Mini Motorways Take 2 - Breaking Down Problems Smaller

Challenge:

What if I break everything down into mini experiments instead of trying to build a complete game?

Attempt 1: Circular Track

💬 PROMPT

"Create a circular track as a road that has cars moving around it"

✅ OUTCOME

Wow. It kinda works.

Simple house-to-house traffic simulation

Attempt 2: Traffic Rules

💬 PROMPT

"Now make the cars follow traffic laws, i.e. driving on the correct side of the road"

✅ OUTCOME

Worked again!

Attempt 3: Point-to-Point Travel

💬 PROMPT

"Draw two houses on the map and have a street connecting them and then have cars driving back-and-forth between them"

✅ OUTCOME

This is where things fell apart - AI was making too many decisions on its own.

Attempt 4: Traffic Lights

💬 PROMPT

"Traffic lights, roads going through them, and ensure that cars follow the rules of the road"

✅ OUTCOME

Mixed bag. Some good, some messed up.

Complex intersection experiment - traffic lights, roundabouts, and chaos

Lessons learned:

Mini experiments show real promise
Just having something moving around the screen changes everything completely
Makes it start feeling like something fun you want to watch
Still hate the default assets though
Feels like doing art in high school: "I hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it again, I love it, this is cool!"

Next:

What if I started with really nice assets first, then try to make something fun?

Ingredients