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Sometimes, as you learn your way through building on web3, you stumble onto something that completely changes your perspective on what's possible, which is one of my favorite parts of learning something new. That's exactly what happened during my three weeks in the Remix Level Up Cohort this August, where I didn't just build a new game – I created what I consider to be one of my personal BizarreBeasts ($BB) masterpieces: Treasure Quest! 👹 💎
But this isn't just another "I built a cool vibe-coded game" story from someone who knows how to develop code. I didn't have pre-existing coding knowledge before starting this process, just a BIZARRE passion to create something special with my artwork for the BizarreBeasts and web3 community. When Remix put out the call for games at the start of 2025, I was ready to give it a try. By the time the Level Up Cohort was announced, I was seven games in and ready for MORE and BETTER, to go to the NEXT LEVEL!
Treasure Quest is the culmination of an almost year-long journey that transformed my development process from a string of frustrating experiences and circular conversations with AI agents into a productive and BIZARRE development flow state, and it all started with understanding where I'd been struggling, and gaining access to the right tools – enter the Remix Level Up Cohort!
This is my 8th game powered by Remix, and I have been working toward a goal in which the BizarreBeasts ($BB) project can have a fun and meaningful distribution channel in the web3 gaming space. Each game has been a stepping stone, a path of deliberate practice, a learning process. The early BizarreBeasts games took an immense amount of work and patience to create, but in the end, they still left me wishing the games could be much better than I could create with my current understanding and options.
My Game Development Evolution:
Memory Game (1st game): 1,298 lines, weeks of trial and error, 22K+ plays
Head Crush (2nd game): 3,520 lines, weeks of frustration as I kept needing to rebuild parts of the game, 16K+ plays
Sliderz (3rd game): 736 lines, one week of trial and error, not as difficult to create, but not the greatest BizarreBeasts game, 573 plays
TicTacToe (4th game): 492 lines, one week of development with a few items that I was unable to resolve until the Level Up Cohort, 24K+ plays
Checkerz (5th game): 1,370 lines, 2 weeks of development, and a lot of trial and error, 10K+ plays
Munches Climb (6th game): 843 lines, 2 weeks build time with some experimenting, 10K+ plays
Bizarre Bounce (7th game): 1,316 lines, 2 weeks of development with a lot of debugging based upon player device, 42K+ plays
Treasure Quest (8th game): 21,812 lines, 3 weeks of pure development and advancement, BIZARRE masterpiece status attained, played over 4,000 times since release on August 27th, 2025
Notice the pattern? Seven games of "frustration" and "trial and error" followed by one game of "development and advancement." I asked Claude what they thought about my improvement in the game-building process, and they said, "That's a 16x code complexity increase while cutting development frustration to almost zero, and going from creating simple puzzle games to a full arcade platformer." Claude is RIGHT!! 😆
This journey isn't just about one creator getting better at making games. It's proof that with the right tools and persistence, individual creators can build distribution channels that compete with traditional gaming platforms in the web3 space and earn attention in the marketplace. But what made the BIZARRE difference?
The Remix Level Up Cohort was the catalyst that finally broke through that barrier of challenges I have been consistently running into. This cohort wasn't just another online coding course; it was an intensive, three-week journey with direct mentorship from @insidethesim and the Remix team (@chuckstock and @blackstock, and access to professional-grade tools that completely transformed my approach to game development, particularly in focusing on my artwork.
The cohort provided structure, guidance, and most importantly, access to a mentor who genuinely cared about seeing creators succeed and provided tools to make it happen. @insidethesim didn't just teach concepts, he provided hands-on support that made a lasting impact on every builder included in the first Level Up Cohort.
After seven games of fighting with inefficient workflows, I learned something crucial: the right tools don't just make you faster, they make you think differently and work more efficiently.
The secret weapon? The Remix Starter Repo created by @insidethesim. This goes beyond a simple game-building template; it's a pre-configured TypeScript and Phaser.js environment that eliminates hours of setup and streamlines debugging. Instead of fighting with configuration like I had been for months, I could focus entirely on building the game itself using this starter repo.
But the Remix partnership goes far deeper than just great tools. Remix has been transformative for the BizarreBeasts ecosystem, providing what I consider the gold standard of creator support. The Remix team doesn't just build for themselves; they actively engage with creators, reaching out with ideas and improvements, engaging daily in the community chat, and demonstrating a genuine commitment to seeing builders succeed.
Why Remix Stands Out as a Collaborative Partner:
Snap Apps Innovation: Revolutionary feature that allows games to be released as standalone miniapps across multiple platforms, including Farcaster, TBA, Telegram, and World App. This is a HUGE unlock for individual creators!
Active Creator Support: Direct engagement with builders, providing feedback and improvement suggestions via direct messages, opening support tickets, or in the community group chat.
Professional Distribution: Games can simultaneously be trending on TBA, trending on Remix, trending on Farcaster, AND trending on World App all at once!
Proven Scale: Over 600,000 users, with some Remix games surpassing 1 million plays!
Well-Funded Growth: Recently raised $5M seed round led by Archetype, backed by Coinbase, Variant, and Lemniscap.
Creator-First Approach: The upcoming "Remixing" feature will enable successful builders to earn a percentage of future monetization for creating solid games that others can build upon.
My Essential Toolkit:
Visual Studio Code: My primary workspace for everything (free!)
Git: The absolute lifesaver that let me experiment fearlessly (free!)
Node.js: Runtime for all my build tools (free!)
Claude Code: My AI development partner (costs $100 per month but well worth it!)
Remix Starter Repo: The foundation that made everything possible, available here (free!)
@insidethesim's mentorship went far beyond just providing tools. He guided us through the entire development process, was available to help troubleshoot game debugging issues, and even dove directly into our repos when needed to help resolve complex problems.
But the real game-changer was learning crucial technical concepts like asset pooling and smart loading on-demand (lazy loading). These weren't just abstract theories; @insidethesim showed us exactly how to implement systems where only the assets you need are loaded into memory at any given time.
This technical foundation enabled Treasure Quest to handle massive visual complexity while maintaining lightning-fast performance across all devices. Instead of loading everything at once and crashing mobile browsers, the game intelligently manages resources behind the scenes.
Having a mentor with that level of technical insight and hands-on support was invaluable; it's the kind of guidance that transforms struggling developers into confident builders who understand not just what to build, but how to build it efficiently.
The breakthrough came when @insidethesim taught us to work with Claude to create a master game plan document at the start of a new game by having Claude ask us questions about the game we are working to build, then create a comprehensive plan that can be updated during the building process and referenced back on later. This simple but effective strategy was a game-changer and, honestly, some of the best advice you can get for AI collaboration.
With that foundation, I began to expand this concept to other areas and tasks, making Claude create comprehensive to-do lists and documents to look back on for each crucial step in the process. I developed a specific methodology that transformed how I build:
The BIZARRE Development Process:
Document Everything First – Add detailed notes about your issue or feature and share with Claude, along with screenshots or other data that would be helpful. Why this matters: Claude needs context to give you useful solutions. Instead of saying "my game is broken," explain exactly what should happen vs. what's actually happening. Include error messages, screenshots of the problem, and relevant code snippets. (TIP: Set up a Dropbox account and sync your screenshots to Dropbox, then when you take a screenshot, you can give Claude the Dropbox URL to see the image!)
Let AI Ask Questions – "Ask me any questions you need for clarification." The magic happens here: This forces Claude to think through all the variables and edge cases you might have missed. Often, Claude's questions reveal problems in your approach before you even start coding. Sometimes Claude even does their own Q&A and refines the plan on their own.
Demand Strategic Thinking – "Create a comprehensive plan we can discuss." Don't let Claude jump straight to code. Make it think through the entire approach first. This step alone saved me countless hours of coding myself into corners. The plan becomes your roadmap and prevents scope creep.
Review and Refine – Guide the process with your vision. This is where your creative vision matters most. Claude provides technical solutions, but you ensure they align with your game's feel, your artistic goals, and your players' experience. Push back if something doesn't feel right.
Test Before Implementation – "Do a comprehensive review and confirm this solution will work in the game." Ask Claude to walk through potential issues or conflicts with existing code. This catches problems before they happen. Claude can often spot integration issues you might miss or not have considered, and the only way to discover the issue is to have Claude pretest the changes before you actually playtest.
Build and Playtest – Implement the code and test it in your actual game. Start with small changes first. Don't implement everything at once. Test each piece as you go to make sure it works as expected before moving to the next part.
Debug with Comprehensive Console Logging – When facing a challenge, ask Claude to add comprehensive notes to the console so you can see what's happening to effectively solve the problem. This was a game-changer for troubleshooting. Instead of guessing why something isn't working, Claude can add detailed console.log statements that show you exactly what values are being passed, which functions are firing, and where things go wrong. It transforms mysterious bugs into clear, solvable problems because you can copy and paste the console notes and Claude can see exactly what is going on.
COMMIT TO GITHUB – Never skip this step! Your lifeline when experiments go wrong. I can't count how many times I've implemented something that broke everything else. Having recent commits means you can fearlessly experiment, knowing you can always roll back. Your lifeline when experiments go wrong. I can't count how many times I've implemented something that broke everything else. Having recent commits means you can fearlessly experiment, knowing you can always roll back.
BIZARRE TIP: After every major feature, I had Claude create comprehensive documentation for future reference. This created a knowledge base that accelerated every subsequent task as the game-building process unfolded and became invaluable for debugging and feature expansion. This will also be invaluable to have for the next game I create!
This process turned Claude from a simple coding assistant into an essential collaborator who helped me think through complex problems systematically and solve them quickly (usually haha).
During my early days of development, I ran into a frustrating cycle: I'd make a small change to test a new feature, then have to play through the entire game from the beginning just to see if it worked. Even worse, if the change broke something, it could mess up the whole game, and I'd waste hours trying to figure out what went wrong.
Through trial and error, I discovered a game-changing solution: creating a dedicated test environment. One of my most effective strategies became building the "BizarreBeasts Enemy Laboratory" – a dedicated staging area that's automatically excluded from the game's final build. This isn't a game level that players ever see; it's a safe space where I could:
Test new features without breaking the main game
Balance enemy spawns with a collapsible debug menu
Fix bugs in isolation
Experiment with player enhancements such as different speeds and invincibility
This approach saved countless hours of full-game playtesting just to see if one small change worked. It's simple, but it made my workflow dramatically more stable and efficient. (It's too bad I only thought of this when creating enemy number 7 instead of thinking of it at enemy number 1! Next time! 😆)
The transformation in my development process produced some remarkable results:
📊 Final Build Stats:
21,812 total lines of code → optimized to 12,481 production lines
77 unique backgrounds with a smart loading system (only 10 in memory at once)
150+ unique sprites across all gameplay systems with efficient asset pooling:
Player: 15+ sprites with advanced animations
Enemies: over 45 sprites across 9 enemy types
Collectibles: 25+ unique item sprites
Environment: 20+ platform and interactive sprites
UI/HUD: 15+ interface elements
Effects: 20+ visual effect sprites
50 main levels + 5 bonus levels + infinite Beast Mode levels
22+ sound effects with a completely ORIGINAL soundtrack
327KB final build that loads quickly
320+ Git commits over the 3-week development cycle
Treasure Quest is a feature-complete arcade platformer where players navigate through progressively challenging underground levels, collecting crystals while avoiding nine different enemy types. The game features:
Variable jump mechanics with framerate-independent physics (tap for hop, hold for full jump)
Progressive difficulty system with 9-tier enemy spawning
Smart asset loading that keeps performance smooth across all devices
50 main levels plus infinite Beast Mode gameplay
Bonus treasure-filled levels every 10 levels
Complete HUD system with hamburger menu, score, game stats, and power-up and curse timers
But the real achievement? The entire game runs at 60 FPS on desktop with framerate-independent physics that ensure consistent gameplay regardless of device performance, all packed into a lightning-fast 327KB build.
The cohort wasn't just about tools and techniques; it was also about building community. Having a group of skilled builders and testers providing feedback was invaluable. Our training calls and group discussions helped catch bugs, refine features, and push Treasure Quest from "good game" to "personal masterpiece."
The collaborative aspect taught me that even solo development doesn't have to be a lonely experience. When you're part of a community of builders, you have access to fresh perspectives that can transform your work.
This experience proved something important: individual creators with the right tools and framework can compete with traditional game development teams. During the first Level Up Cohort, we weren't just building games – we were demonstrating what's possible when web3 gaming meets modern development workflows and truly collaborative platforms.
The BizarreBeasts gaming ecosystem has now surpassed 120K total plays across all games on Remix, with individual games like Bizarre Bounce hitting 42K+ plays and trending #1 on both Remix and TBA, and Treasure Quest achieving game-of-the-day and gaining over 4K plays in one week. This proves there's real appetite for quality onchain gaming experiences, but more importantly, it shows what's possible when creators have access to professional-grade tooling and distribution.
Remix is more than a game/app store; the team is pioneering a new model where creators maintain ownership of their work while getting enterprise-level distribution. Their Snap Apps feature means your game can have its own dedicated "front door" across multiple major platforms simultaneously, with no cost to the creator.
This is the future of game development: nimble creators using professional-grade tools to build engaging web3 experiences while maintaining complete ownership of their distribution channels and community relationships. BIZARRE!!
When platforms like Remix actively support creators with direct engagement, technical resources, and innovative distribution features, it transforms the entire creator economy!
The Remix Level Up Cohort did more than teach me to build better games; it showed me how to think like a game development studio with actionably workflows, while maintaining the creativity and agility of being a solo creator.
Looking back at my journey from that first frustrated Memory Game build (1,298 lines, weeks of struggle) to Treasure Quest (21,812 lines, smooth 3-week build), the transformation is undeniable. The combination of:
Professional-grade tools (Remix Starter Repo)
AI-powered development workflows
Community feedback loops
Strategic testing environments
Systematic skill building across 8 games
Persistent vision for building sustainable creator distribution
Expert mentorship with hands-on technical support
...created a development experience that was both incredibly productive and genuinely fun.
The result? A proven pathway for creators to build meaningful businesses in web3 gaming. Each game teaches you something new, each iteration gets stronger, and the audience grows alongside your skills. We're not just playing games – we're building the future of creator-owned gaming economies, one BIZARRE project at a time.
Want to experience what 21,812 lines of optimized game code feels like?
Play Treasure Quest on Remix and see what's possible when the right tools meet BIZARRE creativity!
This is just the beginning. The BizarreBeasts gaming empire is expanding, and with workflows like this, we're building the future of creator-driven web3 gaming, one BIZARRE masterpiece at a time.
Play Treasure Quest: https://treasure-quest.remix.gg
Good luck, and may your treasure questing be BIZARRE!
The original soundtrack to the game is streaming on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and other streaming platforms!
As the artist and creator behind BizarreBeasts (BB), I'm continually exploring the exciting intersection of my lifelong passion for illustration and the darkly humorous world of outsider art with the innovative possibilities of web3. I'm drawn to the space where the comical and unsettling coexist, which influences the unique characters and narratives I create within the BizarreBeasts universe.
For me, BizarreBeasts is more than just digital collectibles; it's a fusion of my artistic vision and the potential of decentralized technology to build a community and foster new economic forms. This article reflects my hands-on exploration of blockchain technology as a tool to weave together community, culture, and cryptocurrency within the BizarreBeasts ecosystem.
BizarreBeasts is a creative universe centered around hand-illustrated, original characters brought to life through onchain artwork, comic strips, animations, original music, and interactive games. This project explores the darkly humorous and often unsettling aspects of existence, blending a lifelong passion for outsider art with the innovative possibilities of web3.
Beyond digital collectibles, BizarreBeasts aims to build a vibrant community where art and decentralized technology converge. The $BB token fuels this ecosystem, empowering collectors to actively participate in an ever-expanding narrative and a unique artistic journey that draws inspiration from modern pop culture and the timeless echoes of ancient art.
Click here to visit the BizarreBeasts Miniapp!
Explore, add the Miniapp to your Farcaster account, and share the BIZARRE!
Collect: Rodeo, Foundation, Highlight & Objkt.
Play: Remix.
Trade: Clank.
Subscribe: Hypersub.
Shop: Slice.
Stream: Spotify and more.
Explore: BizarreBeasts.io.
Disclaimer: This article is a marketing piece created to share information about the BizarreBeasts artwork and onchain project. It is not financial advice. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions.
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A GAME DEV TRANSFORMATION: FROM FRUSTRATION TO FLOW 🚀 My game dev journey has been an absolute $BIZARRE quest, and I'm incredibly proud of what I've learned. My experience in the /remix Level Up Cohort unlocked a whole new level of productivity for me. I went from months of trial-and-error to a smooth, efficient workflow, and now I'm able to build games better, faster, and smarter. The results speak for themselves: my latest game, BizarreBeasts ($BB): Treasure Quest, is incredibly more complex than my first 7 games, but it was built with a fraction of the frustration! I'm truly grateful for the experience. A huge shoutout to the entire Remix team, especially @chuckstock, @blackstock, and @insidethesim.eth! Thank you for building a platform and providing the support that empowers creators like me to bring their vision to life. If you're interested in learning how to be a more productive builder and want to see the workflows and tools that made this all possible, check out my full article on @paragraph. 👇 Read the Treasure Quest Official Players Guide and play the game! ⬇️ https://paragraph.com/@bizarrebeasts/from-frustration-to-flow-how-i-built-a-21812-line-web3-artgaming-masterpiece-in-3-weeks?referrer=0x3FDD6aFEd7a19990632468c7102219d051E685dB https://paragraph.com/@bizarrebeasts/the-official-players-guide-bizarrebeasts-treasure-quest https://treasure-quest.remix.gg
Meant to tag @samsteffanina and @slicknick too!! My bad fellas!! 🔥
Glad it was helpful! You get all the credit though. 💪
Boost the cast
Keep building
Good game
LFB!
Very nice 👍
Boost the cast
Good job