5 Games With the Shortest Development Time

Typically, video games take a long time to develop, often exceeding several years for the bigger AAA titles. It used to take less time for older games, but most titles developed over short periods generally suck, though Pong and Tetris, which were made over around three weeks, are certainly exceptions. Short development time resulting in poor games is true of the Atari 2600’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which took five weeks to develop so it could be ready in time to capitalize on the film’s popularity. That game is notoriously awful, so we wanted to shine some light on good games that were developed incredibly quickly, and we’re presenting them in order from the longest to the shortest development time.

1) A Short Hike

A Short Hike is a 2019 open-world adventure and exploration game where the goal is to reach the top of a mountain to get cell phone reception. There are NPCs, minigames, and movement mechanics to get you there, and it’s presented in a pixel art style featuring lovely vistas and gorgeous surroundings. Adam Robinson-Yu developed A Short Hike over a period of around three months while taking a break from a different project. When the indie title was released, it became a huge success, earning several accolades at the 2020 Independent Games Festival Awards and widespread critical acclaim across multiple platforms.

2) Goat Simulator

When it was released in 2014, Goat Simulator became a viral sensation, and it has since been ported to numerous systems with DLC, a sequel, and continued support. It’s all about controlling a goat that needs to destroy as much as possible in the game’s open world, though there are more overarching goals to its gameplay. The overall silliness of Goat Simulator is certainly an aspect of its widespread appeal, and it all came about after only one month of development. It’s the result of a game jam session at Coffee Stain Studios, and was initially meant as a joke prototype, but there’s no denying its popularity.

3) A Game About Digging a Hole

You don’t get more on-the-nose with a title than A Game About Digging a Hole, as it’s a … Well, it’s a game about digging a hole. You start off small, but as you progress, you can upgrade your equipment and dig deeper, finding more valuable resources as you go. There’s a goal to reach a certain depth, where you’ll find something interesting, but more than anything, it’s about digging a hole, and that’s pretty much it. That said, it’s incredibly addictive and is one of many great indie games released in 2025. It took only two weeks to develop, and A Game About Digging a Hole became an unusual hit.

4) Bomberman

The first Bomberman was released as a computer game in 1983, and it was successful, spawning a series that began with a port on the NES. That game arrived in 1985, and while it’s pretty much the same as the computer version, there are differences that required coding a new port. The task of bringing Bomberman to the Nintendo Famicom and NES fell to one person, Shinichi Nakamoto, who spent 72 hours on the task. There were enough changes to gameplay to make it a distinctive title, so it’s being included here because only needing 72 hours to create a NES game is just ridiculous.

5) Flappy Bird

The most successful video game that was developed ridiculously quickly is Flappy Bird, which became an overnight success, generating massive income for Dong Nguyen, the game’s programmer. The game went up for sale for only a few months before Nguyen pulled it down, but it was reportedly generating some $50,000 in ad-revenue each day. Accusations of plagiarising the art style from Nintendo games might have been the reason, alongside pressure against Nguyen. Regardless, he made the game over a single weekend, which is impressive, to say the least, as it spawned countless clones and remains relatively popular to this day.

What’s your favorite game that didn’t take long to develop? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

10 Video Games With the Longest Development Times