#### image: PEAK Last week, I was scrolling through Steam and saw this weird game called PEAK sitting in the top charts. It looked dumb. Like, really dumb. So obviously, I clicked. Turns out, it’s a **$5 game** where you and your friends try to climb mountains together. But the catch? The controls are broken—on purpose. You flail your arms around, desperately trying to grab ledges, while your friends either save you... or toss you off a cliff. The reviews were just people laughing, screaming, and rage-quitting together. I had to know more. --- ## The Crazy Part? This game was made in one month. Not by a massive studio. Just two small teams — **Aggro Crab** and **Landfall** — who met at a game jam in Seoul. They made this goofy prototype, thought “eh, why not?”, and decided to polish it just enough to release on Steam. - **Budget: Less than $200,000** - **Sales: 2 million copies... in 9 days 🤯** Seriously—what?! --- ## Why People Love It - **It’s cheap** – $5 is a no-brainer. Easy to gift. Easy to try. - **It’s hilarious** – Built for Twitch, TikTok, and short-form chaos. - **The devs are real** – They post memes about bugs. They’re in the community. - **It keeps changing** – New procedurally generated mountains every day. But that’s not even the best part. --- ## The Story Behind the Game The teams that made PEAK were burned out.
Aggro Crab had just watched their “big, serious” project collapse.
They were tired. Demotivated. Done.
So instead of chasing another “important” idea, they just made something stupid.
Something that made *them* laugh. And that goofy idea?
That “throwaway” jam project?
It became their biggest hit ever. --- ## What PEAK Taught Me About Making Games I’ve been learning game dev for a while—breaking stuff in Unity, starting way too many unfinished projects. I’ve always said I just wanted to create what I love.
And for the past couple of years, I’ve actually been doing it.
And seeing *PEAK* — a $5 joke game made in a month, selling 2 million copies — wasn’t a wake-up call. It was a **reminder** that I should finish my game. That fun matters.
That simple works.
And that the “dumb” idea I’ve been sketching?
I’m building it — because it makes me laugh. That’s reason enough.

From Burnout to Breakthrough: What PEAK Reminded Me About Making Games

Jun 28, 2025 · 2 min read

stay hungry, stay foolish

-Steve Jobs