"From Prompt to Play: Building Flappy Bird with Amazon Q and Pygame"

Ever wondered if you could build a game just by describing it in plain English? In this blog, I’ll walk you through how I created a Flappy Bird clone using Python, Pygame, and Amazon Q CLI — an AI-powered coding assistant. From writing a simple prompt to running the final game, I’ll break down each step in beginner-friendly language.

What is Amazon Q CLI?

Before jumping into how I built the game, let me explain what Amazon Q CLI is, especially if you’ve never used it before.

What Even Is Amazon Q CLI?

Think of Amazon Q CLI as your coding buddy that lives in your terminal. You just type a prompt in plain English (like “make a Flappy Bird game in Python”), and it writes the code for you, or at least gets you a very good starting point.

CLI stands for “Command Line Interface,” so this tool works in your terminal, not in a fancy app or browser.

It’s like ChatGPT, but built specifically for developers who want to generate, test, and modify code projects directly from the command line.

What You Can Use It For

Amazon Q CLI isn’t just for games. You can use it to:

• Build full-stack web apps

• Create scripts and utilities

• Generate backend APIs

• Scaffold game projects like the one I made

In my case, I used it to jumpstart my Pygame-based Flappy Bird game.

Tools You Need to Get Started

How to Install Amazon Q CLI on Windows

For Installing Amazon Q Developer CLI for windows refer this blog: Amazon Q CLI Installation

How to Start Using Amazon Q CLI

Writing the Prompt for Amazon Q CLI

"Create a Flappy Bird clone using Python and Pygame. The game should include:

• A player-controlled bird that jumps/flaps upward when the spacebar is pressed

• Gravity pulling the bird down when not flapping

• A continuous scrolling background

• Pairs of pipes that move from right to left, with gaps for the bird to fly through

• Collision detection with pipes and ground

• A scoring system that increases each time the bird passes a pipe

• A start screen, game over screen, and restart functionality"

What Amazon Q CLI Generated for Me

After that it will ask to make changes to the files by simply asking yes, no or trust.

Then it will explain the features of the game and how to run the application to play the game.

After that run this command to play the game

python flappy-bird.py

Conclusion

This Flappy Bird clone project demonstrates a solid understanding of game development concepts. The implementation includes all core features of the original game plus some enhancements like fullscreen gameplay and visual improvements. The code structure shows good organization with customizable parameters for game mechanics. The project successfully recreates the addictive gameplay of the original while serving as an excellent example of what can be achieved with Python and Pygame.

Also the Amazon Q CLI is just amazing and generates the code by thinking deeply first if we give more accurate prompt to it. Check Amazon Q CLI here.

“Build Games with Amazon Q CLI”

This is a great opportunity to learn more about Amazon Q CLI and getting hands on with it. Use your creativity to build games using Amazon Q CLI and share it with the world. For more information check this out:

Also do check out the source code here: GitHub Repo