From Ghana to Google Play: The Solo Developer Story Behind Skiptrace

A solo developer story about inspiration, frustration, and finishing the journey

For this Fix Stories feature, Evans Kofi, also known as AlmightyPrime, shares the story behind Skiptrace, a free Android platformer built in Python and Pygame after years of learning, testing, rebuilding, and refusing to walk away.

The game is inspired by the feeling and energy Evans took from the 2016 Jackie Chan film Skiptrace: movement, travel, danger, and the idea of always pushing forward. This is not an official tie-in or licensed adaptation. It is a personal creator story about how a favourite film helped spark a solo developer’s first real game project.

“This game was made by one person, alone, on midnight internet data in Ghana. No budget. No studio. No shortcuts. Just two years of learning, failing, recovering and finishing.”

Skiptrace – Platformer Game Trailer

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Skiptrace – Platformer Game

Release: April 25, 2026

Genre: Story-driven 2D Platformer, Adventure

Developer / Publisher: Evans Kofi / AlmightyPrime

Platforms: Android via Google Play

It started with a movie

Skiptrace, the 2016 Jackie Chan film, is one of my all-time favourites. The chase sequences, the environments, the sense of constantly running from one place to the next, always moving forward no matter what. When I started learning how to make games, I knew immediately that I wanted my first real project to capture that same feeling. A journey. A chase. An escape.

That is where Skiptrace the game was born.

Skiptrace takes players through themed chapters, including a Desert stage filled with platforms, hazards, and collectible fruit.

Learning to code and build at the same time

I had no formal training in programming. Everything I know about Python and Pygame came from watching tutorial videos, starting with beginner content from Kevin Stratvert and gradually moving into more advanced topics with Tech With Tim. Whenever I hit a wall, I would search YouTube for exactly the problem I was facing and find my way through it one video at a time.

The assets for the game came from Tech With Tim’s GitHub page. I took what was available and built around it, shaping each chapter by hand. It was slow, sometimes painful work, but it was mine.

What made it harder was that I was not just learning to code. I was learning to code while simultaneously designing a game. Every new feature meant a new problem I had never seen before. Collision systems. Touch controls. Level logic. Background scrolling. Each one required hours of research, testing, and fixing. There were nights I gave up more sleep than I can count, running on nothing but the idea that I was getting closer.

Skiptrace mixes simple mobile controls with platforming hazards and chapter-based progression.

When it got too stressful, and it did regularly, I would lie in bed and chew on the wooden frame just to have somewhere to put the frustration. That is not a joke. That is just what it was like.

Ten chapters, one journey

The 10 chapters of Skiptrace are loosely inspired by the environments and energy of the film, but not copied one for one. I was conscious of staying far enough away from the source material to avoid any legal issues while still honouring what inspired me.

Each chapter takes the player through a different world: Journey, Market, Traps, Rain, Mountain, Swamp, Desert, Ambush, A King and His People, and finally, Escape. The idea was to make the player feel like they were actually travelling somewhere, not just replaying the same level with a different background. The difficulty increases gradually, and by the later chapters the game demands real patience and skill.

The moment I almost walked away for good

The lowest point came when I discovered that Pygame, the framework I had spent months building in, could not be converted to Android directly. I had built an entire game and had no way to put it on a phone.

I stopped coding for over three months.

I did not touch the project. I did not open the files. I just walked away from it.

But I could not let it go. Eventually, I found Buildozer, a tool that could package Python and Pygame projects for Android with the right adjustments to the code structure. I came back, restructured the project, and got it running on a device.

Eight weeks stuck in closed testing

Getting through Google Play’s closed testing period was its own battle. I had no testers. I tried using Android emulators to simulate real device testing, which resulted in four rejections over eight weeks, two weeks per testing cycle, all wasted.

I eventually found my way through using a testers community and a platform called Play2Review, which connected me with real users who gave genuine feedback on usability and bugs. That feedback cost me three more months of fine tuning, fixing issues, adjusting controls, and improving the experience, but it was worth every day.

Skiptrace launched on the Google Play Store on April 25, 2026.

What I hope players feel

The Swamp chapter gives Skiptrace another visual identity, with green environments, collectibles, and hazards across the level.

When someone finishes all 10 chapters of Skiptrace, I want them to feel what I felt watching that movie: a sense of accomplishment, of having gone somewhere and made it through. I want them to feel the connection to the journey the game was built around.

This game was made by one person, alone, on midnight internet data in Ghana. No budget. No studio. No shortcuts. Just two years of learning, failing, recovering, and finishing.

I hope that comes through when you play it.

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