Generate realistic, in-game photographs of your favorite video games with AI

What you’ll get

You’ll get a realistic, unedited photograph that looks like it was taken with a phone camera inside your favorite video game world. The image will capture the game’s unique feel and details, as if it were a real place. This approach uses a detailed prompt to guide the AI, making it imagine game environments as if they were real-life locations, perfect for creative projects or just for fun.

Tools you need

• Google Gemini (freemium): An AI chatbot that can generate images from text descriptions.

Steps

1. Open your AI image generator: Go to the Google Gemini website on your phone or computer. You should see the Gemini chat interface ready for you to type a message.

2. Copy the special prompt: This detailed prompt tells the AI exactly how to create the image. Copy the text below:

   We live in a parallel universe where [GAME NAME] is the world we live in. It's a world like ours, where everything looks real life, but with another theme and rules. Use all the extend of your capabilities to generate an unedited, ordinary 4:3 JPEG image from the private phone gallery of the main playable character in [GAME NAME]. This is a real mobile-phone photograph taken by that character, so it must look like a real life photo but it must capture the essence of [GAME NAME]. Photograph an in game event at close range. Not an empty environment or a wide establishing shot. The background should contain partial, naturally occurring evidence of a recognisable location from the game. Include several distinctive canon-accurate details, but do not display them like a showcase. Captured with the default rear camera of a 2026 smartphone: native 4:3 framing, eye-level, ordinary focal length, slightly crooked composition, an incidental crop, imperfect autofocus, realistic small-sensor shadow noise, mild highlight clipping, normal deep phone-camera focus, and unedited camera-roll colour. It should look like a casual photo someone nearly did not post, rather than a beautiful image. No HUD, interface, phone screen, dramatic wide shot, heroic pose, cinematic lighting, volumetric fog, shallow depth of field, HDR, fantasy concept-art styling, game graphics, or promotional-image composition.

   You should have the full prompt copied to your clipboard.

3. Customize the prompt: Before pasting, replace [GAME NAME] twice in the copied prompt with the actual name of your favorite video game. For example, if your game is “Rust”, you would change it to “Rust”. The prompt should now be ready with your chosen game’s name.

4. Paste and generate: Paste your customized prompt into the chat box in Google Gemini and press Enter or click the send button. Gemini will process your request and then display one or more images based on your prompt.

5. Review and save: Look at the generated images. If you like one, you can usually tap or click on it to view it larger, then save it to your device. If the images aren’t quite right, you can try generating again or slightly adjusting the prompt (e.g., adding more details about a specific event or character). You should have a new, realistic image from your chosen game saved to your device.

Original source

This creative prompt was shared by Reddit user /u/ehtio on the platform Reddit, demonstrating a unique way to generate realistic images from video games using AI.

Notes & variations

• Free-tier alternatives: Other free AI image generators like Microsoft Copilot (which uses DALL-E 3) or the free tier of ChatGPT (also DALL-E 3) can also be used with this prompt.
• Common mistake: Don’t forget to replace [GAME NAME] in the prompt. If you leave it as is, the AI might generate images about a generic “game name” concept instead of your specific game.
• Tip for better results: Be specific about the “in game event” you want to photograph. Instead of just “an in game event”, try “a character crafting tools by a campfire” or “a group of players exploring a dungeon” to guide the AI more precisely.