Playing with GPT-5: Turning Ideas into Educational Sailor Training Games in Minutes

Today I experimented with GPT-5 and built a sailing-themed game loosely based on the classic Asteroids—to train sailors (we have been talking about needing this for years). I was inspired by an explainer video on Instagram that dropped on the cool new uses for GPT-5, and I, being somewhat of an early adopter on this, wanted to jump on it and see this task with my own eyes, and boy was I enthralled in the process! Never had I used an LLM for coding before, and it was patient with me, and I with it, and we created several iterations (some with too much difficulty, and others with not enough sensitivity in the throttle control, which, was the main learning objective of the game) So, in under an hour, this specific concept went from an idea in my head to a playable prototype, simply by using prompts and perseverance.

I have included the prompts in reverse order (there were several iterations in between as well).

Version 3 prompt: “lets go with a teaching sequence to ensure the learner can feel the mechanics of docking and let’s reduce the amount of rows to one larger interior and two on either side and let’s include 1 or two slips and room enough for two boats to fit for realistic practice on the inside large row, and for the second level let’s make the boat larger and include prop walk mechanics, and the 3rd level, and even bigger boat that includes bow thruster mechanics using the “q” and “e” buttons to use the burst of bow thruster“

Version 2 prompt: “a few changes are needed. I need the wind to be reduced by as much as half on each level, also need the propulsion to be more sensitive so one small touch will be significant to teach small movements in the marina, and lastly I need a wind compass like the windex on the top of a mast pointing where the wind is coming from in the bottom left corner, I also need the outer rows a bit wider for realism.”

Version 1 Prompt: “Build me a game that is similar to the game asteroids but it is the top view of a sailboat that is trying to find it’s slip, and various slips in the marina and vary the difficulty of the slips and wind angle to get more points and have the colors be dark blue and turquoise with white boats to train new sailors docking and maneuvering“

This experience shows just how much possibility there is for educational leaders and trainers. You don’t need to be a professional game developer to create engaging, scenario-based learning experiences! With the right prompts, GPT-5 will generate:

• Training simulations — Practice docking a sailboat, troubleshooting a machine, or guiding a customer through a process.
• Onboarding mini-games — Turn company policies, safety steps, or system tutorials into interactive challenges new hires actually enjoy.
• Skill-building scenarios — Simulate “what-if” situations, allowing learners to make decisions and see the consequences in a safe environment.
• Gamified assessments — Replace dry quizzes with games that test knowledge while reinforcing learning through feedback.

The magic here is that AI turns your subject matter expertise + creative prompts into an interactive experience…no expensive coding resources needed! I can prototype, test, and iterate in days instead of months, keeping training fresh and adaptable.

If you lead education or training, this is an incredible new frontier: build games, build stories, build movies, build anything you damn well please, and the sky is the limit!