The brief
HackNJIT 2023, one weekend, one game. The constraint was not technical ambition — it was finishing something playable before the demo.
What I learned
- Scope is a feature. Cutting mechanics early is how a hackathon project gets submitted instead of abandoned.
- Playtesting beats polishing. The first person who touches the build will find the thing you were sure worked.
- A working demo is worth more than an elegant architecture nobody can run.