the use of AI learning in games and maybe we'll find a way to bring it back one day...
My latest indie game Guntech 2 was released in 2022 for Nintendo Switch (previously for PC, Xbox and Atari VCS).
Latest writing
April 22, 2026Bitmagic's Recursive AI Engine Improves Itself
Our AI agents know when they're working around a missing API to get the job done — and now they propose the engine improvements to fix it. Prompt something today that doesn't quite work, and tomorrow it might, because the engine improved itself overnight.
March 28, 2026Supercell AI Lab Hackathon: Ilkka Paananen's All-Star Team
Five hours, zero plan, 13,600 lines of code, a live multiplayer game with 25 concurrent players on stage. Ilkka Paananen's all-stars team — 140 combined years of game dev experience — landed in Lapland with nothing but plane tickets and built Grand Life Online from scratch.
March 22, 2026Vibe coding cafe a flight from Dallas to Helsinki
On a Dallas–Helsinki flight, my seatmate and I both skipped the wine for coffee and spent nine hours vibe coding — work that used to take two weeks. In the era of AI agents, you almost can't afford not to.