Levasho had never made a game. He didn't know what a spritesheet was. Phaser sounded like a razor brand. 27 days later, he won the $15,000 grand prize at a Reddit hackathon.
A few months ago, Levasho (u/Mean-Lavishness-1648 on Reddit) saw that Reddit was organizing a hackathon with prizes totaling $40,000. He decided to enter. There was just one problem: he had never made a game, he wasn't a programmer, and he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Oh, and there were only 27 days left until the deadline.
Learning Phaser from Zero to Hackathon Winner
Levasho's first instinct was to build in React. That lasted until he discovered what spritesheets were and realized React wasn't the right tool for a game. "I realized these are two completely different tools built for completely different purposes. And I just picked the wrong one from the start," he says. "Sure, you could technically build this kind of game with React, but the deeper I got into it, the more I kept running into its limitations, especially since I'd have to build everything from scratch." He switched to Phaser, a framework whose name he initially associated with a razor brand rather than a game engine.
"I decided to give Phaser a shot, and right away, I just knew, this is what I was looking for."
What followed were 27 of the most intense days of his life. Working 16 to 20 hours a day, learning everything from scratch: what a server/client split was, how game loops worked, how to actually structure a project. Every night ended with melatonin. Every morning started with caffeine. "It was probably the most intense 27 days of my life. I was constantly learning new things and working 16 to 20 hours a day."
"Honestly, it was easier than I expected. Phaser has great docs, ready-made examples, and a solid community. Whenever I got stuck on something, I could almost always find a solution or a tutorial without much trouble."
He submitted his game 3 minutes before the deadline. The code was, by his own admission, a total mess. The architecture made no sense. The technical debt was enormous. The game was full of bugs. But despite all that, he couldn't stop playing it himself.
Soul Thieves: A Phaser Game Built for Reddit
The game is called Soul Thieves. It's a pixel art platformer where you climb a dark, trap-filled tower as fast as you can. The controls are simple but satisfying: click to the right of your character to jump right, click to the left to jump left. What stands between you and the top are spike floors, unstable platforms that crumble under your feet, electrified surfaces, and traps that hide parts of the screen. These last ones force you to memorize the layout and trust your instincts on where it's safe to land.
It's competitive by design. You're not just racing the tower. You're racing other Redditors in real time, their characters visible alongside yours as you climb. Beat the tower owner's time and you face the Core Warden, a boss fight that gates the real rewards. If you win, you get a shot at stealing Souls or the Flame Core. The Flame Core lets you build your own tower and earn Souls for every player who dies in it. Souls are the currency used to upgrade and strengthen the tower. It's a loop that rewards both skill and strategy.
What makes it especially interesting from a distribution standpoint is where it lives: directly on Reddit, via the Devvit platform. Players can launch and play it inside the Reddit app or browser without leaving the platform. Thousands of players have played it in the first days after launch, leaving feedback that Levasho describes as the best part of his day.
"I couldn't stop playing my own game. Trust me, it's the best feeling a game developer can experience."
Building Games for Reddit with Phaser
Levasho's story is a compelling demonstration of what's possible when you combine Phaser with Reddit's Devvit platform. Devvit lets developers build interactive apps and games that run natively inside Reddit, reaching millions of users who are already on the platform. No app store, no separate install, no friction. Players just tap and play.
"Devvit was also new to me, so having a ready-made template was a huge help. Pretty much everything is set up so thoughtfully that I barely had to configure anything manually; I could just focus on building my game."
For a first-time game developer, that distribution model is extraordinary. Levasho didn't have to worry about marketing, storefronts, or getting people to find his game. Reddit's existing audience did that work for him. Phaser handled the game itself: a browser-native, HTML5 game engine that runs wherever Reddit runs.
"Anyone who's tried to make a game knows that finishing the project is just the beginning. Whether it actually takes off mostly comes down to whether you can reach the right players. On Reddit, that's just way easier."
On the advantages of shipping on Reddit: "Reddit is a massive community of active, engaged people, so by going with Devvit you skip the hardest part of game dev, distribution. Anyone who's tried to make a game knows that finishing the project is just the beginning. Whether it actually takes off mostly comes down to whether you can reach the right players. On Reddit, that's just way easier."
The numbers tell that story better than anything. Soul Thieves now has over 1,100 players and 770 towers built. But the growth caught Levasho completely off guard at every step. "When I first launched, I didn't expect anyone to play it at all. When I saw the first 10 players, I was thrilled, but I thought okay, that's probably it, nothing more's gonna happen. I felt the same way at 100, then at 1,000. Soul Thieves peaked at over 5,000 players in a single day, and it was hard to believe that many people were playing something I built by myself. An incredible feeling."
And here's the part worth sitting with: Levasho knew nothing about game development when he started. He learned Phaser from scratch in 27 days, shipped a buggy but playable game 3 minutes before the deadline, and won the $15,000 grand prize. Reddit organizes hackathons regularly. The next one could have your name on it. The only question is whether you start.
If you want to build your own Reddit game with Phaser, we have a Devvit Phaser Starter Template that gives you the full stack out of the box: Phaser for the game, Devvit for Reddit integration, Vite, Express, and TypeScript all wired up. One template, access to 500 million monthly Reddit users, no app store approval needed.
What Happens After You Win a Hackathon
On what he'd tell someone entering their first Reddit hackathon: "I think the only reason I actually finished it is because I genuinely had a blast playing it myself. That kept me pumped to keep improving it and my head was always full of new ideas. So if you're only making a game to grab a hackathon prize, it's gonna be rough. But if you're actually passionate about it and having fun along the way, you're on the right track. And hey, maybe you'll get lucky and win the hackathon too."
After winning, Levasho entered a second Reddit hackathon with a game called Mahjong Arena. This time, he planned carefully, put in serious work, and genuinely believed he had a strong shot at winning again. He didn't win. He didn't even get an honorable mention. His response? "For me, that's pretty normal, no point getting upset about it. I'll try again in the next hackathon, and every one after that. It's part of the game."
That attitude: learning fast, shipping anyway, and staying in the game after a loss is probably the most useful thing anyone can take from this story. The $15,000 is a great headline. The mindset behind it is what actually matters.
And on what's next:
"I'm always looking for new ideas and opportunities, so I'll definitely be making another Reddit game, and given how much Phaser helped me, there's no way I'm not using it again."
Soul Thieves is Live on Reddit
Soul Thieves is free to play directly inside Reddit, on any device. And if this story has got you thinking about building your own game, the Devvit Phaser Starter Template is the fastest way to get started.