The AI Native Dev - from Copilot today to AI Native Software Development tomorrow Vibe Coding SimCity: Prototyping Tiny Towns with AI Dev Tools
May 6, 2025
In this lively discussion, Joe Holdcroft, an engineering manager at Tessl, and vibe coding challenge host Macey Baker dive into creating a tiny town simulator using AI dev tools. They tackle the fun yet chaotic task of rapidly prototyping while battling quirky bugs like infinite money glitches. The duo explores AI's role in generating realistic city dynamics and the humorous side of coding, emphasizing the creative challenges of using AI in development. Listeners are guaranteed laughs as they share insights on debugging and innovative game mechanics.
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Rapid SimCity Prototype Experience
- Simon Maple shared his experience building a tiny town simulator in just 10 minutes using Base44.
- The tool created a SimCity-like app much faster than expected, including UI and basic game mechanics.
Power of Vague Prompting
- Base44 rapidly generates a complex UI and game logic from a vague prompt, highlighting ease of prototyping.
- The tool fills in details you might not expect and speeds initial development remarkably.
Need for Realistic Balance
- AI-generated simulations may over-simplify dynamics, such as happiness only increasing and not balancing out.
- Realistic gaming elements require more deliberate balancing beyond initial AI output.