From 200 failed projects to sudden "fame"

In recent days, the game “Pho Anh Hai” has become a storm on social networks. Although it was only released on October 23, the game has attracted the attention of many users in Vietnam and around the world .

In the game, players will play the role of Anh Hai, the owner of a pho restaurant located at the fictional address 10 Dan Phuong ( Hanoi ). Initially, players only need to cook pho, serve customers, collect money accurately... In addition, players also need to keep an eye on and take care of their pet dog to avoid being stolen.

However, the more you play the game, the more secrets about the village where Anh Hai's pho shop is located are gradually revealed, creating surprises and drama.

Surprisingly, the author of this game is a male student (born in 2003), studying at the School of Information and Communication Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

Sharing with VietNamNet , this male student said he was extremely surprised that the game was so well received by many people. The male student started building this game on September 10, including coming up with ideas, programming, designing the background, moving characters... and completed it after a month. On October 23, he started posting it on the platform. However, in the early stages, almost no one played the game.

By the end of October, some users had recorded the game and shared it on social media platforms. From there, the game began to spread strongly.

Many reviewers say that what makes “Pho Anh Hai” different is not the special effects or graphics, but the pure Vietnamese setting. Every little detail evokes familiar memories: green plastic chairs, chopsticks on the table, red signs with yellow letters, concrete cutting leaflets, or anti-drug slogans on old walls… That “Vietnamese material” makes players feel like they are sitting in a pho restaurant at the corner of the alley.

According to statistics, the game has reached 650,000 downloads with nearly 1 million views.

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Hanoi University of Science and Technology male student makes 'stormy' game. Photo: Thuy Nga

As a former IT student of Hanoi National University of Education High School, the male student said that he started his passion for game programming since grade 10. In particular, after seeing the success of “Flappy Bird”, a game developed by a former student of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, the male student began to self-study and embark on different projects.

Game programming skills are completely self-taught, mainly through free resources on YouTube, sharing, Q&A on forums or watching available projects to understand the structure and how to make games.

Up to now, the male student has done about 200 projects, but most of them are not very famous and most of them have been deleted. “Pho Anh Hai” is the first project to “reach the milestone” of hundreds of thousands of downloads.

The author of “Pho Anh Hai” said that when making this game, he focused a lot on the plot. At first, players thought this was just a normal pho selling game, but the more they played, the more they were drawn into the plot with action and mystery elements.

In addition, the game also has images with pure Vietnamese culture, which are both familiar to Vietnamese people and bring curiosity to international users, helping to promote homeland cuisine .

"These are probably the factors that make this game stand out," the male student commented.

However, due to self-discovery, despite having experience from previous game projects, the male student still encountered some problems such as the game being too heavy, the platform limiting the upload capacity. When reducing the game capacity, it caused errors for a small number of players because it was not suitable for the device configuration.

“I am still looking for ways to overcome and resolve these problems,” said the author of “Pho Anh Hai”.

Making a 'hit' game but… not playing the game

The male student of Hanoi University of Science and Technology said that the cost for him to make this game was 0 VND. The entire process from coming up with ideas, programming to designing was done by himself in his free time, only using some free resources available on the Internet. "I still have to spend the main time on school subjects," the male student said.

Surprisingly, despite creating a "stormy" game, the male student doesn't play the game because he feels it's a waste of time.

“I mainly watch content creators play to get ideas, and partly because my computer also has a weak configuration.”

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In the game, players will play the role of Anh Hai, the owner of a pho restaurant. Photo: Thuy Nga

Since the game became popular, the male student has continuously received messages of encouragement and thanks from many people. “People said they were inspired, because before they thought that making a game required a team and communication. I shared with them how I learned by myself and how I solved those difficulties.”

However, the sudden fame also made the male student feel worried because he needed to focus on studying and did not want it to affect his psychology.

“I have also received some offers to cooperate in game development and am still seriously considering it. For now, I will listen to feedback to update a better version, and at the same time focus on studying to graduate from university,” the male student said.

Hanoi University of Science and Technology plans to reduce admission based on academic records in 2026. Hanoi University of Science and Technology plans to eliminate academic records and replace them with thinking assessment scores organized by the school to calculate scores in the talent admission method.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nam-sinh-bach-khoa-ha-noi-lam-game-gay-bao-pho-anh-hai-2459726.html