Feb 25, 2025 · 1h 16m · startup-ideas
VIBE CODING A COOL VIDEO GAME (Grok 3 + Claude 3.7)
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Greg Isenberg and Alex Finn demonstrate how to build, backend-integrate, and deploy a viral playable web game in under two hours using Grok 3, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, Cursor, and Supabase. The episode provides both a full-stack vibe coding tutorial and an organic marketing blueprint for converting viral social attention into digital business leads.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Greg holds 11.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Greg as informed peer 3.9 Guest teaching 5.1 Guest disagreement 1.0 Greg pushing back 1.3
speaking balance: gold is Greg, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 20:26 Alex defends no-code narrative against his CS degree
Alex playfully pushes back against Greg's tease, arguing that despite his background he is not manually writing any code during the demo.
Hardest push from Greg ▶ 1:11:00 Greg reframes the tweet posting strategyGreg intervenes on Alex's distribution plan, pointing out that including an outbound link directly in the primary tweet will trigger algorithmic suppression.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 1:00:05 Alex diagnoses keyboard event hijackingAlex explains the technical reason the email modal will not accept typing because p5.js is intercepting all keystrokes for game controls.
Greg holds their own ▶ 1:11:00 Greg outlines optimal multi-tweet distributionGreg showcases his growth expertise by instructing Alex to post native video media first and delay adding the external link into the replies.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Greg as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Greg pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Viral Micro-App Growth Strategy | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Alex introduces the core thesis of building viral AI micro-apps as an acquisition channel. Greg validates the premise from his own social media experience. | |
| Sponsor: Startup Empire Membership | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Alex outlines using Grok's deep search and think mode alongside p5.js to generate the game skeleton. Greg asks clarifying questions about why p5.js is chosen. | |
| Setting Up Cursor and Claude 3.7 Sonnet | 3 | 6 | 1 | 2 | Alex imports the code into Cursor using Claude 3.7 Sonnet to fix mechanics and keyboard events. Greg teases Alex after learning he holds a computer science degree despite claiming anyone can do this. | |
| Transforming the Game for Maximum Virality | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Greg provides direct strategic input to prompt the AI around viral mechanics and niche targeting, resulting in a dramatic one-shot visual overhaul. | |
| Implementing Supabase Backend and Email Capture | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Alex sets up a Supabase database to capture high scores and emails, debugging an issue where the game canvas intercepted keyboard input. Greg shares enthusiasm for Supabase. | |
| Deploying the Game on GitHub Pages | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | Alex walks through deploying the game live via GitHub Pages so players on X can access it directly. | |
| Crafting the Viral Distribution Strategy on X | 7 | 4 | 1 | 3 | Greg demonstrates strong platform knowledge by explaining how X suppresses algorithmic reach for outbound links, correcting Alex's posting approach to optimize for video first. |
Statements from this episode (12)
Finn: A simple Cursor-built mini-game drove 500 newsletter signups on X
“And so I experimented with this about eight months ago where I said, Hey, I built my first video game through cursor. I have no game building experience. Play the game below. Whoever has the highest score in the next 24 hours, I'm sending you a hundred dollars…”
Finn: X thread-to-newsletter funnels are oversaturated and watered down
“And the way people really have been driving clicks to their newsletter over the last couple of years is they build like a really good thread and then they have a follow post that says, here's my newsletter, sign up for it. And that's kind of been drowned out a…”
Finn: DeepSeek forced rival AI models to expose chain-of-thought reasoning
“If Deep Seek did anything well, it kind of set the tone for like, okay, now all the other AI models have to put the chain of thought in, because this is what people expect now. I really think Deep Seek had like huge influence on how all this works.”
Finn: Developers should avoid using reasoning models like o1 for coding
“I would assume based on my experiences, you probably don't want to use the thinking model to do coding. You know, cause I've tried oh one and it was just a pain to use. You lose a lot of speed.”
Finn: Developers no longer need to break AI coding into micro-steps
“Before this, everyone who was in AI, hey, if you're doing something recursive, you're doing something, make sure you break it down into micro steps. Make sure you break it down step by step by step to make sure it's accurate. I don't think that's the case anym…”
Finn: An Elon Musk retweet on X yields about 10 million impressions
“You get an Elon retweet that's getting 10, ten million impressions, right?”
Finn: A computer science degree is the most useless degree today
“I have a computer science degree, which is probably the most useless degree you can possibly get at this point in time.”
Finn: Lead gen returns for interactive AI apps will vanish in three years
“Like we're in that beginning moments of this strategy where people who attack it and use it are going to see unbelievable returns. And then in three years when everyone's doing it, the returns won't be there.”
Finn: X and YouTube have the best indie hacking communities
“If you're an indie hacker, if you're an entrepreneur, I, in my opinion, I think X and YouTube are the only two places on planet earth that have the best indie hacking communities on the internet. I think if you're an indie hacker, you've got to be on both. You…”
Finn: Interactive micro-experiences outperform text threads for email collection
“Yo, I built this really cool online experience, right? Go play it. And now you get an email a lot cooler way. I think then kind of a thread. So I think this is the cutting edge of how to get emails and all of that.”
Isenberg: X algorithm suppresses links; post video first, link hours later
“Actually the way to do it is you take a video of yourself playing the game and the tweet has the video because the link is going to suppress the algo then, and then after a few hours as a second tweet, you can include the link.”
Finn: Converting viral memes into AI micro-apps is an untapped growth frontier
“So I think there truly is something to taking viral moments in time, turning them into experiences with AI and like garnering attention that way. There's something truly there. And I don't think a lot of business owners and entrepreneurs and indie hackers are …”