Building apps with prompts and patience
Yesterday, Sean Hollister built his first Android app. Then he made two more, three in a single afternoon. For one app, he typed 148 words into a web browser and walked away. Ten minutes later, a complete new app appeared on his Android phone.
The process required some prep work. He enabled USB debugging mode on his phone and plugged it into a PC. After that, Google AI Studio handled everything else. He typed words, hit install, and got a working program.
The experience nearly convinced him that the personal software revolution had arrived. Colleagues had already suggested that average people could soon build complex smart home solutions without programming skills. But reality set in when he tried actually using his creations.
Three apps emerged from his session: a calorie counter and two games. They were, in his words, kind of bad. And just when he started improving them, AI Studio informed him he had reached his daily limit. To continue, he would need to pay or wait.
Despite the friction, the capability impressed him. In the same morning, colleague Stevie Bonifield built a personal workout tracker they found good enough to actually use. Faced with Gemini's upsell, Hollister's first reaction was to consider paying for a couple of months. He did not expect that reaction from Google.
How Google's AI Studio builds an app
During Google's I/O keynote on Tuesday, the company showed off AI coding with a Doom-like game. Hollister joked that he should make MOOD, a Modern Online Oratory Dungeon text adventure. That joke became the prompt.
When he typed "Make me a Doom-like text adventure game called MOOD" into AI Studio, Gemini began typing additional ideas on its own. It suggested procedural generation of levels and challenging turn-based combat. Hollister did not want randomized levels. He wanted a classic text adventure with a curated map. He nodded along as Gemini added suggestions about secrets, progression systems, and other features.
Unlike Claude Code, which makes a plan and asks for approval, Gemini sprints ahead automatically. One minute later, it had five design mockups. Twenty minutes after that, he pressed the Install button to transfer the game to a Pixel 9 phone.
Stay ahead of the AI curve
The most important updates, news, and content — delivered weekly.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
The game's writing was terrible, as expected. No demons appeared. The dungeon contained only 11 rooms. A player could win by spamming the attack button repeatedly, finishing the game in a minute. Gemini helped fix two showstopper bugs.
The game's promised "compelling narrative with branching dialogue options and multiple endings" reduced to a single branch at the end. Players could defeat the Core Orator by attacking it, merging with it, or entering a backdoor password. The game also revealed all its secrets by turning them into glowing buttons. When a treasure chest appeared, the game explicitly warned it was a Mimic monster. It even provided the backdoor password automatically when needed.
Bug fixes worked remarkably smoothly when Gemini correctly identified the problem. Hollister reported a missing button in a conversation scene. Gemini immediately produced a new app version. He pressed Install, the app restarted, and he found himself exactly where he had left off with the button now present.
Limitations and a Nintendo knockoff
Hollister's other apps needed more work. The calorie counter decided to estimate calories by querying the paid Gemini API. He did not have a paid API key. When he told it to search other databases instead, the app vastly understated calorie counts. A 16-ounce boba milk tea logged at 190 calories. Gemini eventually discovered the error: it had matched "milk" for "boba milk tea" and chosen low-calorie 1 percent milk. After correction, a three-ounce serving of Taiwanese popcorn chicken still rang up at 140 calories, which Hollister believes should be double that.
Finally, he tested whether Google still lets users create bad Nintendo knockoffs. Earlier this year, colleague Jay Peters made such an app with Project Genie. Hollister created Super Peach Rescue, a game that crashes whenever the one-eyed Princess Peach touches a power-up block. Peach cannot jump high enough to clear the second pipe. Gemini has not yet fixed either issue.
Gemini did not hesitate to create a working Super Mario game where the player rescues Mario with classic power-ups. It even suggested giving Peach a Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and Super Star. Hollister plans to delete the app.
At least one of the two games was playable right away with no effort from him. He feels psychic damage knowing how many game developers are out of work. He is glad the games he made are bad. While he might justify building a free personalized calorie counter because no one else will, his gaming time is better spent supporting human developers.