How to make a game with AI, step by step

Making a game with AI works as a loop: describe a change, run the game, play it, fix what feels wrong. This guide follows that loop and shows what the games in our catalog used along the way.

Which route should you take, a coding agent or a browser builder?

Take a coding agent if you want to own the files and choose the engine, and a browser builder if you want a first version with no setup. A coding agent works in a project folder on your computer. A browser builder runs on its maker’s site and gives you a game to edit and publish. Both start from a plain-language description of the game.

What it takes	Coding agent	Browser builder
Examples	Claude Code, Codex, Cursor	Rosebud, Lovable, Bolt
You need	A computer, a project folder and an account	A browser and an account
You handle	The engine, the files and the hosting	The idea and the edits; the builder handles the stack
Good for	Any browser game, and a game you keep editing	A first playable version with no setup

As of September 2026:

• Claude Code runs in a terminal, in VS Code and JetBrains, as a desktop app and in the browser. Most of those surfaces need a Claude subscription or a Console account (Claude Code docs).
• Codex is included in every ChatGPT plan, Free included, with usage limits that vary by plan (Codex pricing).
• Rosebud writes the code and makes the art and sound for a game from your description, on Three.js. It is free to start, and its paid plans add commercial rights (Rosebud).
• Lovable and Bolt build general web apps from a chat (Lovable docs, Bolt).

Prices and limits for seven tools are in best AI game makers.

What the catalog’s games were made with

Claude Code, Codex or Cursor is named on 79% of the games, and Three.js is the most common engine.

Data note: as of September 30, 2026 the catalog lists 404 games, 367 of them Vibe Jam 2026 entries (jam rules: at least 90% of the code written by AI). Creators name the tools themselves, mostly in the jam submission form. We don’t verify them.

Tool named by the creator	Route	Games
Claude Code	Coding agent	169 (42%)
Codex	Coding agent	73 (18%)
Cursor	Coding agent	86 (21%)
Google Antigravity	Coding agent	16
Claude app	Chat app	19
ChatGPT	Chat app	5
Gemini app	Chat app	8
Grok app	Chat app	4
Bolt	Browser builder	6
Lovable	Browser builder	8

Other tools creators name, such as GitHub Copilot and Kiro, are on the tools page with their game counts.

• Engine: Three.js 266 (66%), no engine stated 74, Phaser 20, Canvas 18, PixiJS 10, Godot 6.
• Phones: 256 list mobile (63%).
• Online multiplayer: 173 (43%).

Read these as a sample shaped by one jam, since 91% of the games are its entries. Its rules allow any engine but recommend Three.js (jam rules), and its press page says multiplayer is preferred but not required (press page).

Even so, the pattern is plain: a JavaScript game that runs in a browser, often on a phone too. See the entries in the Vibe Jam 2026 hub or the top rated games.

How to make a game with AI in seven steps

The steps run from a short brief to a published page.

1. Write a one-paragraph brief

Write down the genre, the camera, the controls on desktop and phone, what one run looks like and how it ends. Add technical limits, such as one web page and Three.js. Keep the idea to a sentence. Our catalog’s tagline for Floppy Brawler is “Fight ragdoll-style opponents in a wobbly, physics-driven brawler.”

Claude Code’s best-practices page suggests letting the agent interview you and write a spec before it builds (best practices). An interview prompt to copy is in 10 prompts to copy and adapt.

Then save the brief where the agent reads it. As of September 2026:

• Claude Code reads a CLAUDE.md file at the start of every session (best practices).
• Codex reads AGENTS.md files before it starts work (Codex docs).
• Cursor applies project rules from .cursor/rules or AGENTS.md (Cursor docs).

2. Choose an engine

Three.js is the default in our data, with 266 of 404 games. It is an open-source JavaScript library for 3D graphics in the browser under the MIT license (Three.js, GitHub).

For 2D, Phaser is an open-source HTML5 game framework (Phaser on GitHub). You load it from a CDN or install it with npm (Phaser docs).

Godot is another option. It exports to the web with WebAssembly and WebGL 2, but Godot 4 currently cannot export C# projects to the web (Godot docs).

Coding agents write GDScript like any other code, and a Godot MCP server lets them run the project and read its errors (MCP servers for game development). See the Three.js, Phaser and Godot hubs.

3. Build the smallest playable version first

Ask for one screen, one control scheme and one goal, and run it before you ask for anything else. Then add one feature per request: a hazard, a score, a second level.

Claude Code’s guidance is to explore first, plan, then code, and to skip the plan when you could describe the change in one sentence.

4. Give the agent a way to check its work

Claude Code’s docs advise giving the agent a check it can run: tests, a build or a screenshot (best practices). For a game, that can be a build command, a few tests for the rules (score, collisions, win and lose) and a screenshot of the running page. Then you play it yourself.

The same page warns about plausible-looking code that misses edge cases. Its advice is short: “If you can’t verify it, don’t ship it.”

Playtesting games with AI shows how to let the agent play the game itself, with a test hook and a smoke test.

5. Save progress with git

Commit each working version. Claude Code saves checkpoints of its file edits, but its docs say checkpoints are not a replacement for git. They do not capture changes made through shell commands.

6. Test on a phone

Of our 404 listed games, 256 list mobile, so test touch controls, screen size and speed on a real phone. How to make a mobile game with AI covers touch controls, screen fit and phone testing.

While you build, serve the game from a local web server. Phaser’s docs warn that pages opened from disk hit browser security limits when they load images and audio.

7. Publish and share

As of September 2026, GitHub Pages serves HTML, CSS and JavaScript files straight from a repository (GitHub Pages docs). On itch.io, an HTML5 game is a zip file with an index.html. You choose whether it embeds in the page or launches full screen (itch.io docs).

Vibe Jam 2026 required games to run on the web with no login or signup. Where to publish a browser game compares itch.io, CrazyGames, Poki and the stores. Made something playable? Submit it to GamesByAI.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

Clear the session when failed fixes pile up, play every change, ask for feel by name and grow the scope one feature at a time.

• The session fills with failed attempts. Claude Code’s docs advise clearing the session after two failed corrections and starting again with a sharper prompt.
• Nobody checked the output. Play every change before you build on it, and give the agent a check it can run, as in step 4.
• It works but feels flat. A prompt that describes mechanics gets mechanics; feel comes from small timings nobody asked for. Game feel with AI lists twelve to ask for by name.
• Too much at once. Online multiplayer (173 of 404) and Three.js (266 of 404) are common in our catalog, but most of those games were built in a one-month jam. Get the core loop working first.

Keep going: one guide per step

• Game feel with AI and playtesting games with AI: from working to fun, and from fun to stable.
• Vibe coding a game: prompts and pacing.
• Selling AI-made games: store rules and ownership.
• Claude Code game development, Codex game development and Cursor game development: one agent at a time.
• Make games with Gemini and make games with ChatGPT: the Google and OpenAI routes.
• Best AI for game development: the tools compared for the job.
• Ten prompts to copy, game assets with AI and a mobile game with AI: single steps in depth.
• Vibe coding game ideas, the best engine for vibe coding and how to make a 3D game with AI: what to build, and on which engine.