Build Log #9: How I Built a 6-Game Retro Arcade Site in 1 Hour with Claude Code

In the previous post, I set up SEO to get the blog indexed on Google Search.

This time, I changed direction. Instead of coding, I made games. Six of them. In under an hour.

Why Games?

I'd already built a blog with AI, connected a domain, and set up SEO. The next question was this:

"Can AI build something that real people can actually play with?"

Web games were the perfect answer.

No server needed, just a browser, and anyone can play the moment it's deployed.

What I Built: Retro Replay

Retro Replay is a website with 6 classic arcade games in one place.

Snake — The classic game where you eat food and grow longer
Tetris — Stack blocks and clear lines
Breakout — Bounce a ball to break bricks
Pong — Classic table tennis against AI
Minesweeper — A strategy game where you avoid mines and open all tiles
Dodge — The main game: survive 60 seconds dodging homing missiles

The tech stack is pure HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. No frameworks. No server. No build tools. Just open a browser and play.

How I Built It: Conversations with Claude Code

Step 1: Setting Up the Project Structure

I told Claude Code "let's build a retro arcade game site." In the very first commit, all 6 games and the main page were created at once.

Here's the project structure that came out:

retro-replay/ ├── index.html ← Main page (game list) ├── games/ │ ├── snake/ ← Snake game │ ├── tetris/ ← Tetris game │ ├── breakout/ ← Breakout game │ ├── pong/ ← Pong game │ ├── minesweeper/ ← Minesweeper game │ └── dodge/ ← Dodge game (main)

Each game folder contains an index.html and one game logic .js file. Total code: approximately 3,000 lines.

Step 2: Mobile Support + UI Improvements

The games were built, but they couldn't be played on mobile. No keyboard.

I told Claude Code "add touch controls so they work on mobile too." In a single request, touch controls were added to all 6 games.

What was added in this step:

Mobile touch buttons (d-pad, action buttons)
Mobile-specific CSS layouts
AI Craft Log banner (link to aicraftlog.com)
Approximately 600 lines of additional code

Step 3: Dodge Game — Designed So No Human Can Beat It

Among the 6 games, Dodge got the most attention.

First, I sketched a rough draft in Paint and sent it to Claude Code.

I explained that the triangle was an airplane, the airplane dodges missiles, the missiles chase the airplane, and asked for the game to be designed so that nobody can survive past 60 seconds.

The AI proposed 4 mechanisms to ensure no human can ever pass the 60-second mark:

Mechanism	Description
Homing Missiles	Missiles that track the player's position every frame
Spawn Interval Reduction	Decreases from 0.8s → 0.15s over time
Simultaneous Spawn Increase	1 missile → up to 6 at once (~40 per second in late game)
Missile Speed Increase	Base 1.8 → max 4.3 (player speed fixed at 4)

The key is the last one. In the late game, missile speed (4.3) exceeds player speed (4).

On top of that, 40 missiles per second are raining down — making evasion physically impossible.

The game is mathematically designed so that 60 seconds is unbeatable.

The main page features a live demo animation of the Dodge game.

It's a canvas showing AI automatically dodging missiles — and Claude Code built this too.

Results in Numbers

Item	Value
Total games	6
Total code	~3,000 lines
Commits	3
Tech used	HTML, CSS, JavaScript (no frameworks)
Server cost	$0 (static site)
First commit to completion	Same day

Main Page: Capturing the Arcade Feel

The main page isn't just a game list. It features neon colors, scanline effects, and a retro grid background for an authentic arcade atmosphere.

Dodge takes the hero section with a live canvas animation running
The other 5 games have pixel art preview canvases for quick previews
Each game's high score is saved in localStorage and displayed on the main page
Styled with TailwindCSS CDN (no build tools needed)

Lessons Learned

1. AI Can Build Games Too

It's not just blogs. AI is excellent at building games with clear rules. Say "make a Snake game" and you get a fully working Snake.

2. You Can Build Multiple Games at Once

I didn't need to build them one by one. "Build an arcade site with 6 retro games" — and all 6 came out in the first commit.

3. Game Balancing Is Done Through Conversation

The difficulty curve for Dodge was tuned through conversation with Claude Code. A single request — "make it impossible to beat 60 seconds" — led to a design where missile speed exceeds player speed.

Summary of What Was Done

Built a retro arcade game site called Retro Replay with Claude Code
Implemented 6 games (Snake, Tetris, Breakout, Pong, Minesweeper, Dodge) in pure HTML/CSS/JS
Added mobile touch controls so all games are playable on mobile
Applied an unbeatable difficulty design to the Dodge game (60-second cap)
Created a neon arcade-style main page with a live demo animation

Idea (Retro Arcade) → Code Generation (Claude Code) → 6 Games + Main Page (HTML/CSS/JS) → Mobile Support (Touch Controls) → Game Balancing (Dodge 60s Design) → Deployment (GitHub Pages / Cloudflare)

What's Next

In the next post, I'll take on a more complex game. This time, instead of a single AI working alone, I'll use Agent Teams — a feature where multiple AI instances split roles and work in parallel. A lead AI assigns tasks, and each teammate AI handles frontend, game logic, and testing simultaneously — cutting the development time significantly.

See you in Build Log #10.

I'm an embedded software developer in the automotive industry who builds AI-powered services as AICRAFTER. I'm documenting this journey at aicraftlog.com.