Prompts that work

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"Make it better"

In the prototype days, Remy typed this to the AI: "make the game better". The AI changed the colours, swapped the music and rewrote the shop. The shop stopped working.

The message you give an AI is called a prompt. A vague prompt leaves the AI guessing. A specific prompt tells it exactly what you want.

Four things every good prompt says

Vague vs specific

Vague: "fix the ship"

Specific: "In Hyper Shards, the ship keeps sliding for about half a second after I let go of the arrow key. The movement code is in ship.js. Make it stop almost straight away. I'll test by tapping left and letting go."

The second one says which game, what's wrong, where, and how to check.

Prompt pick

Kai is about to send a prompt to Generative AI Model Alpha in IDE X 3.0. Which one will get the best result?

  1. "Garden Defense is broken, fix it"
  2. "In Garden Defense, snails move twice as fast as they should. Their speed is in enemies.js. Halve it. I'll test by timing a snail across the garden."
  3. "Make the enemies better and also add more stuff"
Show the answer

"In Garden Defense, snails move twice as fast as they should. Their speed is in enemies.js. Halve it. I'll test by timing a snail across the garden."

It names the game, the problem, the file and how to check. Claude doesn't have to guess, so it's much more likely to get it right.

One change at a time

Imagine asking for five things in one prompt: a new boss, new music, a faster ship, a bigger score font and a pause button. You play the game and it crashes. Which of the five broke it?

Ask for one change. Test it. Save it. Then ask for the next one. Each step is small, so any problem is easy to find.

Ask for a plan first

For bigger jobs, start with: "Before you change anything, tell me your plan in 3 steps."

Say we want a new snail pest in Garden Defense. The AI might plan: add the snail's numbers, add how it moves, add its picture. If step 2 says "rewrite every pest", you can stop it before any code changes.

Bolt says: Fixing a plan takes seconds. Fixing code that went the wrong way takes much longer.

Quick check

Asking for five new features in one prompt is the safest way to work.

Show the answer

False

If something breaks, you can't tell which of the five changes caused it. One change at a time keeps every problem small and easy to find.

Paste the error message

When a game crashes, it usually leaves an error message: a note saying what went wrong and where. In a web browser you can see it in the console, a hidden panel that the F12 key opens in most browsers.

The message names the problem, plus a file name and a line number. Copy the exact words into your prompt, and say what you were doing when it happened.

Error message

Browser console, Garden Defense
TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'health') at pests.js:42

This appears when a beetle reaches Sprig and the game freezes. Which prompt should Remy send?

  1. "It crashed again, fix it"
  2. Paste the exact error, and say it happens when a beetle reaches Sprig
  3. "Rewrite the whole game so it never crashes"
Show the answer

Paste the exact error, and say it happens when a beetle reaches Sprig

The exact error tells Claude what broke and where: line 42 of pests.js tried to read health from something that wasn't there. Saying what you were doing helps it find the cause fast.

Prompts love small files

Did you notice how good prompts name a file, like ship.js or enemies.js? That only works if the game is split into small files with clear names.

Bolt says: Our games are still one giant file. Soon we break them into LEGO blocks. First, meet the helpers Claude can call on.

Fact-checked 9 October 2026