A Pac-Man Inspired Task Manager
Your tasks = ghosts. Finish your backlog or get chomped.
For this vibe coding session, I wanted to test out Lovable since I’ve been hearing about it on the vibe coding Reddits.
The initial prompt
Create a website that consists of a PacMan-like game (simple 2-d maze with dots to eat and three ghosts (enemies)). Below the game frame is a section to enter to do items. Those items become ghosts in the pac man game at the top so the details of the task appear if the ghost is collided with in game.As you may have noticed, this is not a detailed prompt. Some would even say it is bad since I make no mention of tech stacks, requirements, or structure. There’s a lot of wiggle room in this prompt, so I’m excited to see how much of this Lovable is able to tackle. Here’s the first response I got:
Response from Lovable
Perfect! I’ve created TaskMan - a retro PacMan-inspired productivity game that combines task management with arcade gaming. Here’s what I built:
Features Created:
🎮 PacMan Game Engine
- Classic maze navigation with arrow keys
- Collision detection system
- Score tracking with dot collection
- Retro neon visual design with glow effects
👻 Task-Ghost Integration
- Your to-do items become ghosts in the game
- Three different colored ghosts based on task priority
- Collision with ghosts reveals task details
📝 Task Management System
- Add tasks with priority levels (low/medium/high)
- Complete/uncomplete tasks
- Delete unwanted tasks
- Visual indicators showing task status
🎨 Retro Arcade Design
- Dark theme with neon colors (yellow PacMan, colorful ghosts)
- Glowing borders and effects
- Classic arcade font styling
- Responsive design
How to Play:
- Add Tasks: Use the task manager below the game to add your to-do items
- Navigate: Use arrow keys to move PacMan around the maze
- Collect Dots: Gather dots for points while avoiding/seeking ghosts
- Ghost Encounters: Collide with ghosts to see your task details and mark them complete
- Manage Tasks: Update task status both in-game and in the task list
The game creates a fun way to visualize and interact with your productivity tasks - turning mundane to-do management into an engaging retro gaming experience!
The Stack
Lovable took no time picking React, Vite, Tailwind, and shadcn and had something running in less time than it took me to type my initial prompt.
The First Run
I’m not a developer by trade, but the first thing I noticed was the lack of a game. I saw code for a game board flash on screen, so I’m hopefull it’s there and just not visible. The rest of the site is on brand with neon glow and lots of yellow. The task manager has a little ghost icon and those shadcn buttons we all know and love.
Adding a task seems to work, but I get a flurry of notices in the corner that I’ve collided with a task ghost. The game must be running, but running at an incridible speed, Jim Carrey style.
The First Debug
The initial app setup used up 3.5 of my 5 free credits for the day, so let’s see how much cleanup we can get done. I mention that the game is just a white box for me but seems to be running since I get bombarded with collision warnings when entering a task. I also ask to slow the game speed down and pause collisions when editing a task.
Lovable totally understood where I was coming from and made a few edits. The game board now loads, but the ghosts are seizure-inducing, and the character movement has you slamming into walls instead of that classic Pac-Man feel. This is untennible.
Vibe Debugging
I let Lovable know my issues in simple terms, and it saw the issues almost immediately:
Response from Lovable
I can see the issues! The ghosts are moving too frequently and aggressively, and the player movement is too sensitive. Let me fix the game speed and AI behavior:
Perfect! I’ve made several key improvements to fix the gameplay issues:
Changes Made:
✅ Ghosts Now Start in Corners: Positioned at (1,1), (23,1), and (1,17) - much less intrusive
✅ Much Slower Ghost Movement: Ghosts only move every 800ms instead of constantly
✅ Less Aggressive AI: Only 10% chance to chase player, 70% random movement, 30% staying still
✅ Controlled Player Movement: 150ms delay between moves prevents “slamming” into walls
✅ Separated Game Loops: Player movement (50ms) vs ghost movement (800ms) for better control
Game Feel Now:
🎮 Player Control: Deliberate, grid-based movement that’s easy to control
👻 Ghost Behavior: Slow, mostly random wandering - not constantly chasing
⚡ Game Speed: Much more relaxed and strategic pace
🎯 Positioning: Ghosts start far from player in corners
The game should now feel much more like classic PacMan with controllable movement and ghosts that patrol the maze rather than aggressively pursuing you. Try it out - you should be able to navigate smoothly and the ghosts will move much more slowly around the corners!
I was left with a flurry of seizure-inducing ghosts and character movement that would make it impossible to turn or change directions. I would’ve left it at this point or started a new version with a more detailed prompt; However, I stumbled upon Lovable’s Github connection in the settings. I thought the code would be locked behind a paywall, but it isn’t.
I had a local version of TaskMan running on my PC in no time. Since I was out of credits for the day, I decided to see if Google could fix the game movement. I went over to Google AI Studio, a testing ground for Google’s latest Gemini models with very generous token limits, and pasted the two .tsx files that make up Task Man. Google’s 2.5 model had no problem suggesting a new movement system that I could not implement myself. Instead, I asked Gemini 2.5 Pro to provide instructions for another coder (Lovable).
Once my Lovable credits replinished, I busted in like I knew what I was talking about and pasted Google’s instructions. Lovable seemed shocked, but also impressed and made the changes I requested.
I was left with buttery smooth Pac-Man movement, and no more free credits for the day.
Expanding the Team
I burned my daily Lovable credits in one prompt, so I figured it was time to recruit some new AI coding stallions to the stable.
I started with Claude Code to modernize the UI, figure out warp pipe functionality, and help me figure out the codebase.
I then tested OpenAI’s Codex to get mobile touch controls working and help me brainstorm on what the power-ups should be. We decided to go with tomatoes in the corners to act as pomodoro timers, and the ability to share your high score on social media and LinkedIn specifically.
In a day, I had a working version of Task-Man live on the web. It doesn’t have login capabilities or store your tasks to a database right now, but for this silly proof of concept, I’m fine with it.
Ready to Get Chomped?
The best way to understand Task-Man is to fire it up and feel the pressure of hungry ghosts chasing you.