I Entered Reddit's Hackathon... and Built a Golf Game for Some Reason! ⛳
I recently entered Reddit's "Games with a Hook" hackathon on Devpost, and... I ended up building a daily golf game!
In this post, I want to share some of the core insights and technical takeaways I gained from participating in this sprint.
### What Was the Hackathon About?
The core challenge was to build a mini-app formatted as an interactive game. To put it simply: remember *FarmVille* back on Facebook? That's the literal definition of a social mini-app.
Reddit's main objective for this hackathon was boosting daily active user retention. Unlike Telegram's play-to-earn monetization model, Reddit actually pays out monetization rewards directly to developers if your game succeeds. They are actively looking for addictive mini-games that give users a reason to open Reddit specifically to play every single day—not just scroll past two posts and leave. That daily retention hook was my primary focus.
### The Development Journey & Game Mechanics
When I discovered the hackathon on Devpost, I decided to build a daily challenge game inspired by Wordle's daily retention loop. I drew conceptual inspiration from *Kinda Hard Golf* and hit the ground running:
- No Heavy Game Engines: I deliberately chose not to use traditional engines like Unity or Godot since I didn't have extensive experience with them. Instead, I relied strictly on a lightweight Vite + React stack for both the frontend and backend logic. - Open-Source Assets: For textures and visual elements, I leveraged open-source 2D asset packs from itch.io.
### The Outcome & Key Lessons
I completed the game on schedule and submitted the project on time. Unfortunately, I didn't take home a winning prize this round. However, it was an incredible learning experience in designing social mini-app loops and rapid game development. Plus, there are several more achievements dropping later this month that I'll be sharing soon! :)
### Check Out the Project & Code
- Play the Game: hellishgolf.xyz - Devpost Submission: Devpost Software Entry - Reddit Winner Gallery: Devpost Project Gallery - Open-Source Code: GitHub Repository