15 Easy Game Ideas for Beginners (With Prompts You Can Copy)
Want to make a game but don't know what? 15 easy game ideas for beginners, from catch games to 3D obstacle courses, each with a prompt you can copy and a real game to look at.
In this article
- The 15 ideas at a glance
- Before you start: test ideas for free
- 1. A catch game
- 2. An endless runner
- 3. A trivia show
- 4. A learning game
- 5. An obstacle course
- 6. A trick and score game
- 7. Top-down chaos
- 8. A racing game
- 9. A rope-cutting puzzle
- 10. A one-tap drop game
- 11. A sorting game
- 12. A mining adventure
- 13. Tower defense
- 14. A bullet hell
- 15. A match-3 with a goal
- How to turn any idea into a good prompt
- FAQ
Want to make your own game, but stuck on what? You don't need a big, original idea. Most great mobile games start with one simple action: catch, jump, stack, sort, tap. Here are 15 easy game ideas for beginners, each with a prompt you can copy into Flikk and a look at what it turned into.
Every idea comes from something we actually tried. Some we built and played. For others, we only got the free game plan with a sketch, so we show a similar game from Flikk next to it. We say which is which, so you know exactly what to expect.
Quick note: Flikk is our app. "We built it" means we built and played the game. When we didn't save the exact prompt, we say so and give you one that describes the game. "Game plan" means the sketch is the plan Flikk showed us before building. Getting a plan is free.
The 15 ideas at a glance
| # | Idea | 2D or 3D | You'll like it if… |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Catch game | 2D | you want something done in one sentence |
| 2 | Endless runner | 2D | you love "one more try" |
| 3 | Trivia show | 3D | you know a topic inside out |
| 4 | Learning game | 2D | you have an exam coming up |
| 5 | Obstacle course | 3D | you play Roblox obbies |
| 6 | Trick and score game | 3D | you like sports games |
| 7 | Top-down chaos | 3D | you like explosions |
| 8 | Racing game | 3D | you have a wild car idea |
| 9 | Rope-cutting puzzle | 2D | you like physics puzzles |
| 10 | One-tap drop game | 2D | you want the simplest controls possible |
| 11 | Sorting game | 2D | you find tidying satisfying |
| 12 | Mining adventure | 2D | you like exploring and treasure |
| 13 | Tower defense | 3D | you like planning |
| 14 | Bullet hell | 2D | you want a real challenge |
| 15 | Match-3 with a goal | 2D | you like puzzles |
Before you start: test ideas for free
Open the Create tab, pick 2D or 3D, and type your idea. Flikk's companion (the little green robot) answers with a game plan: a name, a sketch and the rules. Getting a plan is free. You only spend Tokens when you tap Build it: 100 Tokens for a new game, ready in about 15 minutes. So try a few ideas from this list and build the one you like most.
1. A catch game
We built it: Hungry Cat Catch
"A cat catches fish"
Four words, and Flikk made a full game: a cat slides along a river, fish and hooks fall from above, three lives and a frenzy mode. Catch games are the easiest start there is: one action, instant feedback.
Make it yours: a dog catching bones, a bucket catching rain, a goalkeeper catching balls.
2. An endless runner
We built it: Urban Vault
"Make me game where i have to parkour on the rooftops of an urban city"
Yes, typos and all. Flikk made a rooftop runner: jump across gaps, dodge obstacles and run as far as you can. Runners are perfect for chasing your own best distance.
Make it yours: a penguin sliding down a glacier, a ninja on bamboo roofs, a skateboarder in a mall.
3. A trivia show
We built it: Retro Quiz Show
"Make me a trivia game about video games from the 80s to today, with four answers per question and harder questions every level. Make it feel like a TV game show."
You get questions, four answers, a timer and levels. Later we added an emoji bonus round with one edit: guess the game from three emoji.
Make it yours: any topic you know well: football, your favorite band, dinosaurs, anime. The full story is in How to Make Your Own Trivia Game.
4. A learning game
We built it: Pizza Fractions
"Make me a learning game where I can learn and train fractions for my exams. Make also mini games for visual learning, like showing fractions on a pizza."
40 levels of fractions on pizzas: fill the right amount, pick the bigger share, find which fraction is shaded.
▶ Play Pizza Fractions in your browser
Make it yours: whatever you're studying. More ideas in our 10 educational game ideas for school.
5. An obstacle course
We built it: Lava Leap
We asked for a 3D platformer where you run and jump across floating platforms over lava, with a joystick, a jump button and checkpoints. Flikk built 50 levels. With one edit, we added moving platforms and lasers.
Make it yours: a candy land, a space station, a giant kitchen. Step by step in How to Make a 3D Game Without Coding.
6. A trick and score game
We built it: Cliff Diver Pro
Close to: "Make me a cliff diving game where I make tricks with the movement joystick and have to land headfirst. There are judges who judge you for your jump at the end of the level."
We didn't save the exact sentence, but that was the idea. Three judges score every dive, and Flikk added wind, rings to dive through and a gauge for a clean entry.
▶ Play Cliff Diver Pro in your browser
Make it yours: skateboard tricks, figure skating, snowboard jumps. Anything with judges works.
7. Top-down chaos
We built it: Cluck and Boom
A 3D farm seen from above at an angle, a floating joystick, and eggs that go off in big orange explosions. We didn't save the prompt, but something like this works:
"A 3D game seen from above at an angle where I move a chicken with a joystick and dodge exploding eggs on a farm."
Make it yours: a robot in a junkyard, a cat in a kitchen full of falling pots.
8. A racing game
Game plan: Spinfire Raceway
"A racing game where there is a wheel for steering in the bottom middle of the screen. Make the circuit wide enough for 3 cars side by side. Also add turrets on the cars that are fired with a button. If the player steers the wheel 120 degrees really fast, the car turns 180 degrees. The car accelerates on its own. And add a brake button"
Every detail made it into the plan, and the finished game has them all: a steering wheel in the bottom middle ("Drag the rim"), a FIRE button for the turrets, a BRAKE button, and a wide track with room for three cars.
▶ Play Spinfire Raceway in your browser
Make it yours: "A racing game" alone works too, but then Flikk decides everything. See How to Write a Game Prompt.
9. A rope-cutting puzzle
We built it: Lunchline Lagoon
We didn't save the prompt for this one. Want something like it? Try:
"A physics puzzle where I swipe to cut ropes so a fish swings and drops past hooks to a hungry shark, with 50 levels."
A fish hangs on ropes, a shark waits below, and you swipe to cut at the right moment. Level 43 even shows a short tip: "Catch, wait for a gap, then snip again."
▶ Play Lunchline Lagoon in your browser
Make it yours: a candy for a frog, a parcel for a mail truck, a pizza for a sleepy cat.
10. A one-tap drop game
We built it: Monster Drop Arcade
We didn't save this prompt either. Try something like:
"An arcade game where I tap to drop balls through a board full of pegs and spinning bars into prize slots at the bottom, with a hungry monster to feed."
The simplest controls there are: one big Tap to drop button. The fun is watching where the ball bounces.
▶ Play Monster Drop Arcade in your browser
Make it yours: drop snowballs, coins, candy or tiny planets.
11. A sorting game
Game plan: Spooky Candy Sort
"Sort the trick-or-treat candy into the right buckets before the bag overflows, while a ghost steals a candy every few seconds."
Put things in the right place before it's too late. The thief is the twist: something that works against you.
We only got the plan for this one. Here's a sorting game on Flikk: in Haunted Pantry Sort by @flycool5, you tap pumpkins, ghosts and potions into a bar, and three of the same clear away.
Make it yours: sort laundry before a dog runs off with a sock, sort recycling, sort potions.
12. A mining adventure
We built it: Mine Descent
We didn't save the prompt. Try something like:
"A top-down mining game where I dig through rock, collect gold and keys, dodge minecarts and go deeper with every level."
You start at Depth 1, find keys and gold, and work your way down level by level.
▶ Play Mine Descent in your browser
Make it yours: dig for dinosaur bones, pirate treasure or crystals on the moon.
13. Tower defense
Game plan: Pumpkin Defense
"Place pumpkin cannons along a graveyard path to stop waves of zombies. Each wave is bigger than the last."
Build towers along a path, stop the waves, upgrade between them.
We only got the plan for this one. For a defense game you can play today, try Merge Castle Defense by @pikachu: defenders on a castle wall stop the enemies, and you merge two of the same to level them up.
Make it yours: snowball forts against yetis, garden plants against snails, robots against aliens.
14. A bullet hell
We built it: Bullet Vortex
"make me a challenging bullet hell game"
Six words. Flikk made a vertical shooter: your ship flies over a desert road, the screen fills up with enemy bullets, and you have three lives and a bomb for emergencies. It really is challenging.
▶ Play Bullet Vortex in your browser
Make it yours: a bee dodging raindrops, a snowboarder dodging snowballs, a wizard dodging spells.
15. A match-3 with a goal
Game plan: Witch's Midnight Brew
"A match-3 game where you match eyeballs, mushrooms and spider legs to fill the witch's cauldron before the moon rises."
A match-3 with a reason: every match fills the cauldron, and a rising moon is the timer.
We only got the plan. Grave Match by @durancito shows how it plays: you swap ghosts, pumpkins, bats and potions, and each level gives you a goal within your moves.
Make it yours: feed hungry animals, clean a car, fight skeletons. Our match-3 skeleton battle shows how one edit gives every match a reason.
How to turn any idea into a good prompt
All 15 prompts follow the same pattern:
- What does the player do? Catch, run, cut, sort, tap, dodge.
- Where, or with what? A cat by a river, rooftops, a shark lagoon.
- What's the twist? A thief, judges, a rising moon.
One sentence with those three parts is enough. Then build it, play it, and change it with Make Edits. Want to know what the companion does with your idea? Read Meet the Flikk Companion.
7 prompts to copy
Here are seven new ideas built on the same pattern. We haven't built these ones, so they're a starting point: copy one into the Create tab, get the free game plan, and change any part you like.
- "Catch falling pizza slices with a delivery box on a busy street, while seagulls swoop down to steal them."
- "Run as a hamster through a giant kitchen, jumping over spoons and cups, and the floor gets slippery when it rains."
- "Sort socks into matching pairs on a washing line before the wind blows them away, and a cat keeps pulling one down."
- "Tap to bounce a basketball through hoops on floating islands, and every hoop moves a little faster than the last."
- "Dodge falling snowballs as a penguin on a frozen lake, and the ice cracks a bit more every ten seconds."
- "Stack sushi as high as you can on a moving conveyor belt in a busy restaurant, and every tenth piece is a giant one."
- "Drive a tiny tractor around a farm with a joystick, collect eggs before the fox gets them, and the fox gets faster every level."
Pick one idea from the list, open the Create tab and make it yours.
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FAQ
What is the easiest game to make as a beginner?
A catch game or a one-tap game. They have one action, so a short prompt is enough: "A cat catches fish" gave us a full game with lives and a frenzy mode, and "make me a challenging bullet hell game" gave us a full shooter.
Do I need to know how to code to make these games?
No. On Flikk you describe the game in a sentence, and it's ready to play in about 15 minutes. No code, no engine and nothing to install.
Can I make 3D games as a beginner?
Yes. Pick 3D next to 2D in the Create tab. Obstacle courses, trick games and top-down games like ideas 5 to 8 work well in 3D.
How do I make a game idea more original?
Keep the action and change the world or the twist. A bullet hell becomes yours when it's a bee dodging raindrops. A runner becomes yours when it's a penguin on a glacier.
Is it free to try these game ideas?
Getting a game plan is free, so you can try every idea on this list. Building a game costs 100 Tokens, and you can buy Tokens as an optional in-app purchase.
