Lenny's Reads

Listen: How I built LennyRPG

Mar 18, 2026
A designer turns a podcast transcript archive into a Pokémon-style trivia RPG. He walks through a six-step, AI-driven workflow from sketch to shipped game. Tools, pivots between frameworks, automated transcript processing, quiz generation, avatar art, audio sourcing, and realtime leaderboards are all discussed.
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ADVICE

Invest Heavily In The PRD First

  • Do spend disproportionate time on the core idea and PRD before coding.
  • Ben says nailing the PRD determines ~80% of how smooth the rest of the build will be and helps keep AI aligned.
INSIGHT

Repurpose Text Data Into Game Mechanics

  • Turn domain data into a playful format to create novel products.
  • Ben transformed 300+ Lenny podcast transcripts into a Pokémon-style RPG where guests are battle encounters and collectibles.
ADVICE

Have AI Interview You To Build The PRD

  • Do let the AI interview you to create the PRD instead of writing it cold.
  • Ben pasted his core idea and visuals into ChatGPT, had it ask 17 clarifying questions, then chained answers into a comprehensive PRD.
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