Great prompts start as boring documents. One page forces clarity; clarity reduces hallucinated features.
Sections (in order)
- Elevator — 2 sentences.
- Core loop — bullet timeline of one round.
- Inputs & platforms — keyboard, touch, gamepad?
- Entities — player, enemies, pickups; max counts.
- Progression — what changes between rounds?
- Non-goals — explicit cuts.
- Acceptance tests — verifiable sentences.
Example acceptance test
Given two players join room
ABCD, when player one presses Space, round starts within 200ms and timer counts down from 60.
Why non-goals matter
AI fills silence. Tell it what not to build (no accounts, no shop, no story mode).
FAQ
Length? One page, 12pt, no appendix. Link art references instead of embedding essays.
Versioning? design-v3.md in repo; mention version in prompts.
Next steps
- Ship something listable on vibe-coded games.
- Meet collaborators via developers.
YGG Play turns vague ideas into shippable constraints.
