Hacker News
1Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam
- Former Meta employee laid off in 2023 turned game developer created Ballionaire, a roguelike pachinko game. After intense development throughout 2024, the game launched on Steam in December and sold 200,000 units in its first 10 weeks.
Publisher relationship and value
Discussion of publisher's role including advance funding, marketing support, artist connections, and revenue splits. Most devs valued upfront funding and marketing help, though exact deals vary. Steam typically takes 30% cut.Art and development approach
Early focus should be on core gameplay using placeholder art. Original prototype used basic emoji/icons before publisher helped secure professional artist. Advice to "embrace the jank" and not overbalance gameplay.Work-life balance and risk
Developer had family support to focus intensely for one year, helped by prior FAANG experience providing financial cushion. Discussion of challenges others face getting support for risky career moves into game dev.
2EA Open Sources Command and Conquer: Red Alert
- This repository contains the source code for Command & Conquer Red Alert game, offering Steam Workshop support. While it's preserved for historical purposes, it requires specific legacy development tools and dependencies to compile. The code is released under GPL v3 license but doesn't accept contributions.
Source code quality and comments
Developers discuss entertaining code comments found in the source, including complaints about Windows, funny variable names, and internal drama between developers preserved in the codebase.EA releasing source code
Discussion about the significance of EA open-sourcing these games, with appreciation for the internal employees who pushed for this approval despite corporate challenges.Game requests and remakes
Discussion of hopes for other games to be open-sourced (especially Red Alert 2), existing remakes like OpenRA, and desires for modern ports with improved graphics and Linux support.
3GPT-4.5
- Site loading message indicating waiting for openai.com to respond, with a note about enabling JavaScript and cookies to continue.
Pricing concerns
Discussion of GPT-4.5's high costs ($75/1M input tokens, $150/1M output tokens) being 30x more than GPT-4o, with skepticism about whether the improvements justify the price increase and if it will remain viable long-term.Performance comparison
Analysis of GPT-4.5's capabilities vs other models like Claude 3.7 and GPT-4o, particularly in coding benchmarks. Mixed results show it performing worse than some cheaper alternatives, leading to questions about its value proposition.Strategic direction
Debate about OpenAI's approach of building large expensive models vs Anthropic's focus on reasoning capabilities, and whether ensemble models or unified systems are the future path for AI development.
4iMac G4(K)
- A detailed walkthrough of modifying an iMac G4 to use a modern Mac Mini M4, including replacing the original display with a 4K screen, designing custom parts for cable management, and solving various technical challenges to create a functional hybrid machine while maintaining the classic iMac G4's aesthetics.
Computer literacy across generations
Discussion about how younger generations are less computer literate than millennials, with debate about what constitutes literacy and how modern computing skills differ from traditional ones.Design evolution of Apple computers
Nostalgic discussion of Apple's design shift from playful/creative to utilitarian, particularly around the iMac G4's unique form factor and how subsequent designs became more conventional.Hardware modifications
Conversation about modifying and repurposing old Apple hardware, particularly iMacs, with modern components and displays to create updated hybrid systems.
5Show HN: Breakout with a roguelite/vampire survivor twist
- A developer shares their journey creating three versions of an open-source Breakout-style game, evolving from a traditional arcade experience to a multiplayer split-screen version, and finally to a polished game with unlockable upgrades and levels, aiming to improve upon classic breakout games' limitations.
User interface feedback
Players discussed ways to improve coin visibility, adding pointer lock/cursor hiding, and including basic instructions. Main suggestions were making coins more distinct, adding visual feedback, and improving first-time user experience.Game mechanics and features
Suggestions for expanding gameplay included adding run progress tracking, level selection perks, more complex unlocking systems, and boss battles. Discussion focused on ways to deepen progression without over-complicating.Mobile experience
Discussion around mobile controls, particularly the pause-on-lift feature that could be exploited for easier gameplay. Players suggested tweaks to make touch controls more balanced while preserving usability.
6Jeff Bezos exerts more control of Washington Post opinion
- Jeff Bezos announced a shift in Washington Post's opinion pages to focus on personal liberties and free markets, leading to opinion editor David Shipley's departure. This comes amid Amazon's antitrust litigation, raising concerns about Bezos' influence and drawing criticism from journalists and former editors.
Editorial independence
Concerns about Bezos's direct interference in WaPo's editorial decisions, marking a significant departure from decades of balanced perspective publishing and potentially diminishing the paper's investigative journalism capacity.Free market ideology
Debate over Bezos's emphasis on "free markets," with many viewing it as hypocritical coming from a monopolist, and discussion about whether truly free markets exist or if they just benefit wealthy elites.Media ownership concentration
Discussion of problems with mega-corporations controlling media outlets, calls for ownership limits and revival of the Fairness Doctrine, and concerns about billionaires using media for personal agendas.
7Solitaire
- The creator of Balatro discusses how traditional solitaire games inspired their design philosophy, aiming to create a relaxing, low-stakes experience similar to classic card games while adding modern gaming elements like achievements and challenges to guide players through the game's complexity.
Game design philosophy
Discussion around Balatro's design as a "comfort game" that doesn't desperately seek engagement, contrasting with modern platforms' addiction-seeking mechanics, while acknowledging its dopamine-releasing elements.Solitaire apps and alternatives
Various recommendations for Solitaire implementations, including open-source options, Zachtronics collection, and physical cards, with focus on avoiding ad-laden versions and finding quality experiences.Playing your own games
Importance of developers regularly playing their own games as regular players would, to ensure proper difficulty balance and user experience, with examples of successes and failures in this approach.
8Turning a Bluetooth device into an Apple AirTag without root privileges
- The research reveals a security vulnerability in Apple's Find My network where attackers can transform Bluetooth devices into AirTag-like trackers without root access, achieving 90% success rate within minutes. While Apple has released patches, the attack remains effective near unpatched Apple devices, posing privacy risks.
Technical implementation details
The exploit works by generating private/public key pairs where part of the public key matches a device's BLE address. Apple's Find My network accepts any address type, not just random static ones, enabling tracking via precomputed keys.Security implications
Despite Apple patching iOS 18.2 and other OS versions, the vulnerability remains effective with unpatched devices. This could enable malicious tracking of devices, with advertising SDKs potentially exploiting it for user geolocation.Authorization requirements
The exploit requires code execution, internet connectivity, and Bluetooth permissions on the target device. Some argue this limits its severity since compromised devices could be tracked directly through GPS anyway.
9Y Combinator deletes posts after a startup's demo goes viral
- Y Combinator removed a controversial demo video of Optifye.ai's factory worker monitoring system after social media backlash. The video showed the startup's AI-powered cameras tracking assembly line workers' performance, with founders demonstrating how supervisors could confront underperforming employees in real-time.
YC's role and ethics
Discussion of YC's vetting process, profit-focused motivation, and apparent lack of ethical considerations in backing companies. Debate about HN's relationship with YC and whether users should feel comfortable using the platform.Cultural differences
Contrasts between Western and Indian approaches to worker treatment, with some arguing US companies like Amazon already use similar systems. Debate about whether cultural differences explain the founders' approach.Worker surveillance
Discussion of how the software represents a regression from historical worker management systems, focusing on appearances rather than productivity and implementing digital monitoring tools.
10Fish 4
- Fish shell's core code has been rewritten in Rust, bringing significant changes to dependencies and build processes. Major updates include a new key notation system, improved keyboard protocol support, and self-installing binary capabilities. Notable changes affect command bindings, history search functionality, and terminal behavior, while maintaining backward compatibility for most users despite introducing some deprecations and removing certain features.
Rust code size comparison
Discussion of why the Rust rewrite resulted in more lines of code (75K vs 57K), with contributors noting that Rust's formatter, explicit error handling, and functional paradigms tend to spread code across more linesShell compatibility and usability
Users debate Fish's departure from Bash compatibility, with some praising its intuitive features while others find non-standard syntax frustrating. Main benefit cited is superior autocompletion, but copying Bash commands remains an issuePerformance impact
Discussion of whether the Rust rewrite affects Fish's speed, with developers noting it's currently similar to C++ version. Future optimizations may be possible as initial focus was on direct port functionality