The best Hacker News stories from All from the past day
Latest posts:
Solitaire
Winners of the $10k ISBN visualization bounty
IBM completes acquisition of HashiCorp
IBM completes acquisition of HashiCorp
EA Open Sources Command and Conquer: Red Alert, along with other games
GPT-4.5
GPT-4.5
Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam
I was at FB/Meta from late 2013 to early 2023, mostly working in the compiler/runtime spaces. I got hit in the spring 2023 layoff wave. I immediately started making games in my newfound free time (a lifelong interest, and I even worked in AA(A?) back ca. ~2000), and in October 2023 I stumbled upon the idea of a roguelike pachinko/plinko game inspired by Luck Be A Landlord. Things snowballed quickly, I started talking to publishers, then worked like crazy through all of 2024, almost the hardest I've ever worked in my career, and launched the game in December 2024. It's sold ~200,000 units in its first 10 weeks on Steam. So it's no Balatro, but I'd still say it did very well :) AMA?<p>(my game is Ballionaire: <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2667120/view/526461473225965590" rel="nofollow">https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2667120/view/5264614...</a>)
The man who spent forty-two years at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool (1993)
Bald eagles are thriving again after near extinction
iMac G4(K)
iMac G4(K)
Show HN: Breakout with a roguelite/vampire survivor twist
Hi HN ! This is an open source project I've been working on for a while. It's actually the third breakout-like game I've built. I really like the simplicity of the concept, having just one input (the puck horizontal position) and a simple gameplay that gives a low skill floor.<p>My girlfriend and I played a lot of the excellent LBreakoutHD, an open source breakout game that follows the traditional formula of having multiple lives, scoring points by breaking bricks and catching the good upgrades that spawn randomly and fall down, while avoiding bad upgrades.<p>She liked this game because it is non-violent, and doesn't make her sick like the first person 3D games. There are some issues though, it gets boring to break the last bricks, it's a bit unfair or slow sometimes, and the run length is too long with 30 something levels to clear for a high score.<p>I wanted to make a clone that would be fix those issues. I first tried to introduce more strategy by making the upgrades visible from the start, instead of them appearing randomly. You'd then strategize what to break first to earn more points. That first version is playable (<a href="https://breakout-v1.lecaro.me/" rel="nofollow">https://breakout-v1.lecaro.me/</a>) but a bit too complex.<p>I then wanted to simplify the gameplay, but make the game multiplayer in split screen (<a href="https://breakout-v2.lecaro.me/" rel="nofollow">https://breakout-v2.lecaro.me/</a>). Instead of bonus and malus, each brick drops some coins, and you need to catch them with the puck. This worked pretty well. You can play with the keyboard (A/D and LEFT/RIGHT keys) or mouse or both. The bomb explosions will blow coins around, including the coins of other players, and if you lose your ball, then a gap opens between your screen and the guy next to you, to give him a chance to lend you his ball. You can play using your phone as a controller by scanning the QR code, but make sure everyone is on the same Wi-Fi and that the the firewalls are down.<p>For my last version (<a href="https://breakout.lecaro.me/" rel="nofollow">https://breakout.lecaro.me/</a>) is focused on the game feel and juice. It is about breaking bricks and catching coins, like the v2, but you can now pick upgrades at the end of each level. Your score unlocks more upgrades and levels that are added to the pool for the next runs. There are currently 31 upgrades and 91 levels to unlock.<p>Please have a try and tell me what you think. The game should run well on Firefox, safari and chrome on mobile and pc. It is available in F-Droid and on the play store, The source code is on GitLab. All links are in the game menu.
If it is worth keeping, save it in Markdown
The FFT Strikes Back: An Efficient Alternative to Self-Attention
Material Theme has been pulled from VS Code's marketplace
TypeScript types can run DOOM [video]
TypeScript types can run DOOM [video]
DigiCert: Threat of legal action to stifle Bugzilla discourse
Tesla sales in Europe down 45% in January