A practical Genie 4 prompt guide

A useful Genie 4 prompt is a scene brief with a clear purpose. Begin with the world you want to explore and the observation you care about, rather than a long string of cinematic adjectives.

Google’s announcement describes natural-language steering during an ongoing simulation. Its existing Genie prompting guide also provides environment and character guidance, but explicitly discusses Genie 3 in parts. Treat that guide as versioned context, not a specification of the new preview’s controls.

1. Environment: name a bounded place and a few meaningful surfaces or landmarks.
2. Viewpoint: say whether the viewer is walking, observing from a fixed position or following a character.
3. Action: specify one event you can recognize when it occurs.
4. Sound: describe a plausible ambient layer or a clearly associated event sound, when appropriate.
5. Continuity anchor: identify an object, layout feature or visual property you intend to revisit.

This structure is our suggested writing aid. It is not a special syntax, a hidden command language or a guarantee that the model will preserve every instruction.

A brief that is difficult to evaluate

A breathtaking futuristic world with amazing weather, realistic people, cinematic action and perfect physics.

The problem is not its length. There is no clear location, camera task or observable definition of “perfect.” If the output looks impressive, you still cannot tell which requirement was satisfied.

A more inspectable scene brief

A small botanical glasshouse with a single central walkway and a red watering can beside the entrance. First-person viewpoint at walking height. Move slowly toward the far door. Light rain begins on the roof while the plants remain still. Keep the watering can beside the entrance when the viewpoint returns.

Now you can inspect the path, the rain and the anchor object separately. This is an original, untested example. It asks for behavior; it does not prove the behavior will occur.

A request can accidentally combine a first-person view with an external shot of the same viewer. Decide which perspective matters. If the goal is navigation, a clear eye-height view may be easier to judge than a sequence of dramatic camera cuts.

Also distinguish the camera from the character. “A courier walks across the courtyard” and “the viewpoint follows a courier” are different instructions. Write the one you mean, then state how the observer should move. Avoid asking for several incompatible movements in the same short test.

Once you have an initial setting, change one variable while preserving the rest of the brief. For a lighting test, change the time of day and keep the path. For a dialogue test, keep the setting and request one response to a visible event.

Save the instruction and your observation in separate fields. “The vase stayed blue” is a result; “keep the vase blue” is only a request. The evaluation worksheet helps keep that distinction intact.

Try the same short route again before adding a more complicated task. You are learning what happened in a particular run, not establishing a universal success rate.

There is no verified magic word count for Genie 4 prompts. Add a detail when it clarifies the setting, intended action or observation. Remove a phrase when it simply repeats a style judgment or conflicts with another instruction.

A long list of constraints can also make it harder for you to diagnose the result. Keep a short base brief and record each revision. If the scene drifts, simplify the test before increasing complexity.

Use the browser-local scene-brief builder to assemble your own draft, or browse the original prompt examples. Neither feature calls a model or requires a Google account.