I Built an On-Chain Video Game in the Time It Takes to Watch Netflix
In the time it takes to watch a Netflix episode, I built a complete, on-chain video game.
I’m a solo developer. My only partner was an AI copilot. And in about an hour, we built and deployed “Pixel Golf,” a 2D physics game running on the Avalanche blockchain.
This isn’t just a fun experiment. It’s a blueprint for the future of game distribution — a future where “buying” a game means you actually, truly own it.
The Problem with “Ownership”
For the last two decades, we’ve been trained to accept a new definition of “ownership.” When you buy a game on Steam, you aren’t buying a game. You’re buying a license to play that game, indefinitely, at the sole discretion of the platform.
If that platform decides to revoke your access, your game is gone. If that platform disappears tomorrow, your entire library vanishes into the digital ether.
You own nothing. You’re just a long-term renter.
I believe there’s a better way. When you buy a Griggs game, you own it. Period. My little golf game is the proof.
The 60-Minute “Pixel Golf” Challenge
My project goal was simple: create a fun, 2D pixel-art golf game. The core loop? Set your power, set your angle, and try to get the ball in the hole in the fewest strokes.
The “team” was just me and my AI copilot, Gemini. The “stack” was just as lean:
index.html: The user interface and Web3 logic.game.js: The core physics engine.PixelGolfPass.sol: A Solidity smart contract for the NFT.
Here’s how the hour broke down.
Minutes 0–10: Forging the “Game Pass”
We didn’t start with the game. We started with ownership.
Before writing a single line of game logic, we deployed a smart contract to the Avalanche blockchain. This contract, PixelGolfPass.sol, is an ERC-721 NFT. It does one simple thing: it lets a user mint a unique "Game Pass" for 0.1 AVAX.
This NFT isn’t a cosmetic item. It’s not a skin. It is the key. It represents your permanent, irrevocable, and sellable right to play this game.
Minutes 10–25: Building the “Blockchain Bouncer”
With our contract live on the mainnet, we built the front-end in index.html. This wasn't just a UI; it was the bridge to the blockchain.
\ \ Using Ethers.js, we wired up the “Connect Wallet” button. The moment you connect, the JavaScript performs a crucial check:
const hasMinted = await contract.hasMinted(yourWalletAddress);
Instead of checking a private database on my server, the game asks the blockchain itself if you are a valid owner. If the hasMinted function returns true, the game UI appears. If false, the "Mint" button appears.
The game doesn’t care who you are. It only cares about what you own.
Minutes 25–50: The Physics & The Bugs
This is where the AI copilot shined. We hammered out the entire physics engine in game.js. We coded the projectile motion (gravity, velocity), collision detection, and ground friction.
And, of course, we hit bugs.
First, the game got stuck in an infinite “loading” loop. We quickly diagnosed that the ball’s physics were “jittering” on the ground, never truly stopping, so the game loop never told the UI the turn was over. The fix? A simple check to “settle” the ball’s velocity to zero when it was moving slowly.
Next, you could roll directly over the hole without winning. The win condition was too precise. We debugged it together, widening the hole’s detection radius to make the game feel fair and fun.
Minutes 50–60: Integration and Final Polish
With the bugs squashed, we finished the loop. We hooked the “Launch” button to the physics engine and had the engine call back to the UI to update the score. We added the “Course Complete” screen, which pops up after the 5th hole, ready to submit your final score.
In one hour, we had a fully functional, token-gated game.
This is True Digital Ownership
Here’s the “aha” moment.
The game itself — the index.html and game.js files—is just a set of static files. They can be hosted anywhere. On GitHub Pages, on a personal server, or even on decentralized storage like Arweave.
If my website goes down tomorrow, it doesn’t matter.
Anyone can re-upload those static files to a new URL. And when you navigate to that new site and connect your wallet, it will still check the immutable Avalanche blockchain, see your Game Pass NFT, and grant you access.
Your ownership isn’t tied to my website. It’s tied to your wallet.
You can’t be banned. Your game can’t be revoked. You can even sell your Game Pass on the open market, just like you’d sell a physical game cartridge.
This isn’t just a simple golf game. It’s a new model. The AI-assisted workflow made it possible to build in an hour, but the on-chain ownership model makes it revolutionary. This is what the future of gaming looks like.
Want to play it? \n https://www.damiangriggs.com/web3/web3-games
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