How I made my game in 2 weeks using Amazon Q Developer

Years ago, when I was in college I created my first game. I made a couple after that shortly after. But since those years, I paused game development. I started focusing more on regular app development, web and mobile. Recently, I have been thinking about getting back into game development. I just did not know where to start. Enter the AWS Game Builder Challenge. It's the perfect challenge given that I have also recently sat and passed my AWS Solutions Architect exam. This was a perfect challenge to accept and use my new skills.

Why I chose this type of game? Given recent natural disasters throughout the globe, especially now with wildfires in LA, there is much concern about global warming and what we can do to tackle climate change. This game is an analogy to us, the human race tackling the effects of climate change.

Given the short time frame, I was unsure where to start with the new game. Thats where Amazon Q stepped in. From the very start, it was a big help. I asked it to give me the base to start a text-based RPG and the results were amazing for me. Q Developer generated a full react project with the components and logic needed to start my game. I would say it saved me about 50% of the work. All I had to do was customize the game to my vision and liking. Q also helped me the backend. I managed the resources using AWS CDK. it was easy to describe what I needed and Q did the rest, minus a few minor tweaks. if there were any errors, I could ask Q and it did not take long to resolve them.

The game, EverLife: The Last Cycle is a text-based RPG where your decision matters. Click to move through the story and battle enemies of a destructive nature. Listen to the story, use the right powers, and keep your health above 0 to complete the game.

Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9QNr_-mN2c

I built the game with React Typescript with vite on the front end. Backend, strictly AWS. S3 for hosting, Dynamo DB for storing saved game data for the user, lambda to process data, API Gateway to manage the APIs and Cognito for authentication.

The plan is to expand the story by making it more dynamic using AI. AWS Bedrock is the perfect solution for this. Also, I plan to improve the user interface.

I never thought about using Amazon Q Developer before, but having used it for this game challenge, I am impressed. I know I will be using it again to help me cut development time on projects that I work on. And the best part is, there is a FREE tier! Awesome! Thanks AWS.