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June 25, 2026 · Summer Test Kitchen

Build a Game in an Afternoon

Sherrie Cao builds AI for games at EA. In this session she shows how to go from idea to a working, interactive prototype in an afternoon using AI coding agents. She demos a real project she made this way, a Chrome extension that adds live commentary over Netflix and HBO shows, then everyone builds their own small game: a themed take on Wordle.

Presenter: Sherrie Cao (Senior Product Manager, Electronic Arts) · 2:30–4:30 p.m. · SCDI 3115, Santa Clara University

Watch the recording

Watch on YouTube →

Tech lead, not coder

With coding agents, the job shifts from writing code to directing it. You describe what you want, review what comes back, and push back when it is wrong. That is the mindset for the afternoon: aim for a working thing you can play with by the end, not perfect code.

  • Direct and review. You set the goal, read the output, and course-correct. The agent does the typing.
  • Rough is fine. This is a prototype, not production, so messy code is fine. The point is something that runs and is fun to use.
  • Judgment matters. The workflow works best when you can catch where the agent goes wrong, so you will practice spotting and fixing it.
  • No CS background needed. The exercise is built for participants from any field, coding experience or not.

What Sherrie will demo

A roughly 45-minute walkthrough of how she builds with coding agents, anchored by a real project. Rougher is better here: you learn the most from seeing the actual process, debugging included.

Demo
Live commentary for streaming
A Chrome extension that overlays live commentary on Netflix and HBO shows. Sherrie walks through how she built it with an agent, including the parts that broke and how she worked through them.
Method
How she works with the agent
Her best practices for prompting and steering coding agents: framing the task, reviewing output, and knowing when to push back. Workflow-focused, so it carries over to any tool.

Build it yourself

After the demo, everyone uses the same workflow to make a small game of their own. Sherrie and the team stay to help and give feedback.

The hands-on build

  1. Recreate Wordle with a themed twist. Pick a word list that fits you, lines from The Office, GRE or MCAT vocab, anything, then have the agent build the game around it.
  2. Build it as a React web app. No backend needed; it runs entirely in the browser.
  3. Stay in the tech-lead seat. Direct the agent, review each step, and fix what is off. Have your own idea instead? Build that.
New to coding agents? That is the point. The exercise is designed for participants of any background, and there will be plenty of help in the room.

Get set up before you come

Everyone builds in one tool: the Claude Code tab (labeled Code) inside the Claude desktop app. You will not write code or use a terminal. You describe the game you want in plain English, Claude writes and runs it, and you watch it come together in a live preview. Take a few minutes to install it before the session so we can start building right away.

About 5 minutes
On a Mac
  1. Download and install the Claude desktop app and sign in.
  2. Open the Code tab.
  3. Done. We will pick a project folder together at the session.
About 10 minutes
On Windows
  1. Download and install the Claude desktop app and sign in.
  2. Install Git for Windows. Run the installer and click Next on every screen, accepting all the defaults.
  3. Fully quit and reopen Claude, then open the Code tab.
Never done anything like this? Perfect. You do not need any coding or terminal experience. Come a few minutes early if you can, and we will have helpers in the room to get anyone unstuck, including the very first steps. You will need a Claude account on a paid plan (Pro or higher). Don't have one? AI Kitchen can reimburse you for a month of Claude Pro, and we'll share the reimbursement form at the session. More tool options are in the AI Tools Guide for SCU Students.

Going further

Part of the AI Kitchen Summer Test Kitchen series at Santa Clara University.
Questions? klukoff@scu.edu · Full schedule.