How to make a personalised video game gift (no coding, about five minutes)

A personalised video game sounds like the kind of gift that needs a developer, a budget and a long weekend. It doesn’t. You pick a few options, tweak some jokes, upload a photo and send a link. The person you love (or the colleague you’re roasting) taps it and finds themselves as a cartoon character, flapping past rogue birthday candles or climbing through the story of your relationship.

This is the full walkthrough: what you need, each of the four steps in detail, the decisions you’ll make along the way, what it costs and the mistakes that trip people up. If you just want the short version, the how it works page has it in four boxes.

What you need before you start

Less than you think. Here’s the full shopping list:

• A photo. One clear photo of the person (or people, or pets) who will star in the game. Faces visible, decent light, nobody wearing sunglasses at night. Our guide to photo tips and casting goes into detail.
• A phone, tablet or computer. Anything with a modern browser works, for making and for playing.
• About five minutes. Building a game takes a couple of minutes and drawing the characters takes another minute or two. Leave extra time if you’re the sort of person who rewrites a joke six times. (Hello.)
• One in-joke. Optional, but it’s what turns a nice game into the one they screenshot: a nickname, a famous disaster or a phrase only your lot understand.

You don’t need a sign-up to start. You only sign in when you’re ready to turn real people into characters.

Step 1: pick the style, occasion, ending and win level

This is where you set the shape of the game. There are four decisions, and every combination comes with pre-written funny lines: an intro, in-game quips, game-over roasts and an ending message.

1. Choose a game style. There are ten styles, all live, and you’re only choosing the one the game opens with: whoever gets it can switch between all ten from the Games button in its menu. Flappy flyer is one-tap and maddening, ideal for group chats and competitive families. Platformer is a side-scrolling run and jump with coins, baddies and an end boss who can be another member of your cast. Arena battle is a top-down brawl against waves of themed bots, with auto-aim for beginners. Story climber is the soppy one: a vertical jumper where milestones from your story appear as they climb, with someone special waiting at the top. Endless runner has your person sprinting on their own while you jump and slide your way to whoever waits at the finish: perfect for the bus. Kart racer puts your cast in tiny self-driving karts on a hilly track, hopping hazards and throwing things at each other for a few laps: perfect for competitive families. The beat-’em-up ends in a pillow-fight boss battle against one of your cast: perfect for siblings. Survival has your cast holding the fort through the night while you gather snacks by day to patch it up. Escape room is a point-and-tap puzzle room with your cast as the (mostly unhelpful) hint-givers: perfect for puzzle lovers. Quest RPG is a pocket-sized top-down adventure with a sword, mini-quests and a treasure at the end of each one: perfect for explorers. Not sure? Our guide to which game style to choose compares them properly.
2. Choose an occasion. There’s a theme for every occasion, each with its own obstacles and collectibles. Birthday has balloons and rogue candles, Christmas has naughty elves and mince pies, retirement has alarm clocks and unread emails, and the office theme has meetings and jammed printers. Match the occasion first, then the person’s personality. Away on holiday? The Postcard occasion ends on a vintage card reading “Greetings from” wherever you type in, and the Postcard look has chip-thieving seagulls to dodge. See our holiday postcard you can play guide.
3. Choose an ending. Options include a cake smash, dance party, group hug, fireworks (the sky spells out your message), slow dance, trophy, high five, a proposal ring and, for postcards, a vintage postcard with your message on the back. Each theme has an ending that naturally suits it, but go with what fits the person.
4. Set the win level. This is how much they need to achieve to see the ending. The defaults are sensible: 20 points for flappy flyer (you can pick 5 to 200), 50 coins for platformer (10 to 300), 3 rounds for arena battle (1 to 5), 6 milestones for story climber (3 to 12), 1,000 metres for endless runner (200 to 10,000), 3 laps for kart racer (1 to 10), 1 boss for beat-’em-up (up to 3), 3 nights for survival (1 to 12), 3 rooms for escape room (1 to 10) and 5 treasures for Quest RPG (1 to 20).

A birthday tradition worth stealing: in flappy flyer, set the win level to their age. It’s quietly brutal for a 60th, which is exactly the point. After the win, flappy keeps going in endless mode and the runner keeps running, faster, so the leaderboard can get competitive.

There’s also a choice between family mode (the default, and clean) and cheeky mode, which is for adults only. Our cheeky mode vs family mode guide explains when each one fits.

Step 2: play it free and edit the jokes

Before anyone signs anything, you can play your game straight away with demo characters. No sign-up, no card. You can build and preview as many games as you like this way, which makes it a good place to experiment: try the same occasion in two styles and see which one makes you laugh. A preview is just for you, though: it opens only in your own browser and lasts an hour, so it isn’t something to send. Sharing comes in step 4.

Editing the jokes

Every line is editable, and none of them has to be. The pre-written jokes are decent on their own, but a couple of personal touches lift the whole thing:

1. Play once without changing anything. Notice which lines land and which feel generic for this person.
2. Swap two or three lines for in-jokes. You don’t need to rewrite everything. One game-over roast about the time they reversed into a bollard does more than ten clever puns.
3. Keep lines short. They flash up mid-game. If it doesn’t fit in a glance, cut it.
4. Read every line out loud as the recipient. Anything that might sting rather than tickle, soften it.

Pro tip: Put the best joke in the game-over roasts, not the intro. People die a lot in flappy flyer, so the roasts get read again and again, while the intro gets read once.

Writing the ending message

The ending message is the bit they’ll screenshot, so it’s worth two minutes of thought. Good ending messages tend to be short and specific: one line of feeling, one line of joke, and a sign-off. For example: “Happy 40th, Dan. You’re still rubbish at this, but you’re our favourite. Love from the whole lot of us.” If you’re using the fireworks ending, the sky spells out your message, so keep it punchy.

Step 3: turn your people into characters

Once the game feels right, it’s time for the real cast. Sign in with Google and upload a photo: the first photo check is free and shows you who we found. Choose a plan to have them drawn, and say who’s who. In a minute or two we draw each person or pet as a cartoon in a standing pose and an action pose, facing both ways.

Every drawing is checked automatically and redrawn for free if it doesn’t come out right. The original photo is deleted as soon as the characters are made; we keep the cartoon, not the photo.

Casting decisions

• Who is the hero? Usually the birthday person, the retiree or the one leaving. Players can also pick who to play on a character select screen.
• Who is the boss? In platformer, the end boss can be another member of the cast. In arena battle, the final-wave boss is one of your cast. Choose someone with a good sense of humour (or a long-running rivalry).
• Who cheers and heckles? In flappy flyer, other cast members fly past mid-game. A grandparent or the dog works brilliantly here.
• Who waits at the top? In story climber, their partner, family or friends wait at the summit. In endless runner, someone waits at the finish line. This is the emotional payoff, so choose carefully.

A few rules matter here: everyone in the photo must have agreed to be turned into a character, photos of children only if you’re their parent or guardian or have their permission, and no celebrities or public figures. The full list is in the acceptable use policy. If you’re making a game for or about little ones, our parent’s guide to making a game starring your kids covers it.

Characters you’ve made can be reused in other games, so drawing Mum once covers her birthday, Christmas and Mother’s Day.

Step 4: name it, publish it and share the link

1. Name the game. A title built on an in-joke or a nickname always beats a generic one. “Gaz Versus The Printers” is funnier than “Office Game” before anyone has even pressed play.
2. Publish it and decide on the link. Publishing is free, and every published game gets its own permanent link: a long random address on become.games that stays live for as long as the game exists, plan or no plan. With a plan you can also give it a custom link like yourname.become.games. Custom links are first come, first served, so have a second choice ready. Make it short, easy to type and free of anything that would spoil a surprise if someone glanced at their phone.
3. Play it once more on a phone. Check the names, the ending message and the win level as the recipient will see them.
4. Share the link. Send it by WhatsApp, text or email, or make a QR code and print it inside a card. Our guide on how to share your game has ideas for big reveals, from QR codes in birthday cards to leaderboard showdowns in the family chat.

It plays in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer, with no download. They can add it to their home screen if they love it, and only people with the link can play.

The decisions at a glance

If you’re in a rush, here are the choices you’ll make and what we’d pick for a typical birthday gift.

Decision	Your options	Our default if in doubt
Game style (the one it opens with; players can switch)	Flappy flyer, Platformer, Arena battle, Story climber, Endless runner, Kart racer, Beat-’em-up, Survival, Escape room, Quest RPG	Flappy flyer for laughs, Story climber for feelings, Kart racer for families
Occasion	A theme for every occasion, from Birthday to Office, plus Postcard	Whatever the actual occasion is
Ending	Cake smash, dance party, group hug, fireworks, slow dance, trophy, high five, proposal ring, postcard	The one the theme suggests
Win level	Flappy 5 to 200, Platformer 10 to 300, Arena 1 to 5, Climber 3 to 12, Runner 200 to 10,000 metres, Kart 1 to 10 laps, Beat-’em-up 1 to 3 bosses, Survival 1 to 12 nights, Escape 1 to 10 rooms, Quest 1 to 20 treasures	Leave the default, or their age in flappy
Mode	Family mode or cheeky mode (adults only)	Family mode
Jokes	Keep the pre-written lines or edit any of them	Change two or three to in-jokes
Ending message	Your own words	One feeling, one joke, one sign-off
Cast	Everyone in your photo, pets included	Hero plus one heckler or boss
Link	Free permanent link, or a custom link like yourname.become.games with a plan	The free link, or their nickname if you have a plan
Sharing	WhatsApp, text, email, QR code	WhatsApp, or a QR code inside a card

What it costs, honestly

Making, editing, previewing and publishing games is free, as many as you like, and every published game keeps its permanent link whether or not you ever buy anything.

A plan is for two things: turning your own photos into cartoon characters, and giving games a custom link like yourname.become.games. You can see the details on the pricing page, but in short:

• Monthly: £3.49 a month. Two characters in your first month, then one a month. Good for a single gift.
• Yearly: £19.99 a year. Ten characters up front, which works out at about £1.67 a month. Good for families.

Both plans include custom game links, and you can cancel any time. Leaderboards, a QR code and home-screen install come with every game, plan or no plan. If you need more characters, extra packs are 2 for £3.49, 5 for £7.49 or 10 for £14.49.

If a plan ends, nothing you’ve made disappears. Your games carry on at their permanent links and your characters stay in your cast, ready for the next game. The only change is that custom links switch off, and they come straight back if you subscribe again.

How long it actually takes

Assuming you have a photo ready: a minute or two to choose the style, occasion, ending and win level; a minute to play it with demo characters; two to ten minutes on jokes and the ending message, depending on your perfectionism; a minute or two while the characters are drawn (you can watch them appear); and a minute to name, publish and share it. Five minutes is genuinely possible and fifteen is plenty. Nobody can tell it was made on the bus.

Common mistakes (and how to dodge them)

• Setting the win level too high. It’s tempting to make them work for it, but if they can’t reach the ending, they never see your message. For flappy flyer, anything over 50 is for the truly committed. Keep the default unless you know they’re a gamer.
• Using a blurry or crowded photo. Small faces at the back of a wedding photo won’t give you your best characters. Pick a photo where each face is clear.
• Choosing cheeky mode for a mixed audience. If the link might end up in the family group chat, stay in family mode.
• Spoiling the surprise with a custom link. If you’ve given the game a custom link and their phone shows a preview of it, “happybirthdaymum” gives the game away before they tap it. The free permanent link gives nothing away, which is handy for a surprise.
• Not testing it on a phone. Most people will play on their mobile, so check it there first.
• Panicking about a typo after sending. Don’t. Edit it; the link stays the same.

Pro tip: Before sending to the whole group, send it to one co-conspirator first and ask them to set a decent score. A name already on the leaderboard turns “oh that’s sweet” into “right, I’m beating that”.

Your five-minute plan

If you’ve skimmed to the end (fair), here’s the whole thing in one go. Pick a style and the occasion. Play it free with demo characters. Change two or three jokes into in-jokes and write a short ending message. Upload a clear photo, say who’s who and choose who plays the hero and the boss. Name the game, publish it (adding a short custom link if you have a plan), test it on your phone and send it. If you’re still deciding who it’s for, the gift games section has ready-made ideas, from a birthday game for your dad to a retirement game for the colleague who’s finally escaping. And if you want to know why this works so well as a present, read why a personalised game makes a good gift.