# How to make an endless runner with AI

This page: https://www.teleplay.ai/guides/how-to-make-an-endless-runner-with-ai
Updated: 2026-11-04

## Quick answer

Name a runner, a place and two moves, usually jump and slide, and Teleplay builds an endless runner with obstacles coming faster the longer you last. The engine has a family of its own for runners, and the score is the distance you ran.

## Runners to play now

- [Moonroad Courier](https://www.teleplay.ai/play/70f1c465-bb02-457f-ac21-1c69c343b436): Endless runner
- [Vinebound Temple](https://www.teleplay.ai/play/2c15a01b-6a18-46ff-9b1f-c548376936e2): Endless runner

## The prompt behind Moonroad Courier

A runner's sentence has a simple rhythm: who, where, which moves, what is in the way, and the goal. Here all five fit in one line.

> Guide a desert-fox courier along a moonlit caravan road, jumping and sliding past ruins, scorpions and chasms to run as far as you can.

(Moonroad Courier: made)

## Choosing obstacles

Each obstacle should ask for exactly one answer, and the player should be able to tell which from a distance. Three types are enough to begin with.

| Obstacle | The answer | Example in a theme |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Low | Jump | A scorpion, a rolling log, a mop bucket |
| High | Slide | A ruined arch, a low branch, a shop sign |
| Gap | Jump with timing | A chasm, a broken bridge, an open manhole |

## Pacing a run

1. **Set a gentle start** The first ten seconds should be survivable by anyone, so people get a run they feel good about.
2. **Ramp the speed slowly** Too fast a ramp and every run ends at the same moment, so the score stops meaning anything.
3. **Add something to collect** Coins placed along a risky line ask the player a question each time. Ask for them in the editor if the first build has none.
4. **Share the best score** Set the game to anyone with the link and dare a friend to beat you.

Runners are a shared genre, and famous ones have famous heroes. Whatever you describe comes out as an original game with your own runner, never a copy of someone else's characters or art.

## Questions

**Is an endless runner good for phones?**

Very. Two moves map well to touch, and games made with the code engine draw their own controls.

**Can it have an ending instead?**

Yes. Ask for a finish line, or plan 1 to 5 levels on Create.

**Can it run in three lanes?**

Ask for lanes and for swiping or pressing to change them. Teleplay's lane dodger family handles that kind of movement.

**Can I change the runner's look after?**

If you made the game, yes: pick the picture in the editor, say what to change, and a new version is drawn in the game's style.

## Read next

- [How to make a flappy-style game with AI](https://www.teleplay.ai/guides/how-to-make-a-flappy-style-game-with-ai)
- [AI platformer game maker: from a sentence to a level you can jump through](https://www.teleplay.ai/guides/ai-platformer-game-maker)
- [AI dodge game maker: one rule, one score, one more try](https://www.teleplay.ai/guides/ai-dodge-game-maker)