No Code Required: How Language Can Build Games and Websites

When I was at school, the conventional wisdom was simple: if you wanted to learn to code, you had to be a maths genius or at least the sort of person who didn’t flinch at the sight of a semicolon. That myth stuck around for years, and for many, the idea of coding felt out of reach unless you were wired a certain way.

But that’s all changing

In this blog, I want to encourage a love of language and show how words, not just numbers, can unlock the world of coding because believe it or not, reading and writing aren’t just skills for English lessons. When combined with code thinking, they can become something far more powerful. The become a doorway to creativity, problem solving, coding and maybe even website or game development.

Now I’ll be honest, I didn’t take the traditional route into programming. My first degree was in English Language and Literature. I loved detective fiction, the works of Umberto Eco, Carlos Ruiz Zafón and anything that made you think. Maybe an underlying sign of my love of puzzles and problem solving with IT coming later in the form of a master’s degree.  Since then I’ve spent the last number of decades writing code, reading specifications, and translating client needs into software systems.

All along, I’ve lived in the space between the two worlds of humanities and the sciences. In that space, the one skill that’s always mattered is the ability to communicate clearly. In the past that was writing specifications for clients to read and later on writing specifications for computers to understand and create prototypes.

Whether I was explaining systems to clients, writing documentation for developers, or now writing prompts for AI to generate working code, it’s all been about clarity of thought and language. Sometimes it has been using language but often diving into specialist technical communication tools like Unified Modelling Language (UML) as well as others. The key point is that specialist presentation methods have always existed and these are now evolving to enable clear specifications to be created for generative AI.

And that’s what this blog is about — creating written instructions and specifications that pretty much instantaneously deliver a usable product or demo.

With the rise of generative AI, the barriers to coding are dropping fast. You no longer need to master a programming language to build a working website or game. You just need to be able to describe it clearly, logically, and in detail. That’s what prompt engineering is, and it’s a skill rooted firmly in literacy.

Let’s bring coding and literacy together

Imagine this in a primary classroom. Traditionally, if you wanted pupils to “code,” you’d reach for Scratch. Scratch is brilliant. It introduces key concepts without worrying about semicolons or syntax errors. Maybe you went a little further and followed one of my previous blogs and developed a simple game using Kaboom.  These tools teach problem solving for coding using logical constructs that solve problems using coding structures.

But what if we want to go a bit (maybe a lot) further?

What if we could take the pupils who love writing stories, who are full of ideas, and show them how their creativity can drive digital creation? Be that creation a website, a game, an amination or amazing digital artwork.

What if we flipped the idea of teaching coding on its head and made it part of the English curriculum instead?

In this blog let’s get pupils writing game rules as if they’re writing a short story. Let’s help them describe how something should work, what the player can do, what makes the game fun or challenging. Because the better they are at describing those ideas, the more capable they become of turning those ideas into working code using AI.  The key to this challenge is moving from just writing the specification on paper to actually the pupils having a fully working game they can play by the end.  This shift is about inspiring pupils to engage with constructing solid well written presentations with the reward of getting a working output quite quickly. 

An example and proof this challenge works for the classroom

Here’s a practical example. Let’s build a version of the classic Snake game but not by coding it, but by writing a good prompt for a tool like ChatGPT.

That’s it. No programming knowledge needed. Just a clear, detailed description of what we want the game to do. And those of you old enough to have played this game on a Nokia 5110 you will quickly realise that I have not followed the traditional rules of the game.

You could run this as a class activity. Get everyone to use the same prompt to build the base version of the game with the challenge to change the rules, tweak the design, or invent their own game entirely using the structured prompt provided. Pupils could generate better visuals for the snake and make it more cartoon or real. They could adapt minefield or PacMan (now there was a game) or try to build the classic Tetris.  It really does not matter. The key of this exercise is getting the pupils to understand that they are explaining the concept to an alien who has never heard of these games, so the plan needs to be very clearly laid out with lots of detailed instructions. Ok, you can give the AI some free rein if you like and when you do you get some interesting results.

Here’s the prompt I used:

You are a coding assistant helping me build a simple browser-based version of the classic Snake game using JavaScript (no frameworks), HTML, and basic CSS. I want a complete single-file solution that works in a browser. Please include all code (HTML, CSS, JS) in one HTML file for simplicity.

Here are the requirements:

Basic Game Rules:

  • The game is displayed in a fixed-size grid (e.g., 20×20 or 30×30 square cells).
  • The snake is controlled by arrow keys (up, down, left, right).
  • The snake moves one cell at a time and continues moving in the same direction until changed.
  • If the snake hits a wall or its own tail, the game ends with a “Game Over” message.

Walls:

  • The game should be bounded — the player cannot go outside the grid.
  • Hitting any edge of the grid should trigger game over.

Snake Growth:

  • The snake starts with a short tail.
  • The snake gets longer over time, not by eating food.
  • Initially, the tail grows by one segment every 10 moves.
  • As the game goes on, the number of moves between tail growth should decrease gradually (e.g., every 10 moves at first, then every 9, then 8, etc., down to a minimum like every 2 moves).
  • This means the game gets harder over time.

Scoring:

  • Each time the snake grows longer, the score increases by 1.
  • The current score should be displayed onscreen.

Additional Features:

  • When the game is over, show a “Game Over” message and the final score.
  • Optionally offer a “Restart” button to play again.
  • Style it simply but clearly — different colours for the snake’s head, body, and walls.

File Output:

  • Output everything inside a single HTML file so I can save it and double-click to play.
  • Do not split the code into separate files.
  • Comment the JavaScript code clearly so I can understand the logic. The focus is on clarity and correct game mechanics over advanced graphics.

Additional Instructions:

  • Comment the JavaScript so I can understand and edit the logic.
  • Use good variable names and clear structure.
  • Make sure the game starts automatically when the file is opened.
  • The restart button should be visible only after the game ends.

What are these technologies?

Why Are We Using HTML?

HTML or HyperText Markup Language is the basic building block of web pages. It is the code that tells your browser how to display content, and it is perfect for this kind of activity because it is simple to understand, easy to write, and crucially it works on every modern computer without needing to install anything. Whether you’re using Edge, Chrome, Safari or something else, all pupils need is a web browser to see the result of their work. Security wise it poses no risk and will not be blocked by IT policies so easy for teachers to adopt as an exciting lesson.

This activity is designed to be low-drag and high-impact with no complicated software, no login screens, no fiddly setups. Just write your instructions clearly, run in ChatGPT (the free version), download the HTML page, and play. The goal is to show pupils how using clear, plain language can lead directly to something fun, interactive, and rewarding, in this instance a game they’ve helped bring to life.

Why Are We Using JavaScript?

JavaScript is the language that brings our game to life. It adds the logic, the movement, the score tracking and all the stuff that makes Snake more than just a picture on the screen. Without JavaScript, the snake wouldn’t move, the game wouldn’t end, really nothing would happen at all.

The beauty of using JavaScript here is that pupils don’t need to write any of it the AI does that. But by reading through the commented code, they can begin to understand how the rules they described in their prompt became working behaviour in the game. That’s the first step toward real programming confidence and helps create that understand between how the presentation they constructed becomes code.

Why Are We Using CSS?

CSS or Cascading Style Sheets is what makes the game look the way it does. It controls the colours, layout, fonts, borders and makes all the visual components look interesting. While HTML gives the game its structure and JavaScript gives it its behaviour, CSS gives it personality.

In this activity, CSS is used to clearly distinguish the snake’s head, body, background, and game messages. Pupils can easily experiment with the colours, layout, and fonts without breaking the game itself which is a great way to introduce creative pupils to coding through visual design.

That is really easy. At iTCHYROBOT you likely know us as your school website provider. All the technologies we are using we use every day in our jobs. We know these inside out and love to explore and new ways to generate exciting solutions. We also love to introduce these technologies to others and encourage them to learn them. In the future who knows, by learning web technologies through this process the next iTCHYROBOT Team member might just be getting the bug to pursue a career with us in web development.

The Shift from Syntax to Semantics

Starting the conversation

Before pupils write their own prompts, get them to plan the story of their game. Pen and paper first. What are the rules? What happens when the player wins or loses? What makes it fun? What keeps you coming back? May be even get some old school board games out to play so they learn the rules.

Get them thinking like game designers.

Is it about levels of increasing difficulty? Is it puzzle-solving? Is there a storyline? How does the player interact? If they have played board games like Snakes and Ladders is it the social side or the jeopardy element? Lets hear what the pupils describe and then use those descriptions in their game prompts.

Once they have written a clear description of how the game should work, they can present their ideas to their class mates to see if the instructions are clear before turning that into a prompt. The AI will take care of the technical stuff and they will soon be playing their own game.

What are we really teaching?

When we help pupils write persuasively, structure an argument, or explain their thinking, we’re laying the foundations for prompt engineering in the modern world or heading to a role as a technical architecture in the current software development world.

It’s not about code. It’s about thinking clearly, writing logically, and explaining well. Those are the skills that power the modern workplace and the emerging technologies in the digital world.

You don’t need to be a maths genius. (I’m definitely not.) But you do need to be able to express your ideas and that starts with language. It’s a critical life skill no matter what career path they wish to take in the future.

Just to conclude. Prompt engineering might sound like a techy buzzword, but really it’s a fresh name for something we’ve always valued in any business but particularly the IT world: good writing, good thinking, problem solving and good communication.