Permit Pending

Games

city builder simulation

SHOW HN2026

941points
428comments
#11of 4,366 in 2026
Top 1%of 2026 by points

How HN took it

DebatedReal support and real criticism

19 positive, 22 neutral or asking, 5 mixed, 24 critical, out of 70 comments about the project. Thread score -0.06.

Design: 5 for, 12 againstIdea: 7 for, 2 againstExecution: 1 for, 6 againstPerformance: 0 for, 4 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Graphics style and concept praised

    From 2 comments
    • Love the graphics style, and the idea to it.
      pjmlp on HN
    • Looks good, I could not try it completely but my first impressions are positive because of the detailed game design, customization capabilities of the city. Also you can add a…
      prest on HN

Objections

  • Too many controls and popups at the start, overwhelming

    From 3 comments
    • A little too much going on all at once in the beginning. For a complex game like this I think you have to start small and slowly introduce functionality. Why are so many buttons…
      BatmansMom on HN
    • It complains that my screen is too small and "a tablet or computer shows the whole city hall", whatever the city hall is, which I obviously don't know yet. But I am on a tablet.…
      card_zero on HN
    • Why is it that many of these games have continuous popups. I get enough approval fatigue during the day!
      Kim_Bruning on HN
  • Loading and rendering errors, blank screens

    From 3 comments
    • Screen turns largely black after a short bit of loading the city with these errors: ``` .WebGL-0x15bc15784800] GL_INVALID_OPERATION: glRenderbufferStorageMultisample: Texture…
      zamadatix on HN
    • Error when loading a new game: Permit Pending error report Code: PP-SIM-F99D Step: running the simulation Error: Error: The simulation could not start. Build: 2e99342ba03e Time:…
      marcd35 on HN
    • All I get is "City Hall can't load here. Error loading the game: PP-LOAD-1C59." I can't tell if this is a real error or satire, lol
      adastra22 on HN
  • Unclear goals and confusing data views

    From 3 comments
    • So, when I start the game - I don't understand what my purpose even is. That is, what do I want to be doing? Even if I choose an implicit goal - increase my apporval percentage…
      einpoklum on HN
    • It complains that my screen is too small and "a tablet or computer shows the whole city hall", whatever the city hall is, which I obviously don't know yet. But I am on a tablet.…
      card_zero on HN
    • I checked under "Data Views", but couldn't find a simple zoning overlay (i.e. that just shows colors based on the underlying zoning category residential, industrial, commercial,…
      rkagerer on HN
  • Not usable on mobile

    From 2 comments
    • something like this not built for mobile should be a sin. Just spend a few tokens to improve usability, geez.
      xyst on HN
    • New game scroll broken on mobile safari
      yieldcrv on HN

Requests

  • Fix road and zoning bugs

    From 2 comments
    • I've been enjoying this for a few hours. One really buggy thing though is the road system. You can build streets anywhere that's empty, but the unpaved road tiles that are…
      noduerme on HN
    • I checked under "Data Views", but couldn't find a simple zoning overlay (i.e. that just shows colors based on the underlying zoning category residential, industrial, commercial,…
      rkagerer on HN
  • Add eminent domain and covenant mechanics

    From 1 comment
    • It's missing a few critical "features" that make it even more realistic. Redlining, block busting, eminent domain, mortgage discrimination, public-housing segregation and siting,…
      greenavocado on HN
  • Use procedurally generated text tied to game data

    From 1 comment
    • The various decisions/petitions that pop up can break the immersion by mentioning details that don't fit the city(petitions with signatures from >250% of the town population,…
      goda90 on HN

Questions

  • How do you add power poles?

    From 1 comment
  • How do you turn off the music?

    From 1 comment

Alternatives named

  • SimCity

    From 1 comment
    • I haven't tried the game, but this is slightly hilarious and awesome. I've often wondered about this kind of thing. When I go to an airport, it seems strange to me that each one…
      blobbers on HN
  • North Berkeley board game

    From 1 comment
    • Reminds me of the North Berkeley board game [1] [1] https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/347552/north-berkeley
      pat2man on HN
  • Factorio mod with paperwork biters

    From 1 comment
    • Couldn't get past the new city screen where I'm choosing "Blank Slate" or the other one. I assume theres a button to press odd I scroll down, but scrolling is locked. Fun idea…
      solyin on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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