[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":642},["ShallowReactive",2],{"project-44463967":3},{"id":4,"name":5,"line":6,"line_source":7,"title":8,"url":9,"domain":10,"maker":11,"posted_at":12,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rank_in_year":16,"shown_in_year":17,"top":18,"tier":19,"category":20,"subcategory":21,"format":22,"keywords":23,"reception":29,"sentiment":30,"stance_mix":31,"scored_comments":36,"aspects":37,"strip":46,"post_text":48,"what":49,"said":95,"maker_in_thread":213,"shape":225,"grid":229,"attempts":603,"same_week":604,"maker_shows":41,"maker_hidden":634,"reader_version":635,"card":636},"44463967","Tower of Time","I AI-coded a tower defense game and documented the whole process","title","Show HN: I AI-coded a tower defense game and documented the whole process","https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fmaciej-trebacz\u002Ftower-of-time-game","github.com","M4v3R",1751632489,2025,319,152,159,3837,5,"legend","games","tower defense game","web_app",[24,25,26,27,28],"tower defense","phaser.js","ai coding","time rewind","browser game","mixed",0.307,{"positive":32,"neutral":33,"mixed":34,"critical":35},14,10,0,7,31,{"docs":38,"design":39,"execution":42,"idea":44,"pricing":45},{"positive":18,"critical":34},{"positive":40,"critical":41},3,1,{"positive":34,"critical":43},4,{"positive":40,"critical":41},{"positive":34,"critical":34},[18,34,34,34,34,34,34,34,34,34,34,34,34,34,34,34,18,34,34,34,34,34,34,34,18,40,18,47,40,41,18,41,18,18,40,18,47,18,40,34],2,"I'm a software developer with 20+ years of experience but during this time I never programmed any games, but I really wanted to for the longest time. With the advent of AI coding agents I thought that this is the best time to try and so I've learned a bit of Phaser.js (a Javascript based game engine) and entered Beginner's Jam Summer 2025 - a game jam for beginners in the game dev industry that allows AI coding. After around 25-30 hours (working mainly after my full-time day job) I managed to submit the game I called \"Tower of Time\" (the theme of the jam was \"Time Travel\").\n\nYou can play it in",{"problem":50,"audience":50,"pricing":51,"motivation":57,"time_to_build":61,"stack":67,"openness":92,"stage":93,"team_size":94},null,{"value":52,"source":53,"evidence":54},"free to play in browser on itch.io","maker",[55],{"id":56},"post",{"value":58,"source":53,"evidence":59},"wanted to learn game dev and test whether AI coding can produce a fun game",[60],{"id":56},{"value":62,"source":53,"evidence":63},"about 25-30 hours over a week",[64],{"id":65,"by":11,"text":66},"44466522","It took about a week working on it on and off in my spare time. I'd say probably 25-30 hours total.",[68,72,80,86],{"value":69,"source":53,"evidence":70},"Phaser.js",[71],{"id":56},{"value":73,"source":74,"evidence":75},"TypeScript","commenter",[76],{"id":77,"by":78,"text":79},"44478821","u5wbxrc3","I am more interested in what this article and project does not seem to mention. > During this process I've learned a lot Yes, but what exactly? I mean I guess you don't have to…",{"value":81,"source":53,"evidence":82},"Augment Code",[83],{"id":84,"by":11,"text":85},"44465360","I've heard about Augment Code on X and what piqued my interest was their \"context engine\" which is a fancy way of saying they have a way of navigating big codebases and providing…",{"value":87,"source":53,"evidence":88},"Cursor",[89],{"id":90,"by":11,"text":91},"44464478","I can't give you the token count because I didn't really track that (Augment Code does not give you detailed token stats) and I'm not paying per token - I use the Developer plan…","open_source","launched","solo",{"praise":96,"objections":135,"requests":154,"questions":168,"alternatives":194},[97,112,127],{"value":98,"source":74,"evidence":99},"Fun, engaging game",[100,104,108],{"id":101,"by":102,"text":103},"44465455","malochak","I couldn't stop playing this game, very engaging :) Thanks!",{"id":105,"by":106,"text":107},"44464591","laurent_du","Very cool and I wish it lasted longer.",{"id":109,"by":110,"text":111},"44464561","HNArg024","Great game! The rewind time \"skill\" it's like playing an Edge of Tomorrow game",{"value":113,"source":74,"evidence":114},"Documenting prompts is transparent and useful",[115,119,123],{"id":116,"by":117,"text":118},"44465320","twalkz","I'm really enjoying reading over the prompts used for development: (https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fmaciej-trebacz\u002Ftower-of-time-game\u002Fblob\u002Fmain\u002FPROMPTS.md) A lot of posts about \"vibe coding…",{"id":120,"by":121,"text":122},"44472585","adelineJoOs","Fun game! Starred on github for making the development process transparent, including sharing your prompts! :)",{"id":124,"by":125,"text":126},"44466201","colinmilhaupt","Thanks for sharing! This aligns with a workflow I've been converging on incorporating traceability and transparency into LLM-augmented workflows[1]. One of the big benefits I've…",{"value":128,"source":74,"evidence":129},"Matches a realistic iterative AI workflow",[130,131],{"id":116,"by":117,"text":118},{"id":132,"by":133,"text":134},"44465785","doddpronter","That's pretty impressive and super motivating. Love that you documented the prompts. From my experience \"vibe coding\" can either speed you up or slow you down. As long as you are…",[136,143,147],{"value":137,"source":74,"evidence":138},"Video shows slow, error-prone AI use",[139],{"id":140,"by":141,"text":142},"44465343","thegrim33","After scanning through the video, the first 20 minutes is a guy doing coding with no AI involved. He's manually designing a level in a pre-made level editor. He's manually…",{"value":144,"source":74,"evidence":145},"Source code likely would take less than 30 hours to write manually",[146],{"id":77,"by":78,"text":79},{"value":148,"source":74,"evidence":149},"Intro bug where tutorial prompt fails to appear",[150],{"id":151,"by":152,"text":153},"44465179","freehorse","A bug in the intro: in the first round in the first playthrough my turret destroyed one of the critter and the other reached the tower. There was no other prompt or anything…",[155,161],{"value":156,"source":53,"evidence":157},"Gamepad instructions",[158],{"id":159,"by":11,"text":160},"44464518","Thanks! The game actually supports gamepads too but I didn't have enough time to put in proper instructions for that.",{"value":162,"source":74,"evidence":163},"Hint on earning energy for a second turret",[164],{"id":165,"by":166,"text":167},"44467006","jedberg","Ok folks, I need a hint. I can't ever build up enough energy to afford a second turret. What's the secret?",[169,180,187],{"value":170,"source":74,"evidence":171},"Which AI tools and how much they cost",[172,176],{"id":173,"by":174,"text":175},"44464375","hnaccount_rng","How many tokens did you use up and what did you pay for them?",{"id":177,"by":178,"text":179},"44465890","jslakro","I didn't find any mention to the costs spent on Claude",{"value":181,"source":74,"evidence":182},"Why Augment Code and how it compares",[183],{"id":184,"by":185,"text":186},"44465245","skybrian","This is the first I've heard of Augment Code. What does it do? Why did you pick that tool, versus alternatives? How well did it work for you? Do you recommend it?",{"value":188,"source":74,"evidence":189},"How the EnergySystem was built from the prompts history",[190],{"id":191,"by":192,"text":193},"44466244","alganet","I think indie games could be a really good use case for coding AIs. Low stakes, fun-oriented, sounds like a match. The first commit[0] seems to have a lot of code, but no…",[195,199,206],{"value":196,"source":53,"evidence":197},"Claude Code",[198],{"id":84,"by":11,"text":85},{"value":200,"source":74,"evidence":201},"Rosebud.ai",[202],{"id":203,"by":204,"text":205},"44466919","EwanG","Curious if anyone here has tried rosebud.ai for something similar. I looked into it, and it did appear to break it down into steps, but can't really produce anything that runs…",{"value":207,"source":74,"evidence":208},"Coplay for Unity",[209],{"id":210,"by":211,"text":212},"44470253","josvdwest","Such a cool game! Exactly the simple TD game I've been craving for a while. If you ever want to build this out in Unity, you should try https:\u002F\u002Fwww.coplay.dev\u002F for the AI copilot…",{"comments":214,"answered":35,"key":215},17,[216,219,222],{"id":217,"text":218},"44465515","Browser text entry on mobile phones is notoriously hard to get right and some bugs are literally unfixable [1]. I'm a frontend developer in my day job and I struggled with this…",{"id":220,"text":221},"44466891","Hard to tell what exactly went wrong in your case, but if I were to guess - were you trying to do all of this in a single LLM\u002Fagent conversation? If you'll look at my prompt…",{"id":223,"text":224},"44467058","> If I can do in 2 hours of prompting or 2 hours of doing it manually I’d rather just do it manually. 100% agree, if that was the case I would not use LLMs either. Point is, at…",{"commenters":226,"max_depth":33,"maker_replies":214,"first_comment_mins":227,"lifespan_hours":228},91,24,128,[230,232,236,239,241,243,245,248,250,254,255,257,260,262,264,266,268,271,274,276,279,281,284,285,287,288,291,294,297,300,303,305,308,311,314,317,319,322,324,326,328,331,333,335,338,341,344,347,350,352,355,358,361,363,366,369,372,376,378,381,384,387,390,393,396,399,402,405,408,411,414,417,419,422,425,428,430,432,434,436,438,441,443,446,449,452,454,457,461,465,467,469,471,473,475,478,479,482,483,485,488,490,491,496,500,503,507,510,513,518,519,523,525,527,529,531,533,534,538,540,543,544,546,548,551,555,557,559,562,564,566,569,571,576,581,582,586,588,590,593,597,600],[116,34,18,231,117,34],"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fdocs",[233,34,34,234,235,34],"44465339","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","stavros",[237,34,34,234,238,34],"44465413","gametorch",[240,34,34,234,235,34],"44465454",[242,34,34,234,238,34],"44465607",[244,34,34,234,235,34],"44465626",[246,34,34,234,247,34],"44466408","cootsnuck",[249,34,34,234,235,34],"44466421",[251,34,34,252,253,34],"44466330","other\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","garciasn",[217,34,34,252,11,41],[256,34,34,234,235,34],"44465558",[258,34,34,234,259,34],"44465709","mmastrac",[261,34,34,234,235,34],"44465824",[263,34,34,252,121,34],"44472594",[265,34,34,234,259,34],"44479819",[267,34,34,234,121,34],"44480373",[269,34,34,252,270,34],"44472845","gwern",[272,34,34,252,273,34],"44505649","Vecr",[275,34,34,252,270,34],"44514258",[277,34,34,252,278,34],"44465634","fragmede",[280,34,34,234,235,34],"44465669",[282,34,34,252,283,34],"44466626","mberning",[220,34,34,234,11,41],[286,34,34,252,283,34],"44466953",[223,34,34,234,11,41],[289,34,34,252,290,34],"44472618","hombre_fatal",[292,34,34,252,293,34],"44466004","fallinditch",[295,34,34,252,296,34],"44466474","recursive",[298,34,34,234,299,34],"44466489","AndrewKemendo",[301,34,34,234,302,34],"44466543","jaggs",[304,34,34,234,283,34],"44466582",[306,34,34,252,307,34],"44466673","Kiro",[309,34,34,252,310,34],"44468048","all2",[312,34,34,252,313,34],"44466609","barrkel",[315,34,34,252,316,34],"44466630","johnrob",[318,34,34,252,299,34],"44467281",[320,34,34,234,321,34],"44467448","sarchertech",[323,34,34,234,11,41],"44467506",[325,34,34,234,321,34],"44467649",[327,34,34,234,299,34],"44467995",[329,34,34,234,330,34],"44468785","ramchip",[332,34,34,234,321,34],"44468996",[334,34,34,252,299,34],"44469968",[336,34,34,234,337,34],"44472012","blks",[339,34,34,252,340,34],"44466576","Swizec",[342,34,34,252,343,34],"44469526","mvkel",[345,34,34,252,346,34],"44469789","unclebucknasty",[348,34,34,252,349,34],"44469876","skydhash",[351,34,34,252,346,34],"44470558",[353,34,34,252,354,34],"44470498","kenjackson",[356,34,34,252,357,34],"44471677","marviel",[359,34,34,252,360,34],"44473864","UncleEntity",[362,34,34,234,357,34],"44474189",[364,34,34,252,365,34],"44472489","cainxinth",[367,34,34,252,368,34],"44477781","exographicskip",[370,34,34,252,371,34],"44472909","antonvs",[373,41,18,374,375,34],"44464512","maker\u002Fpositive\u002Fnone","mgdev",[377,41,34,234,11,41],"44464549",[379,41,34,252,380,34],"44468229","imiric",[382,41,34,234,383,34],"44468285","dragonwriter",[385,41,34,234,386,34],"44464593","danielbln",[388,41,34,234,389,34],"44464649","qsort",[391,41,34,234,392,34],"44464680","kordlessagain",[394,41,34,234,395,34],"44465068","sitkack",[397,41,34,234,398,34],"44465092","squidbeak",[400,41,34,234,401,34],"44465193","brookst",[403,41,34,234,404,34],"44468888","prairieroadent",[406,41,34,234,407,34],"44466134","zacharycohn",[409,41,34,252,410,34],"44467389","mumbisChungo",[412,41,34,234,413,34],"44464851","AnotherGoodName",[415,41,34,234,416,34],"44465147","jpcom",[418,41,34,234,413,34],"44465238",[420,41,34,234,421,34],"44465156","skaisbzbsn",[423,41,34,234,424,34],"44469741","golergka",[426,41,34,234,427,34],"44466070","aprilthird2021",[429,41,34,234,413,34],"44466357",[431,41,34,234,427,34],"44466769",[433,41,34,234,413,34],"44466904",[435,41,34,234,427,34],"44471575",[437,41,34,252,337,34],"44472047",[439,41,34,234,440,34],"44472331","javier2",[442,41,34,234,413,34],"44473196",[444,41,34,234,445,34],"44465016","roenxi",[447,41,34,234,448,34],"44465102","cgriswald",[450,41,34,234,451,34],"44474595","Sammi",[453,41,34,234,448,34],"44475526",[455,41,34,252,456,34],"44466068","majormajor",[458,47,18,459,460,34],"44465212","project\u002Fpositive\u002Fdesign","Brajeshwar",[462,47,41,463,464,34],"44467167","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fexecution","mordechai9000",[466,47,34,234,460,34],"44471401",[132,40,18,468,133,34],"maker\u002Fpositive\u002Fdocs",[191,43,40,470,192,34],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fdocs",[472,43,34,470,11,41],"44466457",[474,43,18,468,192,34],"44466559",[476,43,40,477,386,34],"44472648","maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[184,18,40,477,185,34],[480,18,40,477,481,34],"44465304","virgil_disgr4ce",[84,18,34,477,11,41],[151,484,41,463,152,34],6,[486,484,34,487,11,41],"44465219","maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution",[489,484,41,463,152,34],"4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