MPL AI Demo Days, a monthly innovation series we launched last month, was built around a simple idea: give people time and space to experiment and unlock bold ideas using AI.
One of the winners of the first phase was React Native developer Manish R R who leveraged this platform to prototype an AI-powered 2D game sandbox—a tool that could dramatically cut down prototyping time for game teams. The idea had been on his mind for a while, sparked by a problem statement at work: testing gameplay ideas often meant waiting for full production resources. “When Demo Days were announced, it felt like the perfect opportunity to tackle it,” he says.
What started as a solo experiment is now opening the door to real cross-team use cases—and setting the tone for what Demo Days can make possible.
While the initial concept was raw, the structured mentoring sessions that take place every week helped Manish crystallize his vision. “I had a somewhat cluttered idea in my mind. But with guidance from the mentors I was able to define exactly what I wanted to build.” These weekly mentoring sessions are open to anyone at MPL—not just Demo Days participants and offer a chance to connect with leaders across functions for technical guidance, feedback, and strategic direction.
These sessions not only shaped the direction of his project but also gave him access to GPU resources and AI credits that would have otherwise been difficult to get.
Despite the complexity of his project, Manish built the first working version in just four days. “I already had some hands-on experience experimenting with AI,” he says. “That gave me a head start.”
Still, challenges remained. One of the biggest? Figuring out how to combine the strengths of different AI tools—be it for code, structure or testing—and making them work together in a seamless workflow. “It took me a week just to research what was missing and where things were going wrong,” he says. “But once I cracked that, it came together fast.”
A Culture of Collaboration, Not Just Creation
Beyond his own project, Manish believes the real value of Demo Days lies in how it encourages collaboration and cross-pollination of ideas. “Before Demo Days, we’d just explore things in isolation. But this platform made people—tech and non-tech alike—step up, pitch ideas.”
He points to colleagues outside of engineering—product managers and TPMs—who built impressive tools and prototypes using AI, often in just days. “That blew my mind,” he says. “This kind of environment brings out creators you didn’t know were sitting right next to you.”
What’s next? Manish is already teaming up with others he met during the mentoring sessions—including Mahesh Maharana from his React Native team and Prashant Pandey from the Unity team—to explore how their ideas could merge into a larger, more powerful platform. “Without Demo Days, I wouldn’t have even known we were working on similar things,” he says. “Now we’re talking about what we can build together.”
First Time, Big Impact
This was Manish’s first time working on a project of this scale end-to-end and he found it deeply rewarding. “MPL is my first job after college, and I come from a civil engineering background,” he laughs. “But coding has always been a passion, and this gave me the space to really build something meaningful.”
For Manish, the true value of Demo Days isn’t just the prototype he built and the rewards and accolades garnered—it’s the culture of experimentation and learning it unlocked. “When you create an environment where everyone can build, regardless of their field of work, you get incredible ideas. And more importantly, you get people helping each other bring those ideas to life. This is how innovation happens,” he says, “When you create space for people to try new things, fail, learn, and keep building.”