Make your first game: a complete beginner tutorial

What you will build

Lantern Grove is a small single-player game: you walk through a grove and light five lanterns, and when the last one lights a banner tells you the grove is complete. It is deliberately tiny. A first game should have one clear action, one way to make progress and one way to win, so you can finish it and learn how each piece connects before you make anything bigger.

You will build it in five short steps: describe the idea, add one lantern, add a score and a win condition, give it a look and a sound, then publish a link. Everything happens in the browser, and you can test after every step.

Before you start

You need a compatible browser and a Gessa project. There is nothing to install: the editor and the published game both run in the browser, and the built-in AI is free, with no separate external AI account required.

Open the editor and create a new project. Keep it open in one tab; you will test the game in the same place you build it.

Step 1: describe the game in one sentence

Tell the built-in AI what the player does, in plain language. Use the starting prompt above, or write your own version of it. Ask for the smallest playable version first: movement and a single lantern, nothing else.

Inspect the first result and test whether you can move around the scene. If movement feels wrong or the grove is too large, say so in one short follow-up and test again. Getting the smallest loop right is the whole point of this step.

Step 2: add the thing to collect

Add one lantern the player can light, and describe the interaction precisely: when the player reaches the lantern, it lights. Test with a single lantern before you add the rest, so you can confirm the rule does exactly what you meant.

Once one lantern works, ask for four more placed around the grove. Reusing a rule you have already tested is far more reliable than asking for five new things at once.

Step 3: add a score and a win condition

A game needs progress the player can see and an end they can reach. Ask for an on-screen counter of lit lanterns, and a win message when all five are lit. Keep the counter readable and the win state unmistakable.

Use a specific follow-up prompt so the rule is clear, then play until you have lit all five and seen the banner.

Show a counter of lit lanterns out of five in a corner of the screen. When all five are lit, show a clear banner that says the grove is complete, and stop counting.

Step 4: give it a look and a sound

Now make it yours. Generate the pieces the game needs in the same workflow: a lantern model with a clear shape, a ground texture for the grove floor, and a short chime for the moment a lantern lights. Generate one, place it, and judge it in the scene rather than in isolation.

Keep the style consistent so the lanterns read clearly against the ground. If a generated model needs a cleaner shape, refine the prompt or open it in browser Blender to adjust it, then bring it back into the scene.

Step 5: play, publish and share

Play the whole game once as a player would: walk the grove, light every lantern, and reach the win banner. Fix anything that felt unclear with one focused change at a time.

When it holds together, publish the game and open its public play page, which is separate from the editor. Send that link to a friend and watch where they go first. A first game that a friend can open and finish is a real accomplishment, however small it is.

Where to go next

You have the core loop that most games are built from: a world, an action, visible progress and a win state. The natural next step is to make it shared. The multiplayer guide shows how to plan and test a shared loop with a friend.

From there, add one challenge at a time: a lantern that moves, a time limit, or a second area. Each addition gives you a specific thing to build and test, which is exactly how the first five steps worked.