Building a Game in 72 Hours: Claude Code Meets Unreal Engine 5.8's Native MCP

With a three-day long weekend ahead, the creator decided to pour everything he'd learned about AI tools into building an actual playable game. The goal: a 3D platformer in the spirit of Banjo-Kazooie or Super Mario 64, with a particular focus on recreating the small, satisfying hidden secrets those games are known for.

Three days isn't much time for a 3D game, but between deep familiarity with AI tools for 3D asset generation and a new setup pairing Unreal Engine 5.8's native MCP support with Claude Code for game logic, the pieces were in place to move fast.

The turning point came when, stuck partway through, the creator switched from trying to build everything at once to breaking the project into small individual pieces. That approach gave him far more control -- each finished piece clarified what needed to happen next, and subsequent pieces got progressively easier.

Some parts took longer because the reference material wasn't clearly defined, but as the pieces came together, the emerging bigger picture brought a sense of accomplishment that kept motivation building toward the finish line.

Features like a health bar and a HUD showing collectibles took just one prompt and 22 minutes to implement. Testing started from a floating character with a HUD and coin counter, then moved to adding a health bar and a water hazard that deals damage over time -- essentially hot water.

The actual implementation involved spawning a cylinder object where the water sat, requiring a small manual adjustment to lower its position, but the underlying damage logic worked correctly. It's a real snapshot of the collaboration pattern: AI-generated logic, refined by a final human touch.