In recent days, the game "Pho Anh Hai" (Brother Hai's Pho restaurant) has become a hot name on social media. Launched on October 23, it has quickly captured the attention of many users in Vietnam and worldwide.

In the game, players take on the role of Anh Hai, owner of a pho restaurant at the fictional address No 10 Dan Phuong (Hanoi). Initially, players simply cook pho (noodles served with beef or chicken), serve customers, collect payments. They also need to watch over and care for their pet dog to prevent it from being stolen.

However, as the game progresses, secrets about the village, where Anh Hai's pho is located, are gradually revealed, creating surprises and tension.

Surprisingly, the creator of the game is a male student (born in 2003), studying at the School of Information and Communication Technology, a member school of the prestigious polytechnic school HUST.

The student expressed immense surprise at the game's popularity. He started developing it on September 10, starting from ideation, programming, designing scene and character animations, and completed it in one month. On October 23, he uploaded it to the platform. 

However, in the initial phase, almost no one played it.

In late October, some users recorded their gameplay process and shared it on social media platforms. From this moment, the game has spread rapidly.

People said what makes "Pho Anh Hai" unique is not the effects or graphics, but the purely Vietnamese setting. Every small detail evokes familiar memories: green plastic stools, chopstick jars on tables, red signs with gold letters, flyers about concrete drilling service, and anti-drug slogans on old walls. This "Vietnamese essence" makes players feel like they are sitting in a neighborhood pho shop.

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

As a former informatics major at the Hanoi National University of Education’s High School for the Gifted, the developer said he discovered his passion for game programming in grade 10, inspired by the success of Flappy Bird, another viral game made by an alumnus of his current university. He then began self-teaching and working on various projects.

All of his programming skills were self-taught, through YouTube tutorials, online forums, and studying open-source projects to understand structure and design techniques.

To date, he has developed around 200 projects, most of which never gained traction and were eventually deleted. Pho Anh Hai is his first project to reach massive popularity.

The creator of "Pho Anh Hai" said he focused heavily on the storyline. Initially, players think it's just an ordinary pho-selling game, but as they play, they get drawn into the plot with action and mystery elements.

Additionally, the game features images of pure Vietnamese culture, familiar to Vietnamese players while sparking curiosity among international users, promoting hometown cuisine.

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

Still, working alone came with challenges. Despite experience from previous projects, he encountered issues like the game being too heavy for the platform's upload limit. Reducing the size caused errors for some players due to incompatible hardware.

"I am still finding ways to fix and resolve these issues," the creator of "Pho Anh Hai" said.

Game creator doesn't play games

The HUST student says the cost to make this game was zero dong. The entire process from ideation, programming to design was done by himself in free time, using only some publicly free internet resources. "I still have to dedicate time to school modules," the student said.

Surprisingly, despite creating a "storm-making" game, the student doesn't play games because he finds them time-consuming.

"I mainly watch content creators play to seek ideas. It is also partially because my computer isn’t powerful enough,” he said.

Since Pho Anh Hai went viral, he has received countless messages of support and gratitude. “People told me they felt inspired. They used to think making a game required a full team and marketing budget. I shared how I taught myself and overcame the challenges,” he said.

However, sudden fame also made him cautious. “I want to stay focused on studying and not get distracted,” he said.

He has already received several offers to collaborate on future projects but remains thoughtful about the next steps. “For now, I’ll listen to user feedback, release better updates, and focus on completing my degree,” he said.

Du Lam