vibe-code-2d-game

Vibe Code 2D Game Development

Ship 2D games fast using LLM assistance. "Vibe coding" = rapid prototyping, iterate fast, don't perfect.

Core Philosophy

• Ship in days, not months - 2-week timeline works (proven by capybara game dev)
• Character + mechanics > graphics - gameplay > pixel-perfect art
• LLM assists, human steers - use AI for code/sprites, human decides direction
• Iterate based on play - get something playable, test, improve

2D Game Stack (Proven)

• HTML5 Canvas - simplest, runs anywhere
• Vanilla JS - no framework overhead
• Pixel art sprites - LPC (medieval), ComfyUI SDXL (generated), Cordon CC0 (sci-fi)
• Tile maps - JSON from LLM, render to canvas

Sprite Pipeline (Ranked)

Source	Quality	Speed	Cost
ComfyUI SDXL (local)	✅ Best	Fast	GPU only
Pollinations.ai	Good	~2s	Free
LPC pixel art	Real pixel	Instant	CC0
Grok API	OK	Fast	API key

Animation Approach

• 8-frame walk cycles - sine-wave bob + leg alternation
• State machine - idle, walk, run, attack
• Canvas compositing - layer sprites (body parts)

Rapid Development Pattern

1. Generate sprites (ComfyUI/Pollinations) → /tmp/sprites/
2. Create canvas game shell (player, movement, collision)
3. Add LLM level generation (tilemap JSON → render)
4. Integrate sprites with animation
5. Play → iterate

Key Learnings from Capybara Dev

• Someone shipped full game in 2 weeks with Claude Code
• "Vibe coding" = trust the LLM, iterate fast
• Game had: character (capybara) + mechanics (delivery) + environment (city)
• The tools work - barrier is low

Command Reference

# Start local dev server
python3 -m http.server 8765

# ComfyUI generation
cd "${COMFYUI_HOME:?COMFYUI_HOME not configured: your ComfyUI install. Example: export COMFYUI_HOME=$HOME/ComfyUI}" &&
  ./venv/bin/python main.py --force-fp16 --cuda-device 0

# Pollinations sprite
curl -o /tmp/sprite.png "https://image.pollinations.ai/prompt/[prompt]?width=256&height=256"

Sprite Locations (example project layout)

• LPC: <project>/assets/sprites/lpc/
• Cordon: <project>/assets/sprites/cordon/
• Generated: /tmp/sprites_batch/, assets/generated/
• Demos: lpc_character_demo.html, game_demo.html, cordon_level_demo.html