{"id":95521,"date":"2026-10-25T17:53:01","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T09:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=95521"},"modified":"2026-10-25T17:53:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T09:53:01","slug":"indie-game-dev-cancels-vibe-coded-zombie-shooter-after-san-francisco-officials-condemn-dehumanizing-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=95521","title":{"rendered":"Indie Game Dev Cancels Vibe-Coded Zombie Shooter After San Francisco Officials Condemn &#8216;Dehumanizing&#8217; Game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">The developer of a zombie game set in San Francisco has taken down the game and issued a public apology after city officials condemned the title for depicting its citizens as \u2018zombies.\u2019<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Tenderloin Night Shift was a vibe-coded, first-person shooter created by independent developer Pierre-Louis Biojout over the course of a weekend using OpenAI\u2019s Codex. As you\u2019ve probably inferred by its title, the game takes place in San Francisco\u2019s Tenderloin neighborhood, an area infamous for its high crime rates and unhoused population that\u2019s often compared offhandedly to Los Angeles\u2019s Skid Row.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">In the game, players use a gun to rid the Tenderloin of \u2018zombies.\u2019 Some of these undead enemies wear construction uniforms or whiz by on motorized scooters, while others wear food delivery backpacks, having clearly been infected while on the job. Still others are depicted doing the \u2018fentanyl fold,\u2019 a position where the body is bent forward at the waist, most <u>usually displayed by fentanyl users<\/u> who seem to have been frozen while standing upright.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-slideshow\"><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">The Best Zombie Movies<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img alt=\"Spooky Season is back, and in honor of all things dark and macabre that go bump in the night, we're counting down our picks for the best zombie movies of all time.\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2277167929 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"\/><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/output><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cSan Francisco couldn\u2019t fix the tenderloin, so I monetized it,\u201d Biojout said on social media. In the game, he sold digital ad space for $100 per week, which accounts for some of the real-world companies seen on billboards within his polygonal recreation of the neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">It didn\u2019t take long for San Francisco city officials to take notice of the title. Speaking to <u>NCB Bay Area<\/u>, Mayor Daniel Lurie said, \u201cThere\u2019s no accounting for taste or people\u2019s terrible ideas. This is a bad one, and we reject it. It doesn\u2019t speak for San Francisco values.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle, Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin, dubbed the game \u201cdeeply disturbing and unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-video\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cTurning violence against real people, including unhoused people, into entertainment is dehumanizing and should never be normalized,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m encouraged to see that the majority of San Franciscans recognize that this crosses a line and refuse to stand for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">While Biojout was previously boasting about the backlash on his social media accounts, he later removed the game from his online platform and issued a public apology over how his project depicted San Francisco\u2019s citizens. He also revealed that he\u2019d been inspired by an Alcatraz-themed Call of Duty map and said he often passes by the Tenderloin on his way to work.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cThe game was not intended to provoke or to depict shooting real people. Its characters draw on a broad cross-section of San Francisco, across different backgrounds and walks of life, including people who work in tech. The familiar city details and Easter eggs are part of what makes it fun to play with friends,\u201d he told the Chronicle.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-video\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Speaking to NBC Bay Area, Bijout said, \u201cIt was not intended to depict shooting real people or to target a particular demographic or group.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Additionally, Biojout revealed that he refunded advertisers who promoted his game and removed all of his social media posts about it. He also donated the game\u2019s total revenue to the <u>Delancey Street Foundation<\/u>, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco that provides rehabilitation services and vocational training to convicted criminals and those suffering from substance abuse.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cI built and posted a zombie game set on San Francisco streets. The setting and the way I promoted it showed poor judgment. Targeting people struggling with addiction or homelessness was never my intention,\u201d he wrote on <u>Twitter\/X<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p><span data-cy=\"poll-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<section class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">The game was available on Biojout&#8217;s NanoCorp AI website, a platform that runs online businesses using AI agents. It has since been removed, and the page is no longer available at the time of writing.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Image Credits: plbiojout<\/em><\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"author-sign-off\"><\/p>\n<section class=\"author-sign-off\" data-cy=\"author-sign-off\"><span class=\"stack jsx-59817748 jsx-1927875859\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"rounded jsx-444076027 jsx-1730475047 profile-thumb jsx-2141281959 aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-1-1\"><img alt=\"Virginia Glaze Avatar\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"progressive-image profile-thumb-img jsx-249361588 jsx-2338608387 expand\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/assets-prd.ignimgs.com\/avatars\/6a3973ecf71dd1001d20de39\/XD1zX2FT-1782150223173.jpg?crop=1%3A1&amp;width=56&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=80 1x, https:\/\/assets-prd.ignimgs.com\/avatars\/6a3973ecf71dd1001d20de39\/XD1zX2FT-1782150223173.jpg?crop=1%3A1&amp;width=56&amp;dpr=2&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=80 2x\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"\/><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"stack jsx-2509706801 jsx-3630940851\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"interface jsx-1132626198 sign-off-text\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Virginia (she\/her) is IGN\u2019s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she\u2019s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at <\/em><em>@TheeMissGlaze<\/em><em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/section>\n<p><\/output><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/indie-game-dev-takes-down-vibe-coded-zombie-shooter-after-san-francisco-officials-condemn-dehumanizing-game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><br \/>\n<center><script>\n  atOptions = {\n    'key' : 'ab8cc34fbebd96e6c135978b4baca540',\n    'format' : 'iframe',\n    'height' : 90,\n    'width' : 728,\n    'params' : {}\n  };\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highrevenueformat.com\/ab8cc34fbebd96e6c135978b4baca540\/invoke.js\"><\/script><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The developer of a zombie game set in San Francisco has taken down the game and issued a public apology after city officials condemned the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[8271,32122,32123,4140,9496,258,4706,6697,3011,4849,31031,6592],"class_list":["post-95521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-cancels","tag-condemn","tag-dehumanizing","tag-dev","tag-francisco","tag-game","tag-indie","tag-officials","tag-san","tag-shooter","tag-vibecoded","tag-zombie","wpcat-32-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/95522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}