PygamePrompts

kaabl/PygamePrompts

This repository contains materials used for the ScaDS.AI General Assembly 2025 2-hour workshop "Coding Effectively with AI: Getting Started with Cursor and Copilot" that took place on 09.09.2025.

Workshop Overview

Target Group: Beginner to intermediate (no coding experience needed)

Content: Build a simple Snake game entirely by prompting with Cursor or GitHub Copilot

Learning Objectives: Explore different prompting techniques for effective code generation

Workshop Materials

• Cursor Download
• Community Pad
• Slides
• Prompting Techniques Template

Cursor Installation (Linux)

Please copy the commands one-by-one to your terminal and press Enter to execute. You might need to change the path/file names.

1. Navigate to directory of download file, e.g.:

cd Downloads/

2. Make file executable:

 chmod +x Cursor-1.5.11-x86_64.AppImage

3. Now you can launch cursor with:

./Cursor-1.5.11-x86_64.AppImage

Create conda environment

Please copy the commands one-by-one to your terminal and press Enter to execute. When asked to "Proceed ([y]/n)?" during step 1, type "y".

conda create --name PygamePrompts python=3.11

conda activate PygamePrompts

pip install pygame

Cursor Global User Rules

Copy these rules into your Cursor global settings during the workshop:

Please reply in a concise style. Avoid unnecessary repetition or filler language.

Please do not output unchanged files.

Please always implement the ENTIRE feature, if you changed it.

ALWAYS keep your answers as short as possible!

Cursor Set up with Logo (Linux)

1. To make Cursor accessible system-wide, move the file to a directory in your PATH, e.g.

sudo mv Cursor-1.5.11-x86_64.AppImage /opt/cursor/cursor.appimage

2. To set up a cursor icon, download the logo for fee from here and then move it to the same directory:

sudo mv cursor.png /opt/cursor/

3. Create a global desktop shortcut (alternative for local shortcut: nano ~/.local/share/applications/cursor.desktop):

sudo nano usr/share/applications/cursor.desktop

4. Paste this into the file & specify icon file path, e.g.:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=cursor
Exec=/opt/cursor/cursor.appimage
Icon=/opt/cursor/cursor.png
Type=Application
Categories=Development;

In case Cursor doesn't launch try:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=cursor
Exec=/opt/cursor/cursor.appimage --no-sandbox
Icon=/opt/cursor/cursor.png
Type=Application
Categories=Development;

Run main.py Bug

1. First try: Strg + Shift + P and type "Select Interpreter". Then select the conda environment.

2. If running the main.py does not work (this will likely only occur on Windows due to Cursor bug) use the solution below found in cursor/cursor#1791:

After activating conda einvornment use command below to get the explicit path:

$env:CONDA_PREFIX

Then create a crusor rule that tells cursor to always use this path.

---
description: ALWAYS use this environment C:\Users\kabjesz\AppData\Local\anaconda3\envs\PygamePrompts to execute scripts
globs:
alwaysApply: true
---

Before starting a new chat, add these rules to the context. Then tell cursor to run main.py in the main chat. After doing this once you can also execute main.py from Cursor command line with the command below.

python main.py

3. If `conda activate PygamePrompts doesn't work try:

conda init powershell

additional info: it might also help to launch cursor from Miniforge Prompt with the command 'cursor' (didn't work for Luisa)

Contributors

• Lea Gihlein
• Luisa Götze
• Mara Lampert
• Lea Kabjesz

About This Repository

This repository serves as a collection of prompts and examples that demonstrate how to use prompting techniques during AI-assisted coding. It's designed to help participants learn how to leverage AI tools like Cursor to write code more efficiently, even without prior programming experience.

The prompts contained here showcase various approaches to AI code generation, from basic game mechanics to more complex programming concepts, all focused on creating a complete Snake game through AI assistance.