Make Your Own Game

• What is the player doing in the first 30 seconds? How do you learn the controls?
• What makes you want to keep going: curiosity, story, a goal, the view?
• Where did AI clearly help, and where can you feel a human making choices?
• If you had only five weeks, what would you cut?

Answer these in one page. AI can help you draft it with Prompt 1, but the answers must be yours.

• One sentence: "A game where you ___ in order to ___."
• Feeling: three words for what the player should feel (e.g. lonely, curious, hopeful).
• Core action: the one thing the player does again and again: walk and talk, jump, aim, match, choose.
• Start, middle, end: how the game opens, what changes, how it finishes.
• Scope: list every scene, character, item, and mechanic. Then cut the list in half.
• Look and sound: a mood board of 6–10 images and 2–3 tracks or sounds. These are references only, not for use in the game.

✓ Done when: you can explain the game to a classmate in 30 seconds, and you have chosen a route.

• Create one project folder and keep everything in it: code, assets, notes, screenshots.
• Add a GAME.md file with your one-page design plus "rules for the AI": engine and version, file structure, art style, and what not to change. Paste it at the start of every new chat, or keep it in the project root where Claude Code and Cursor will read it. Claude Code also reads a file named CLAUDE.md automatically.
• Save versions. Use Git (GitHub Desktop is the easy way), or copy the folder with a date before every big change. When the AI breaks something, you will want to go back.
• Engine routes: install the engine, create an empty project, and make sure you can press Play and see an empty scene before asking the AI for anything.
• Optional, for Godot or Unity: connect an MCP server so Claude Code or Cursor can see your scene and editor. Follow the guide for the one you choose, and skip it if setup takes more than an hour.

✓ Done when: an empty project runs, and GAME.md exists.

Use plain shapes only: cubes, capsules, rectangles. Ask for the smallest version with a title screen, the core action, and an ending (Prompt 2). Then work in short loops.

✓ Done when: a friend can play from start to end with grey boxes and understands what to do.

Replace grey boxes one at a time, starting with what the player looks at most. Consistency matters more than detail.

• 2D games: generate characters, items, and backgrounds with any image tool from Assignment 1, reusing one style reference and palette. Ask for transparent backgrounds for sprites, and keep the same size and camera angle for every sprite.
• Simple animation: generate 2–4 frames per action and have the AI assemble a sprite sheet, or animate in code with squash, bob, and rotation.
• Start small: try the scene with only 5–10 good assets before generating more.

✓ Done when: everything visible matches one style, and you have recorded where each asset came from.

• Music: generate a loop that matches your three feeling words (e.g. Suno). Ask for a version that loops cleanly, or fade it in code.
• Effects: footsteps, pickups, doors, and UI clicks make a game feel responsive. Generate them (e.g. ElevenLabs sound effects) or use a free library with credit. Tie each one to a player action.
• Voice (optional): narration or a few lines of character voice can carry a story game.
• Title screen, short instructions, and an ending screen. A player who does not understand the controls in 10 seconds will stop.

✓ Done when: someone can start, understand the controls, hear the game respond, and reach an ending.

• Give them the game with no explanation. Do not help. Watch and take notes.
• Write down where they get stuck, where they get bored, and where they smile or say "oh".
• Afterwards, ask only: "What was the game about?" and "What would you change?"
• Fix the biggest problem first. Usually it is an unclear goal, controls that feel bad, or a game that is too long.

✓ Done when: you have made at least one change because of what you saw, with before and after screenshots.

• Browser: upload the HTML (zipped with its asset files) to itch.io as an HTML game, or host on GitHub Pages or Vercel.
• Godot: Project → Export. Install export templates, then export Web (for itch.io) or Windows / macOS.
• Unity: File → Build Profiles. Build WebGL for itch.io, or Windows / macOS. Zip the whole build folder, not only the .exe.
• Unreal: package a Windows or macOS build and zip it.
• itch.io tip: set the page to Restricted or Draft and share the secret link if you don't want it public.
• Test the link on a different computer. Most broken submissions are missing files.
• Record a 60–90-second gameplay video with sound (OBS Studio is free).

✓ Done when: someone else has played from your link, and you have the video and the report.

I'm making a small original game for a course. It should take 3–10 minutes to play.
Idea: [one sentence]
Feeling: [three words]
Platform/engine: [browser with Three.js | Godot 4 | Unity 6 | ...]
My experience: [none / some coding / I know Unity ...]

Help me write a one-page design document with: one-sentence pitch, core action,
controls, start / middle / end, a list of every scene, character, item and mechanic,
and an art + sound direction. Then suggest what to CUT so I can finish in 5 weeks.
Ask me questions where my idea is unclear instead of inventing answers.

Here is my design document: [paste GAME.md]

Build the smallest playable version using only simple shapes (no art yet).
It must have: a title screen, the core action ([describe]), and an ending screen.
[Browser] Put everything in ONE html file using [Three.js | Phaser] from a CDN.
[Godot]   Godot 4.x, GDScript. Tell me which nodes/scenes to create, step by step.
[Unity]   Unity 6, C#. Tell me which GameObjects and components to create, step by step.
Add an on-screen debug panel with sliders for: [move speed, jump height, fog ...].
Keep the code simple and commented so I can understand it.

The game currently works. Make ONE change: [describe].
The feeling I want: [e.g. the jump should feel light and floaty but controllable].
Don't change anything else. Tell me exactly which files/parts you changed.

Something broke. What I did: [steps].
What I expected: [...]. What happened: [...].
Full error message from the console: [paste].
Explain the cause in one sentence, then give the smallest fix.

[Image tool] A [object] for a [genre] game, [art style words from GAME.md],
[palette], single object centered on a plain light-grey background, three-quarter view,
even lighting, no text, no shadow on the ground.

[Then in Claude] I imported a GLB/PNG called [name] into [engine].
Help me place it at the right scale, replace the grey box called [name],
and keep the existing collisions and code working.

The game works. Do an atmosphere pass toward these feelings: [three words].
Suggest 5 changes in lighting, fog, colour, camera, and ambient sound, from
biggest effect to smallest. Implement only #1 and #2, and add sliders for them.

• Lecture 02: Keeping images consistent, now applied to every asset in your game.
• Lecture 05: Style, authorship, and credit. What makes your game yours?
• Lecture 07: Real-time generation and motion.
• Lecture 10 (Nov 3): Interactive world models and explorable art, a preview of where games may go next.