Menu
client book
client profile
tattoo
shop
tattoo removal
story unlock

Inspiration

Erase the world's worst tattoos with a laser and hear the regret behind every one.

Reddit is full of tattoo regret impulsive decisions, bad ideas, and the stories behind them. I wanted to build a game that captured more than the removal itself. What if every tattoo had a story, and you were the one uncovering it?

What it does

Ragret Removal is a laser tattoo-removal game where every client has a terrible tattoo and an even better story. Carefully erase the ink without burning the surrounding skin to earn the highest score.

As you remove each tattoo, the client's story unfolds in their own voice. From crypto disasters to conspiracy theories and relationship regrets, every tattoo reveals why it happened and why it needs to disappear.

The game launches with nine original clients, each featuring unique artwork, tattoos, voices, and stories, with many more planned. Players unlock collectible lasers and studios, earn money, compete on online leaderboards, and build a collection that persists across sessions.

How I built it

Ragret Removal was built with Phaser 3, TypeScript, and Devvit Web.

The core gameplay uses a per-pixel canvas system that tracks tattoo removal and skin damage in real time. Behind the scenes, the game includes persistent progression, cloud-backed saves, a shared rotating shop, collectible unlocks, and online leaderboards.

Challenges I ran into

One of the biggest challenges was balancing the tattoo removal experience so it felt both satisfying and rewarding. I spent a lot of time fine-tuning the laser speed, tattoo durability, skin damage, scoring, and overall pacing to create a game that was easy to understand but still rewarding to master.

Another challenge was making sure all of the game's systems worked together smoothly. Progression, unlocks, leaderboards, and the rotating shop all needed to stay synchronized so players could jump back into the game without losing progress.

Like any game, the final polish came through constant playtesting and iteration. Small adjustments to gameplay, UI, and feedback made a huge difference in making the experience feel intuitive, responsive, and fun.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

The feature I'm most proud of is the story system. Instead of simply removing tattoos, players gradually uncover each client's story as they play, turning every level into its own narrative experience.

I'm also proud of building a polished game with persistent progression, online leaderboards, collectible unlocks, and a foundation that's designed to continue growing with new characters and stories.

What I learned

This project taught me a tremendous amount about game development from canvas manipulation and client-server synchronization to building persistent game systems that work together reliably. It also reinforced the importance of playtesting and iteration, because even small changes can have a huge impact on how a game feels.

What's next for Ragret Removal

This is just the beginning. I plan to expand Ragret Removal with more clients, more stories, more tattoos, new lasers, new studios, deeper progression, and additional gameplay mechanics.

One of the ideas I'm most excited about is letting players submit their own tattoo regret stories. The best submissions could become future clients, turning real Reddit-inspired stories into playable experiences.