This cheat sheet gives you one short line for each moment that comes up when you build a game with AI. Copy the line, fill in the brackets and send it.
Starting
| You want to |
Say |
| Find out what you really want |
Ask me five questions about [idea], one at a time, then sum it up in three lines. |
| Cut the idea down to size |
What is the smallest version of this that is still fun? List what we can leave out. |
| See the plan first |
Before you touch anything, draw this as boxes and arrows, check it for dead ends and wait for my OK. |
Changing
| You want to |
Say |
| Keep a change small |
Only change [thing]. Leave everything else exactly as it is. |
| Know the risk |
What else in the game does this touch? |
| Back out |
Undo your last change, and tell me what you learned from it. |
Fixing
| You want to |
Say |
| Report a problem |
I did [steps]. I expected [this]. I got [that]. It started after [last change]. |
| Stop a repair spiral |
Stop fixing. Explain in plain words what you think is going wrong. |
| Find what changed |
What is different between now and the last version that worked? |
Tuning
| You want to |
Say |
| Fix the feel |
This feels too [floaty, slow, harsh]. Move it one step, and tell me which number you changed. |
| Try values yourself |
Put [speed] on a slider so that I can change it while I play. |
| Make it fair |
When I lose here, I feel cheated. List what the player cannot see coming. |
Keeping your AI honest
These are the most useful lines on the page, and they cost a few seconds each.
| You want to |
Say |
| Test a claim |
How do you know? |
| Separate facts from hopes |
Which part of that did you really try, and which part are you assuming? |
| Find the source |
Show me where that is in the game. |
| Allow an honest answer |
If you are not sure, say so. "I don't know" is a fine answer. |
Ending a session
| You want to |
Say |
| Leave a trail |
Write what we did, what is broken and what comes next into notes.md. |
| Save your progress |
Save this version with a short note about what works. |
| Pick up again |
Read notes.md, then tell me where we stopped and what you would do next. |
When is one line not enough?
One line is enough for small moments. For a new feature, write more, because your AI fills every gap with its own guess. Prompt examples shows what that looks like. To keep your best lines, start a prompt library. If the job is a mechanic with a known shape, each blueprint comes with a longer text to paste.
Paste this to your AI
Read my project and make me a one-page cheat sheet for this exact game, saved as cheat-sheet.md.
Use the real names from my game: its real buttons, characters, screens and settings. Give me one ready line each for: changing how something feels, fixing the thing that breaks most often, adding one more level or scene, and ending a session.
First map the game's screens and situations in Mermaid, and check that you have found them all. Build the sheet from that map.
Only use names you found in the project, and note the file where you found each one. If you cannot find a name, leave a gap marked [not found] for me to fill in. Do not make one up.
Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP
How to check it worked
- Look at the map. Is any screen of your game missing from it?
- Spot-check three names. Do they exist in your game, spelled that way?
- Look for [not found]. Fill those gaps, or find out why it could not see them.
- Use one line today. Did you have to explain anything extra? If so, add that to the line.
- Try it in a new chat. Paste one line with no other help. Does the AI know what you mean?