We Acquired the Rights to a Hardcore Platformer and Released It as a Free Browser Game [Personal Experience]

Pukan, Bye-Bye! is a minimalist hardcore platformer where death at every step isn’t a bug but a core mechanic. The game has long been available on various platforms, including Steam and consoles, and now it’s freely accessible in the browser at yoka.net (Yoka Games).

Wanted to Enter Game Development — Without Lengthy Development

It all started with a desire to dive into the gaming industry but without spending months creating a game from scratch. I wasn’t planning to immediately develop a large indie project or launch a team. I wanted to go through the entire cycle “from release to publication” using an existing game.

I was acquainted with Artalasky — the author of Pukan, Bye-Bye! — through collaboration on the Craftpix.net project. I knew he already had several completed games, and one of them fit my needs perfectly. We quickly found common ground, discussed the details, and I acquired a sublicense for the web version of the game.

Why I Chose Construct Over Unity

The original game was developed in Unity. However, Unity WebGL turned out to be entirely unsuitable for my needs: fast loading, instant start, cross-device compatibility. The final build was over 40 megabytes — players simply wouldn’t wait for it to load.

I needed an engine that:

• produces micro-builds (a few megabytes),
• launches instantly,
• is perfectly suited for the browser.

I chose Construct, with which I already had experience. Rebuilding the game from scratch turned out to be the only viable solution.

How We Rebuilt Everything Manually

We had all the Unity source files — from graphics to levels. But the code, physics, character behavior, interface, effects — everything had to be redone.

The developer Alven took on the task of porting, and he released a detailed video on his channel about how it all happened. He meticulously recreated the mechanics:

• controls considering inertia, sliding, and air behavior;
• all traps, which were implemented in Unity through animations;
• visual effects, as much as Construct’s capabilities allowed.

The result — 166 hours of pure work. The finished game weighs only 1.5 MB and works excellently in the browser on both PC and mobile devices. We even implemented mobile controls from scratch.

What I Aimed to Achieve

This project became my entry into game development from a producer’s perspective. I wanted to gain quick and practical experience in game distribution: understand how releases work, what publication channels exist, where to gather feedback, and how publishers operate at a basic level.

Additionally, I wanted to assess what kind of team is actually needed to create and release a small but complete project like Pukan, Bye-Bye!.

What Came Out of It

Pukan, Bye-Bye! is now available for free — no downloads, no lags:

Pukan Bye-bye! free-to-play