Hong Kong students create winning video game in only 12 hours

South China Morning Post

22-06-2025

'You are your own enemy.'
This was the only guidance given to more than 40 teenagers in Hong Kong, who were tasked with creating their own video game in just 12 hours.
The student-led event, known as Counterspell, was open to anyone in secondary school. Eleven teams took part, and no experience was required.
'We wanted to create an inclusive environment that celebrates creativity,' said Anson Chung, 16, one of the event organisers.
These events are known as hackathons, with this specific type called a game jam, and this edition was organised by a global community called Hack Club.
'It provided valuable leadership experience for the organisers and demonstrated to participants that young people can also make awesome stuff,' Anson said.
A lesson about laziness
A trio of boys from the Chinese International School won the competition with their game, Monophobia. Their entry featured a surprise ending to carry the message of 'you are your own enemy'.
'I needed a twist or something that was going to make sure that our game had something that set it apart,' said one of the winning participants, Theo Zhu, 17.
'It meant showing and proving to people how their own laziness can affect them in the future.'
Throughout the game, players must solve puzzles and overcome challenges as they are faced with tricky decisions, such as being able to avoid a puzzle or tackle it straight away.
Their choices will decide the difficulty of the game's final boss: if the player chooses all the 'lazy' options, the last boss will be impossible to beat.
Andy Liang (left), Jay Lau (centre) and Theo Zhu (right) are hard at work during the game jam. Photo: Handout
The path to success
The trio were all in the same computer science class, and they felt their individual skills were well-matched.
Theo coded, while Andy Liang, 16, created the music, and Jay Lau, 17, designed the puzzles and art.
'This was a great culmination of all our skills,' Theo explained.
The trio also said their success was due to the fact that they were already friends. Theo said game development required teammates to trust each other.
'It's about making sure that you're all on the same page, but also allowing each person to do their own thing and trust that they'll add something new,' he said.
Their game won first place after a vote among the contestants.
'I think the project itself wasn't something that I was the most proud of,' Jay said. 'I was really proud of the fact that we could do it in such a small time frame.'