This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Wayne Rockett
This post is my submission for DEV Education Track: Build Apps with Google AI Studio.
What I Built
For the Google AI Studio Education Track, I wanted to build something a bit different. So I dusted off my inner 80s child, loaded up my imaginary tape deck, and created…
A ZX Spectrum–style Loading Screen Generator
Built entirely using Google AI Studio, Gemini, and Imagen.
Think chunky pixels, screaming BRIGHT colours, and enough nostalgia to make your old rubber-key Speccy shed a tear.
Demo
So the application is simple, you provide it a prompt and it will generate a ZX Spectrum loading screen based on your prompt.
The app is deployed here, I have put a loose limit on usage as I did give in a sign up for the billing, but with a very low budget as I don’t actually expect people to use it.
My Experience
Honestly?
Google AI Studio made this absurdly easy.
Fast
The build was really quick, I mean, like, really, like as fast as a Knight Industries car.
Within a minute, I had:
- A full React + TypeScript project
- API integration
- A UI
- Working image generation
It felt like watching a Speccy loading screen but… much faster and without the shrieking sound effects.
Iteration was Weekend At Bernie’s dead simple
After the first version, I asked the assistant to make a few small changes or additions, and it was very smooth and still very quick.
GitHub Integration
The link between Google AI Studio and GitHub was so smooth it felt like cheating.
A couple of clicks and the repository was syncing perfectly.
Deployment
Google Cloud Run is great, but for familiarity’s sake, I deployed using Vercel, which worked flawlessly once I added the environment variables.
If you’d told teenage me — sitting in front of a 48K Spectrum — that one day I’d deploy an app with a single click instead of faffing about with LOAD “”… I’d have assumed you’d been inhaling too many cassette fumes.
Problems
I did, or still have, a problem. Sometimes the API for Imagen times out, and sometimes it returns an image that makes no sense.
This image it generated with a prompt for “a tense penalty shootout in a packed stadium”
So it isn’t perfect, but, if it was, I wouldn’t have a job.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Wayne Rockett