alt.hn

2/10/2026 at 2:44:58 AM

Show HN: I spent 3 years reverse-engineering a 40 yo stock market sim from 1986

 https://www.wallstreetraider.com/story.html

by benstopics

2/10/2026 at 10:10:02 AM

This is such a well written story, and congratulations Ben, it sounds like it's been a lot of hard but ultimately successful work!

I know you'll deservedly get a lot of credit for all your work in remastering the game, but you should also get credit for how you've woven this narrative together, it's a lovely read. Thank you for taking the time to write it up, and good luck with the Steam release, and whatever project you take on next! :)

by JohnHammersley

2/10/2026 at 10:09:31 PM

Thank you sir and I'm glad you enjoyed the story! I hope it's successful but we will see.

by benstopics

2/10/2026 at 8:37:28 AM

Good job! When can I buy it?

I am sold on the game and wishlisted it but lack of release date saddens me.

I love spreadsheet games like Terra Invicta/Paradox/Simutrans and this seems like a terrific example of one.

by jjmarr

2/10/2026 at 9:08:56 AM

If I can't get a response from a publisher here soon, I will be setting an Early Access release date of 1-2 months from now to give me some time to build up more wishlists before I pull the trigger.

by benstopics

2/10/2026 at 10:31:48 AM

This is very well written. I have fairly low interest in video games and rarely read gaming content, but read this all the way through. That’s an achievement in itself!

by saaaaaam

2/12/2026 at 8:41:51 AM

Awesome story! Well-written also.

You are the engineer we all aspired to be. Though, you really are the chosen one.

Wish you the best!

by ozozozd

2/10/2026 at 6:32:39 PM

The Wall Street Raider is under active development, you’re releasing a clone under the same name?

https://www.roninsoft.com/wsraider.htm

by omega3

2/10/2026 at 7:12:23 PM

I am working with Michael to remaster it. He transferred the domain name to me and I just redid the website. I'm not sure when the last time he updated Roninsoft website, but he has "retired" from working on WSR, although has been a huge help with the remaster. https://www.roninsoft.com/#:~:text=!!!%20Check%20out%20WallS...

by benstopics

2/10/2026 at 5:12:22 AM

I enjoyed the read. How did you tap into the legacy Power Basic engine? Was there a FFI or some kind of bridge you could hook into? And what languages were you using?

by replwoacause

2/10/2026 at 9:18:55 AM

I built an FFI via event dispatching and shared memory pointers/matching structs. Imported the C++ UI layer as a DLL via Win32 LoadLibrary. The PB shares a big array for storing global pointers allowing them to read/write each other's memory. The C++ has an event queue and has DLL functions the PB can call to peek/pop the next event. It actually isn't that complicated, just took me forever to come up with the idea.

As for languages, PB, C++, and JavaScript (Electron/Preact). I chose a no-build UI framework so that it could be modded by players without installing any build tools, just edit the text files in the game folder, and it has been a very good decision.

by benstopics

2/10/2026 at 2:28:35 PM

That’s awesome. What a clever approach!

by replwoacause

2/10/2026 at 4:09:26 AM

Cheers for this!

Thank you for sharing your story.

by cameron_b

2/10/2026 at 9:19:24 AM

You're welcome!

by benstopics

2/10/2026 at 11:49:17 AM

AI can’t do impossible things yet, but we still can.

by nacozarina

2/10/2026 at 5:05:55 PM

You're damn right we can.

by benstopics

2/10/2026 at 9:54:49 PM

... You got the source code, and it was 115 kloc of BASIC, but several other individuals and organizations failed to "reverse-engineer" it?

by zahlman

2/11/2026 at 5:28:56 AM

Others attempted to build from scratch or port it without the original developer's involvement. I worked directly with Michael and built a bridge layer into his existing codebase rather than rewriting it.

by benstopics

2/11/2026 at 8:55:42 PM

Ah, I understand now.

by zahlman

2/10/2026 at 10:08:17 PM

I'm sorry what is the question?

by benstopics

2/11/2026 at 5:02:15 AM

oh this is an absolutely fascinating story!

by sevenseacat

2/12/2026 at 3:23:42 AM

I forgot to ask, do you have links to any of the Reddit threads? They’d be a fun read!

by sevenseacat

2/12/2026 at 5:23:47 AM

That is a really good idea. I totally forgot to include the link in that part of the story. I will definitely be making that change! Well, here is the one I think you are referring to: https://www.reddit.com/r/tycoon/s/bzjG709MLB

by benstopics