Saturday rolled around faster than I expected. By noon, I'd already finished my morning run, practiced some hoops in the driveway, then showered. I've actually stopped grinding basketball skills for now, since I'm already confident enough to dominate at the college level. I'll have to join team practice sessions soon enough, but for now, I use my time to grind my physical stats, which will only make me a stronger player when the season starts.
I spent the rest of the morning prepping my room for Leonard's arrival. My desk was covered in sticky notes, flowcharts, and a whiteboard with "PROJECT: FLAPPY BIRD" written in big, bold letters. I may have gone a little overboard, but hey, presentation matters. My personal PC and my dad's old laptop were both fired up, code editors open, and sketches of a weird yellow bird thingy scattered around the room.
At exactly 1:05 PM, the doorbell rang. I heard Mom greet Leonard and send him upstairs. He walked in, backpack slung over one shoulder, eyes going wide as he took in the chaos of my room.
"Dude, are you planning to hack NASA or something?" Leonard said, grinning as he looked at the computers and all the notes.
I grinned back. "Only if they have a high score leaderboard," I shot back, motioning him toward the beanbag chair in the corner. "Welcome to the lab."
He dropped his bag and plopped down, still looking around in amazement. "So, what's the big secret? When did you get into computers, man?"
I handed him a can of soda and spun my laptop around so he could see the screen. On it was my rough prototype-a little square moving between pipes, basic physics, nothing fancy yet, but it worked.
"I want to make a game," I said, "but not just any game. I want to make something addictive, something that could go viral. I've got the vision and the basics down, but I could use your help to polish it up. You in?" I ignored his question about my sudden interest in coding-no need to open that can of worms yet.
Leonard's eyes lit up. "Are you serious? Like, actually launch it?" He was clearly interested in the idea of creating something cool.
"Yeah. I'll handle most of the coding and art, but I want your input on the physics, scoring, and maybe some backend stuff if we ever need it. You've got more experience with computer science than anyone else I know."
He nodded, clearly excited. "Of course, I'm all in."
I grinned. "We'll launch it fast. If it blows up, I'll split the profits with you. I'm the main dev, but if we make money, you get a cut. Deal? And in future updates, you can work on skins and help manage things if it gets big."
Leonard's jaw dropped; he didn't expect money. "Wait, you're actually offering me money?" That's why I like him-he doesn't think about profits and losses with friends. Leonard's a good soul.
"Of course. I'm not a jerk. If we make cash, you get your share. But you have to sign an NDA," I joked, sliding over a napkin with "NDA" written in Sharpie.
He laughed, signing it with a flourish. "Deal. So, what do you have so far?"
I pulled up the code. "Right now, it's a basic JavaScript canvas game. Bird jumps, gravity pulls it down, pipes move. I want to tweak the jump physics-it feels too floaty. Also, I need your advice on scoring and maybe a leaderboard. You're the math guy."
Leonard leaned in, already brainstorming. "We could use a simple physics formula for the jump arc. And for the leaderboard, Firebase is free for small projects. I can set it up."
I nodded, already thinking about what I could do with my first real paycheck-definitely buying books, maybe a cool car. I am a high school student. Of course I want a car.
"Perfect. Also, I want to add some polish-retro pixel art, maybe a chiptune soundtrack. Do you know anyone who makes music?"
He thought for a second. "Josh's cousin does beats. I can ask him. Or we can find free stuff online."
"Awesome. Let's get started." I handed him the USB drive with the code. "You take backend, I'll work on the physics. Let's see how fast we can get a working prototype."
We spent the next few hours in full gamer mode-typing, testing, high-fiving every time the bird finally stopped falling through the floor.
Leonard was a natural, suggesting tweaks and laughing every time the bird crashed into a pipe. I definitely cut some days off with his help.
It was fun working with someone else instead of doing it alone.
The energy in the room was contagious.
By the time Mom called us down for snacks, we had a playable demo. It was rough, but it worked. And it was actually fun.
Leonard leaned back in the beanbag, grinning. "Dude, this is actually good. Like, really good. We could totally make this work."
I smiled, feeling that familiar XP pop-up in my mind. Another quest, another step closer.
Leonard ended up sleeping over, calling his parents to let them know. I had completed my workout before Leonard woke up and then we worked through the whole Sunday, barely taking breaks. By evening, I also called Josh over.
I didn't even go for my usual evening l workout session. That's how into it we were. Josh came over with snacks. When he learned what we were doing he thought we were joking but when he looked at the game. He started hyping us up so much.
He was genuinely excited, wanting to know the game would be finished.
By the end of the evening we'd finished an exact replica of Flappy Bird.
I immediately installed the game on our phones and we started playing like idiots competing for our scores. We added the option to link the game with Facebook and Instagram to show the scoreboard ranking of your friends. There was a world ranking as well.
Our plan was to play this game and find the bugs. Finetune it and then release it on play store and app store by next Sunday.
"Just wait," I said. "By next weekend, we'll have the game online for everyone to play."
Josh raised his soda in a toast. "To my friends and next viral sensation."
"To the next viral sensation," me and Leonard echoed. clinking cans.
Josh went to his home as it was getting late. Leonard's mom came to pick him up.
I said 'hi' to her because I know she doesn't like handshakes. I remember once she tried to psychoanalyse me when Leonard introduced me to her for the first time. That was a funny story. Maybe for another time.
Today Leonard was not bothered by her mother's antics. Excitedly started telling her about his weekend and how he and Lucas made the game. Trying to impress his mother but she is not like other mothers who would be proud, she doesn't praise any of her children and just acknowledges them. Leonards siblings are overachievers so he always felt a little neglected. But he thought maybe this game will change things for him.
Both Leonard and Lucas slept that night with dreams of making it big.
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