Ten days.
That was all it took.
To everyone else, it seemed impossible. A fourteen-year-old girl had somehow designed and completed a game in just ten days.
But Akshata wasn't starting from nothing.
She remembered the future.
In her previous life, she had spent countless hours playing a simple game called Flappy Bird. She also remembered how it had suddenly become a worldwide sensation years later before disappearing from app stores. The game's simple design had captivated millions of players, and its creator had earned millions of dollars within a short period.
"I don't need to invent something complicated," she thought.
"I need something people can't stop playing."
Every morning before sunrise, she sat before her computer.
Kalpa guided her whenever she encountered difficult programming problems.
"Host, this collision detection can be optimized."
"Reduce unnecessary calculations."
"Use object pooling instead of creating new pipes repeatedly."
"Compress the image assets."
"Lower memory usage for older devices."
Akshata carefully followed every suggestion.
Kalpa explained concepts, pointed out mistakes, and encouraged her to solve each problem herself.
Slowly, line by line, the project came together.
A tiny bird.
Green pipes.
A scrolling background.
Simple controls.
One tap.
One mistake.
Game over.
Its simplicity was exactly its strength.
After testing the game hundreds of times, she adjusted the spacing between the pipes, refined the controls, and balanced the difficulty until every successful point felt rewarding.
Finally, on the evening of the tenth day, she leaned back in her chair.
"It works."
Kalpa immediately responded.
"Congratulations, Host. Development complete."
A smile spread across Akshata's face.
Her first game was finished.
---
The next challenge was publishing it.
Since she was still a minor, she could not complete all the legal formalities herself.
One evening she approached her father.
"Appa... I need your help."
Nagaraju looked up from his papers.
"What is it?"
"I've finished the game."
He blinked.
"Already?"
She nodded and placed the laptop before him.
"Try it."
He hesitated before pressing the space bar.
The little bird jumped.
Within seconds it crashed into a pipe.
"Game Over."
Akshata laughed.
"You'll get better."
After several attempts, Nagaraju finally managed a score of twelve.
He smiled despite himself.
"It's frustrating..."
He paused.
"...but I want to try again."
Akshata grinned.
"That's exactly the idea."
She then explained that, because she was underage, the publishing account and legal registration would need to be in his name until she became an adult.
Nagaraju listened carefully.
"So legally it will be under my name..."
She nodded.
"Yes."
Without hesitation he agreed.
I'll support it."
Together they completed the necessary registrations and publishing formalities with his permission.
The game was prepared for release.
Akshata also created a PC version so players without smartphones could enjoy the same experience on their computers.
After one final review, she clicked the button.
Publish.
The progress bar slowly reached one hundred percent.
For a brief moment, the room was silent.
Then Kalpa spoke.
"Deployment successful."
"The game is now available."
Akshata stared at the screen
waiting for someone—anyone—to discover it.