AI-assisted creation

Spottedcat is designed to be friendly to both humans and AI coding tools: small examples, stable 1.0 surfaces, and a clear Spot lifecycle make it easier to generate a playable game slice instead of a pile of disconnected code.

Use this page when you want Codex, an LLM, or another coding assistant to help build with Spottedcat.

Start with a tiny playable slice

Ask the AI to build the smallest loop that can be played immediately:

• one player action
• one visible response
• one score, timer, obstacle, or goal
• one way to restart or iterate

For example:

Use Spottedcat to build a tiny 2D dodge game.
Start from one Spot scene, draw simple shapes or images, read keyboard input,
show score text, and keep the code close to the existing examples.

Once the loop works, add polish: assets, animation, audio, camera movement, 3D models, shaders, or platform packaging.

Give AI the stable surfaces

For Spottedcat 1.0, AI-generated code should lean on these stable building blocks:

• Spot for scene lifecycle
• Context for engine state, input, assets, and platform services
• Image and Text for 2D rendering
• Model and DrawOption3D for 3D rendering
• WindowConfig and run for app startup
• the runnable examples as structure, not just snippets

The most useful lifecycle rule is simple: update game state in update, draw the frame in draw, and keep rendering code from secretly mutating gameplay.

Use examples as prompts

Good AI prompts should point to a nearby example:

Goal	Start from
Player movement and HUD	examples/input_example.rs
Image loading and drawing	examples/image_example.rs
Audio feedback	examples/audio_test.rs
3D blockout	examples/fog_world.rs
Many repeated models	examples/instancing_test.rs
Browser demo	examples/wasm/

This keeps generated code aligned with the engine’s real API.

Install the Codex skill

Spottedcat ships with the spot-game-builder skill, which gives Codex engine-specific guidance for turning a game idea into a playable prototype. Install the Spot CLI once:

cargo install spottedcat

Then run this command from the root of any game project that uses Spottedcat:

spot install-skill

The command installs the skill into:

.agents/skills/spot-game-builder

To install it into a different project directory, use:

spot install-skill --project /path/to/your-game

After installation, ask Codex to use the skill explicitly:

$spot-game-builder

The skill is tuned to choose 2D vs 3D, reuse the repository examples, map gameplay into Spot, and verify the narrowest build first.

For other coding assistants, link this documentation and point them to the closest runnable example in the repository.

Prompt patterns

Use Spottedcat 1.0 to make a small Flappy-style game.
Use one Spot scene. Implement input, gravity, obstacles, collision,
score text, and restart. Keep the first version simple and runnable.

Use Spottedcat to create a 3D foggy exploration demo.
Start from the existing 3D examples, add camera movement,
a few primitive models, fog, and a 2D text overlay.

Review this Spottedcat scene for engine misuse.
Check lifecycle usage, input handling, draw/update separation,
feature flags, and whether it follows the stable 1.0 API.

Next steps

• Browse the Examples Gallery for runnable starting points.
• Build the Flappy Cat guide to see a complete mini-game evolve step by step.
• Check Core Concepts before generating larger game architecture.