How I Built Flappy Bird in minutes Using AI — With Just 2 Prompts
Prompt engineering: A superpower for modern developers.
Ever wondered how fast you could build a complete Flappy Bird game in Java?
Spoiler alert: AI made it insanely easy.
This article isn’t just about building a simple game — it’s a blueprint for how AI + good prompts = future of development.
The Power of Good Prompting
Before I show you the final result, let’s talk about the most critical skill when working with AI: Prompt Engineering.
It’s simple:
the better you ask, the better you get.
Here’s exactly how I prompted AI for this project:
✅ PROMPT 1 (Initial Build)
“Build a Flappy Bird game in Java. Use Swing. Implement gravity, pipes, jumping, scoring, and collision detection. Keep it simple but playable.”
This prompt gave me a working version of Flappy Bird — fully functional with basic colors and shapes.
It had:
- Gravity physics
- Pipe obstacles
- Scoring system
- Collision detection
- Restart mechanism
✅ PROMPT 2 (Polish It!)
“Now, polish the Flappy Bird game: add background images, custom bird and pipe images, sound effects for jump/collision/scoring, smoother animations. Also list the required assets.”
This upgrade took the game from a simple prototype to an actual mini-product:
- Beautiful background
- Cute bird and pipes
- Realistic sounds(flap, collision, score point)
- Smoother movement and animation
- Asset management
Why AI + Coding is the Future
The future isn’t “AI replaces developers.”
It’s developers who know how to collaborate with AI replacing those who don’t.
By leveraging AI:
- You save 70% time on boilerplate and repetitive work
- You focus on creativity (not typing boring stuff)
- You learn faster by reading AI-generated code
- You build faster, prototype faster, and ship faster 🚀
Coding is not going away.
But coding with AI is the real superpower.
GitHub Repository
I’ve open-sourced the entire project here:
👉 https://github.com/Aaleen110/flappy-bird-java
If you found this useful or inspiring, please drop a ⭐️ on the repo — it would mean the world! 🙌
What You Can Do Next
Now that you have a playable Flappy Bird built with AI’s help, the real fun begins!
Here are some ideas and suggested prompts you can use to level up the game even further:
- “Add multiple difficulty levels that increase the pipe speed and gravity over time.”
- “Implement a high-score system that saves the best score even after restarting the game.”
- “Add a start menu with ‘Play’, ‘Instructions’, and ‘Exit’ buttons.”
- “Create animated sprites for the bird flapping wings during jump and fall.”
- “Add parallax scrolling for the background to make the game feel more dynamic.”
The list is endless…
Final Thoughts
With just two thoughtfully crafted prompts, I built a game that would’ve taken hours (maybe days) otherwise.
Lesson learned:
The real skill today isn’t just “how to code.”
It’s “how to command AI to code for you.”
And trust me — the better you get at it, the bigger your unfair advantage becomes.
So what will you build next with AI? 🚀
TL;DR
Prompt smart ➡️ Build fast ➡️ Polish faster ➡️ Ship 🚀.
Welcome to the future of development.
