Isn’t everything you just listed (physics engine, UI, collide entities) how you make a simple game? It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t have networking code, shaders, or sound. Those things can be added later.
I don’t think it’s productive to gatekeep who is and isn’t a game developer. They developed a game, that makes them a game developer—it doesn’t matter how they got there.
This person successfully developed a game. Just because it isn’t how others would have done it doesn’t minimize the result.
Similarly, using AI to develop a game makes you as much of a game developer as someone who hires someone to make a game for them. And some development studios are basically that, people hiring developers to make games. But AI can’t compete well with that.
It’s like coming up with a new fusion power plant, but it takes more energy to run than what it produces. Inspiring, but useless.
This really sounds like “real programmers write in assembly” to me. An AI is a tool, not dissimilar from a higher level language. This person used a tool to create something that didn’t exist before. The result is right there.
Using a computer to write a letter makes you as much of a writer as someone how hites someone to write a letter for you. And some writers are basically that, hiring scribes to write for them. Computer can't compete well with that.
Except it does.