How Lucania and I built a cozy game in 48 hours during Global Game Jam 2025 — the art, the vibe, and the last-minute panic.
The theme
GGJ 2025’s theme dropped and we looked at each other: “We’re making something cozy.” Not every jam game needs to be intense. Sometimes the best thing you can ship is warmth.
The division of labor
Lucania handled all art and animation. I handled game design and programming. We communicated through quick sketches and even quicker playtests. No formal design doc — just vibes and trust.
The cozy trap
Here’s the thing about cozy games: they look simple, but the feeling is incredibly hard to engineer. Every interaction needs to feel soft. Every transition needs to breathe. Every sound needs to hug.
We spent an entire afternoon on how the characters land after a jump. Too bouncy? Not cozy. Too flat? Feels broken. We found the sweet spot at 11pm on day two.
The panic
Hour 40: the main mechanic worked, the art was beautiful, but the game had no ending. We almost shipped it as an infinite loop (which, for a cozy game, isn’t the worst idea). But Lucania sketched a final scene in 30 minutes that tied everything together.
What I learned
- Cozy games require more polish, not less
- Art direction matters more than art quantity
- Trust your collaborator’s instincts — they see things you can’t
- Ship the feeling first, features second
Lullapop exists because two people trusted each other to make something soft in a hard timeline. I’d do it again tomorrow.