My Weekend at the Coding Candy Store: A Cursor-Assisted Adventure in Mobile Game Development

This weekend, I coded - without constraints - just me and the sheer, unadulterated joy of creation. ?? Here's what happened when I decided to build a mobile app with no experience, an AI assistant, and absolutely zero concern for anything beyond a single user - my 7-year-old.

The Mission

- Goal: Create a Flutter app - a game, to be precise.

- Challenge: I've never played with Flutter/Dart before or, for that matter, developed a mobile app - or even a game! ?? (Though in a previous life, I've managed many projects where one or more of the moving pieces was a native and/or hybrid app. This background has imbued me with insights into the mechanics of mobile apps and some vocabulary, but not much beyond that...)

- Mindset: Pure adventure! ??

The Journey Unfolds

Day 1: Setting the Stage

Saturday was consumed by setup - in between family engagements, kids, homework, and visiting grandparents. With Claude 3.5 Sonnet as my mentor, I tackled the labyrinth of dependencies. Setting up took more time than the actual project itself. It felt like herding cats, complete with progress bars. ??

Night Falls, Creativity Rises

Finally, everything was set up on my precious M3. Just 40-45 minutes of prompting, and voila! I had screens running on my emulator - splash, levels, story, skill, game, success, and failure screens. The entire skeleton - actually, the skeleton was quite prettily dressed too! ???? Navigations, colors, and fonts in place.

Day 2: Full Steam Ahead

Sunday found me under the weather - but who cares? Ignored! Kids? Ignor... No, never! They became my partners in crime! ???♂????? We were in a state of flow, creating with reckless abandon. Spent a total of 4 -5 hours max.

The Game: Tutuputu's Grand Adventure

An Egyptian prince named Tutuputu ?? (yes, really) is on a quest to save his kidnapped pet Mr. Snail from the evil beetles. (Background: My little one and I have been creating bedtime stories of Tutuputu and his friends for over a year now - the idea for this adventure was picked from one of the stories.) How to rescue Mr. Snail? By passing through the valley of sums, of course! Nothing says "daring rescue" like mental math under pressure. Timer, score, and lives - all in place. Pretty? Ok-ish. Fun? Absolutely.

UI courtesy of clip art picked from the internet - no designer here! ??????

Technical Musings ??

- Architecture? Scalability? Tech debt? Performance optimization? That's a problem for Future Me (maybe!). This was all about the thrill of creation!

- Code Quality: Cursor and I refactored the code at the end... and if I can say so myself, we did a fine job of writing clean and well-maintained code.

- Learning Curve: It was a weekend crash course for me to learn Dart/Flutter.

Oops Moment ??

Forgot version control. Rookie mistake! Prompting can sometimes spiral to a point of no return and that too very quickly - had to almost rewrite the whole thing (with git in place this time)! ??

The AI Experience ??

It was like having a whole dev team at my command, minus the coffee breaks and existential crises. We moved at the speed of thought if thought was caffeinated and slightly delirious.

Key Takeaways ???

1. Revolutionary Tools: ?? Cursor and similar AI tools are revolutionizing software development. For over a decade, my job has involved high-level thinking: breaking problems into smaller components, deciding which features to build first and how, determining who should build them, imagining versions, and brainstorming with developers, designers, testers, security and infrastructure teams, and even with customers when we hit roadblocks. For someone in my role, these AI tools are game-changers. While I understand the mechanics, I don't necessarily have the bandwidth to write code or stay current with syntax. With Cursor, I can simply articulate my requirements: build x, y, z; test it; change x to x'. It responds to my commands at a speed that far surpasses our current work methods. I can very quickly build a prototype and I have a feeling that if I spend enough time on it (and given the current rate of AI improvements), very soon I might be able to write production-level code.

2. Democratizing App Creation: These tools are not just for the experienced. I would dare to venture that even for those with limited domain experience and a heavy dose of curiosity and perseverance, Cursor, and such tools are democratizing the ability to create prototypes and explore different ideas.

3. AI Guidance: At times you need to pull developers out of the ditch they've dug themselves into - It's the same with AI. Don't let it run around in circles for too long (think Asimov's "Runaround"!). AI can sometimes get caught in unproductive loops. It's our job to guide it back on track. Brainstorm, circle back, rethink - reprompt!

The EdTech Connection

As a mom of a high schooler and a primary schooler, I've been on a constant quest to find better ways to teach my kids. I continually find myself lamenting the limitations of our current education systems. This passion has led me to explore various ideas in the edtech space.

AI will be a game-changer in this field. Think "The Diamond Age" ?? by Neal Stephenson - we're on the cusp of creating truly adaptive, personalized learning experiences. This weekend project was just a small taste of what's possible.

Imagine parents, teachers, or anyone with a creative idea being able to build custom apps for their kids or students. It's opening up a world where personalized, educational apps can be created by the very people who understand the users best - a game-changer for tailored learning experiences.

This technology could bridge the gap between our aspirations for our children's education and the realities of current systems. It's not just about creating apps; it's about reimagining how we approach learning in a world where AI can help us cater to individual needs and learning styles. ????

Conclusion

Did I create the next unicorn ?? app? Sigh Not this weekend.

But I did experience something truly joyful. This weekend has reignited my excitement about the possibilities in educational technology and the potential of AI-assisted development to transform how we create and learn.

A funny side note: my younger one thinks ChatGPT made the app. ?? Apparently, ChatGPT is now synonymous with AI in the minds of kids (and many adults). Who cares if it was Claude doing the heavy lifting, right? ?? It just goes to show how these AI tools are becoming household names, shaping the way the next generation thinks about technology and creation.

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What do you think? Has anyone else experimented with AI-assisted coding for personal projects, especially creating something for your kids or in the education space? I'd love to hear your experiences and thoughts on where this technology might take us in the world of education!

#Cursor #Claude3.5Sonnet #Flutter #WeekendProject #AIAssistedDevelopment #EdTech