My Game Development Journey
I have been running multiple businesses for one year, but I failed in all of them.
After that, I decided to learn programming.
I realized that businesses with a low barrier to entry are very hard to make money from.
In my case, game development felt like a good choice.
I am a Korean male, and I will enter military service soon. During military service, I cannot manage paid services or customer support.
However, games based on ad revenue require much less active management, so they fit my situation well.
Goals of This Project
Become a developer who can use AI effectively
If my business fails again, gain the ability to get a developer job
Make money through game development
Project 1: FlappyMoney
Development time: 2 weeks
This game is simple: the player taps the screen, a money character jumps, avoids obstacles and ruins, and tries to make more profit.
While making this game, I became confused about game structure, and I relied too much on AI.
I felt that something was wrong.
FlappyMoney
https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/1013607
Project 2: Clicker Game
Development time: 1 day
I work with my twin brother on development projects.
I believe making games with two people can be faster and more efficient.
However, I also realized that starting a project without enough knowledge can make us lazy and unfocused.
So we decided on a challenge:
January: one game per day
February: one game per two days
March: one game per three days
This way, we can grow fast at the beginning, and later make higher-quality games with longer deadlines.
Before starting the project, we designed the script structure first.
We worked for 12 hours, but we failed to complete the game.
I felt confused about how to use AI.
Too much work was handed to AI, and because of that, my own understanding and speed became worse.
ClickerGame
https://github.com/lyyzzayo-commits/ClickerDefense.git
Project 3: Merge Game
Development time: 1 day
We failed to complete this game.
However, I started to improve my ability to understand code structure, even though I was still confused about using AI properly.
MergeGame
https://github.com/kimtaeha606/merge-game.git
Project 4: Strike Game
Development time: 1 day
During this project, I fought with my brother because we did not make decisions equally.
Even so, we completed the game for the first time.
This game is about dragging and shooting a ball into a catcher.
Through this project, I learned:
How important teamwork is
How much code structure understanding matters
StrikeGame
https://github.com/lyyzzayo-commits/strikegame.git
Project 5: JumpFrog
Development time: 1 day
We successfully completed this game.
The game is about dragging and releasing a frog to avoid lava and arrows.
JumpFrog
https://github.com/lyyzzayo-commits/jumpflog.git
Project 6: Idle Mine
Development time: 1 day
We failed to complete this game.
This project had too many systems, and I felt overwhelmed by both work and code.
Most importantly, we failed to communicate, and we could not understand each other’s code.
So we changed our development approach:
More communication during the planning stage
I make the decisions
AI writes code as an implementer, not as a superior
IdleMine
https://github.com/lyyzzayo-commits/idle_mine.git
Project 7: GunHit
Development time: 1 day
We completed the game very quickly.
I no longer felt confused about code structure or overloaded with work.
GunHIt
https://github.com/kimtaeha606/gun-hit.git
Project 8: FlapGun
Development time: 1 day
Our development speed kept increasing.
Before, it took 12 hours to make a game.
Now, we can make a game in 6 hours.
This growth felt very real.
I can now review AI-generated code and fix or modify it freely.
FlapGun
https://github.com/lyyzzayo-commits/Flap-Gun.git
What I Learned
I now believe that the most important skills for a developer are:
Designing a clear structure
Using AI as a powerful tool, not a replacement for thinking
I will publish again after completing my next game.