alt.hn

5/23/2026 at 6:54:50 PM

Show HN: A satirical idle game about running an AI startup

https://game.trae.academy/

by haebom

5/24/2026 at 3:03:53 PM

- Doesn't feel like an idle game because you can 'prestige' within a few minutes and also there's never a clear moment to step away because the next tier is always only 20 to 30 seconds away.

- 'Step training' sucks because there is no way to do more than x0.1 at a time

- Launching with a store full of microtransactions when the game is puddle deep feels bad; everyone has to make money but having 4 microtransactions + 4 subscriptions while your research tree is only 9 steps makes this feel like a cashgrab rather than a game

- There's no clear way to buy hardware to improve

- The 'end game' is meaningless. There's no real reason to even play because there's no "Oh yeah!!!" feeling; it's purely just big numbers which I do love for idle games but there's no grand story that makes me feel powerful.

- There's absolutely no compelling reason to hire anyone because effectively you can just bum research, wait 5 to 10 minutes, click all the research then you just click 'step training' over and over then sell your company.

by nullfern

5/24/2026 at 9:41:09 AM

Vibe-coded? Runs poorly, and the balancing makes no sense.

by tardedmeme

5/24/2026 at 1:30:10 PM

I did use some existing code as a reference. If you have any feedback, I’ll be happy to make adjustments. Please feel free to let me know.

by haebom