Iterative Design with Space Invaders

To further test the limits of the Widget Genie, we decided to build an arcade classic: a fully playable Space Invaders clone.

Unlike simple UI components, a game like this requires a complex render loop, collision detection, state management, and real-time user input. More importantly, this example perfectly demonstrates the conversational workflow of our AI Co-Developer. You don't have to get everything perfect on the first try; you can iterate and refine your widget using natural language.

Step 1: The Initial Concept

We started with a very simple, direct prompt in a new games/space-invaders widget:

Create a Space Invaders widget

In seconds, the Genie generated the complete DOM structure, retro styling, and the game loop. It even included on-screen touch controls. However, while the ship could move and fire, the alien armada was static.

Step 2: Live Bug Fixing

Instead of digging into the JavaScript to write the missing movement logic ourselves, we simply asked the Genie to fix it:

aliens are not moving. Please make them move

The AI instantly understood the context, updated the game engine to include the classic alien movement logic (shifting horizontally, dropping down at the edges, and reversing direction), and updated the code without breaking the rest of the game.

Step 3: UX Refinement

The game was fully playable, but we wanted a cleaner interface optimized for desktop use. We asked the Genie to refactor the UI and controls:

remove the bottom controls. use keyboard...

The Widget Genie autonomously stripped the HTML buttons from the view, adjusted the CSS layout, and injected robust keydown event listeners into the controller. It even added a neat little instruction text (ARROWS: MOVE | SPACE: FIRE) to keep the interface user-friendly.

Victory on the Dashboard

With the widget perfected, we added it to our main HomeGenie dashboard.

It runs beautifully alongside real-world smart home controls like Thermostats and Door Sensors. The score updates reactively, and the game loop handles hundreds of moving particles without skipping a frame or impacting the dashboard's performance.

This is the true power of Agentic UI Development: going from an idea, through debugging and UX refinement, to a production-ready component in just a few minutes of conversation.

📥 Download Resources

Want to try it yourself or examine the generated code?

• 📦 Space Invaders Widget Archive (Import this to play the game on your dashboard)
• 💬 Chat History (JSON) (Import this to see how the AI iterated on the code)