Forty Minutes on Dungeon Raid: What Happens When One AI Prompts Another?

A few weeks ago my son and I sat down at his computer with forty minutes and one goal, which was to see if the game he has been building could get better without waiting on me to play it and tell him what felt off. The prompt we needed ran too long for him to remember, so I had an AI assistant on speakerphone listening in while he read it over and clicked paste, and I got to watch one AI hand the next one its job while my son stayed in the driver's seat. A couple rounds later he told me the game had gotten harder, and that he liked it, and that it was more fun. It was a small moment, but it is the clearest picture I have of what I want for my boys with these tools, so here is the whole story.

Sitting with my son on his Dungeon Raid build, we gave ourselves forty minutes. Play log in, AI analyzer out with three concrete generator tweaks, and he ships one before the next playtest.

A couple rounds later he said it got harder, and he liked that. He thought it got more fun too. That is the receipt I care about: the loop closed, and the game moved in a direction a player can feel.

The prompt for the analyzer ran long enough that remembering it by hand was a joke, so another model helped draft and paste it while we stayed in the room. One AI prompting another so the review step does not wait on a slow human read.

You set the loop. The machine can do the tight pass in between.

You can play Dungeon Raid here. If you try it and something feels off, reply to any Long Build email and I will pass it to him. He will actually read it.

— Tim

Questions readers ask

What did we do in forty minutes?

Play log in, AI analyzer out with three concrete generator tweaks, and he ships one before the next playtest.

How did we know it worked?

A couple rounds later he said it got harder, and he liked that. He thought it got more fun too. That is the receipt I care about: the loop closed, and the game moved in a direction a player can feel.

Why have one AI prompt another?

The prompt for the analyzer ran long enough that remembering it by hand was a joke. One AI prompting another so the review step does not wait on a slow human read.

What is the person's job in the loop?

You set the loop. The machine can do the tight pass in between.

Use this with your group

Where in your own work are you still the slow step in the middle of the loop?
What is one small thing you could build with your kids this month where they get to decide what changes next?

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