The emergence of educational games in teaching environments has shown significant potential to engage and educate students effectively. However, the technical challenges associated with developing such games often deter educators, particularly those without a background in programming. This paper focuses on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in empowering educators to overcome these barriers by facilitating the creation of educational games. Central to our approach is a comprehensive survey conducted with educators to ascertain their preferences and the features they value most in AI-driven authoring tools. This study explores several AI capabilities, including the generation of 3D models from text or images, the automatic arrangement of spatial layouts from descriptions, and the creation of interactive storylines and dialogues. Participants of the survey universally found the presented AI features desirable. Our research demonstrates how tailored AI features can make educational game development more accessible. Integrating such features helps bridge the gap for educators, enabling them to utilize these tools more confidently and efficiently.