LLMs have a much easier time if it is clear that there is one, and only one, way to do something.

Python, ironically, isn't that. It's too flexible. But a language like Lua is! It only has one container object and it is also delightfully lightweight to run.

And on top of that, it turns out that there's a delightfully minimal, but batteries included, 2d game engine called LÖVE that really gets you a prototype quickly.

So I gave it a spin and it turns out you don't even need to worry about game assets! LÖVE comes with APIs for graphics, fonts, sounds and even music. It's got everything you need to generate all of it!

So basically, with an engine like that, you're getting mighty close to zero-shotting a first prototype. It does help if you have a simple game in mind and if you can point to a variation of an existing game. So I went for the bacteria puzzle from 7th guest. I barely had to explain this game and it could just immediately go for it.

The only thing that I missed while exploring this was a notebook environment for this space. Something similar to what Bret Victor talks about here.

More than anything, that feels mighty tempting to explore some more!

Until then, the minigame can be played here.