BLOOD SUGAR BATTLER: BUILDING A REAL GAME AS A DESIGNER USING AI

Summary from the TLDR Design newsletter

Alex Pierce built Blood Sugar Battler, a mobile diabetes education game, over the course of three months, utilizing the AI tool Lovable.dev for coding while hand-crafting all visual and audio elements. The retro-styled game challenges players to tap falling foods within 60 seconds, managing both score and a blood sugar meter that reacts differently to healthy versus processed foods. Pierce handled all creative decisions—pixel art sprites, vintage macOS interface design, sound effects, and gameplay balancing—while using AI to translate design intent into functional code. They learned that AI excels at technical scaffolding but cannot replace artistic direction or critical thinking.