I made my first AI created custom web app the other day. It’s an infinite runner game with a smirking cat that solves math puzzles. I’ve hosted it on my github site for ease of access.
This game is not very well made, timing is kind of off, it’s not super aesthetic, sometimes there’s minor bugs. What’s impressive is I built this from my phone, by talking to an AI, and then iterated on the work a few times. I didn’t bother reviewing any code, I just fiddled with it to see how, and if, it works.
Was it a success? Absolutely, big hit at home. And that’s the interesting part. The art did not need to be on point, there is no carefully thought out code, no clever tuning of feedback, just a quick concept and testing of it meets the minimum needs. It’s Slop, it’s AI Slop, and It Works.
I’d wanted to make a game like this for a while to help teach math, but I couldn’t get the free time together. Even prior attempts with AI, not very serious ones, never got that far. When I tried it this time, the first attempt with Gemini Pro thinking came up with a great first draft. From there I was able to iterate on it and end up with something enjoyable after a few minor tweaks. The transcript of my conversation can be found here. Note that the model (“Fast”) described is not accurate. I started with “Pro” for the initial prompt then used “Thinking” or “Fast” models based on how difficult I perceived the follow on changes to be.
Meme showing how screen sizes get smaller the higher up you are at a workplace.
What I find the most interesting about this is how AI changes where one can live in the stack of creating things. In my day job I am a two monitor person, reading across docs, video calls, and meeting notes. I like to have a web browser on one monitor and an SSH session in a terminal in the second when I code. When I made this game I sat down with my phone for a half hour thinking about what I wanted and writing it into a very informal functional spec. From there I would periodically check my phone as I went about my life, offering bits of feedback. I’d ascended up the ladder from a “do’er of things that require precision” to a “yapper on high level concepts”. But because AI has taken the place of precision, I am able to yap and have Someone Else do the careful labor. They don’t do the greatest job - but that is okay because it doesn’t matter.
The cost of creation is vastly driven down as well. Is it possible to re-create this experience without AI? Sure, I could spend a lot of my time on the two monitors, for however much I value my time. I could hire someone to make this and communicate with them over instant message. If I found someone overseas with competitive pricing I may be able to get this built for $100 or less, with the iterations being bound by when they are awake and our mutual ability to communicate. Using this AI though drove the cost of creation down to just the time it takes me to type out what’s on my mind, with immediate feedback loops, and no issues with languge barriers or other communication issues. There is some incremental cost to running the AI, nor do I claim it always understands me, but those costs are very minimal and for me is bundled into a Google One account I mainly use for storage space. This makes the idea of “single user” apps for niche cases way more practical.
First drafts are valuable because they let you see if something is going to work out or not. The speed at which you can go from an idea to a first draft, and iterate on the bits from there, is a key factor in how startups and projects succeed. There was more value in the olden days for first drafts being clean, because someone would need to expand them, but it’s far more important to be able to quickly try things out. Is this code maintainable? Frankly it’s cleaner written than I would have thought, but who knows. Is it adjustable? Somewhat, lots of hard coded numbers in the code, but you can just ask Someone Else to adjust it for you. But the key part - can I have an idea, try it out, and see if it works, is that possible? It’s never been easier.