>One day this February, I just got up at 2am and started writing code. I was tired of waiting. So I wrote and wrote and wrote.
That's cool. It makes me feel happy reading this, kind of inspiring :)
>I found myself making an API for making game maker tools and a game engine and a game. It turns out I’m an API designer at heart. I guess I always kinda knew this.
I like hearing when someone finds their passion and goes for it full throttle.
I tried in both Firefox and Chrome on Linux and picking colors and clicking I can't draw anything. No logs in the console that alert something is wrong.
On a different note I think you've captured the 90s really well. I had a moment of realization that the 90s really were like this. On first look I was thinking this was more 70s/80s terminals. Looking forward to seeing where you take this.
I didn't dig into this deeply, but I miss this aesthetic more than I'd like to admit. I'm sure it reflects on simpler times, but there's some comfort in seeing projects like this for me.
I love what you did there! It's an awesome project. I directly traveled back to my childhood. While I love pico8, I think it's a decade too early for me. I grew up with desktop and gui. This feels like buying a CD again.
I'm stuck on the first step of the "Getting Started" guide.
1. I've downloaded helloworld.zip to my local computer, I think.
2. I open the filer.app.js by clicking the link on the webpage. This open a 90s.dev instance right on the page.
3. Then i'm supposed to mount helloworld/app as app and click it, so i click the mount button, it asks for the drive name, hi put in helloworld/app and click mount but nothing happens.
I must be missing how you're supposed to get helloworld.zip into the 90s.dev instance... how do you upload it into the instance?
Trying to load it on Firefox (Floorp Browser variant 11.26.0) and the examples get stuck on the `Loading` screen. Moving my mouse over it draws the cursor and leaves it imprinted on screen so you get that permanent trail effect.
In the console I see:
Failed to load ‘https://90s.dev/os/fs/run? code=H4sIAAAAAAAACk2QMW%2BDMBCFd%2F%2BKa4QEKAiiKlMVs1Rqlw4dmy0GjsSNsRE2TVKL%2F16DSYq3d3ef797jTas6A6zlCVgIEnhFabBL4L1TfbtP4IMVKGb5BQPUnWogzJTOHJN%2B65AQdmF8%2BiJtOxR9hfqNS65PWBFSKqkNlKqXBigE0SaeS1yWrhDFQHPfTn%2BY6HG9vjMtkyjcyP%2Fv%2BqbThp3xc%2BxEFiRr8AVWJxRCwUV1olrBkBCAnTcBmv8itXc0GOUABSvPR%2BdGVtRurtvp1fWQO86R3jYcWUvtdi668pQCGLwaGi72PYWQPWbmiCb0%2BYG6RtEboyRocxNIQ90XDTchsNJwJal1QQx5KXh5hgZ3mR9e0IvV1gfFKtaaSI7JHSYQKwisHMDwBvUhHhZHZf6q2Z1X%2B1HtMh9STmJCpqzTWpW99uHGfz0j7XEYAgAA’. A ServiceWorker passed a promise to FetchEvent.respondWith() that rejected with ‘TypeError: Array(...).keys().map is not a function’.
A critique on the landing (I have not played with anything else at all): it's very confusing to post this calling it a game maker, then have a list of things it's not include "a game maker", then in the following paragraph call it a game maker. The terminology is kind of all over the place.
Love it, and congrats on shipping! I might be missing something but your pitch would be a 10x better launch if I could find some basic demo games developed with the engine, unless I just didn't look in the right place. Looking forward to the next update!
Show HN: 90s.dev – Game maker that runs on the web
(90s.dev)348 points by 90s_dev 20 May 2025 | 111 comments
Comments
Thank you everyone for the feedback. It's clear that I launched this far too soon.
I'll work on the pain points you all noted, and come back in a few months.
That's cool. It makes me feel happy reading this, kind of inspiring :)
>I found myself making an API for making game maker tools and a game engine and a game. It turns out I’m an API designer at heart. I guess I always kinda knew this.
I like hearing when someone finds their passion and goes for it full throttle.
I tried in both Firefox and Chrome on Linux and picking colors and clicking I can't draw anything. No logs in the console that alert something is wrong.
On a different note I think you've captured the 90s really well. I had a moment of realization that the 90s really were like this. On first look I was thinking this was more 70s/80s terminals. Looking forward to seeing where you take this.
It's interesting how an aesthetic can make an emotional impact and draw a lot more interest.
Maybe you could have a little walkthrough of how to build a mini game with it?
1. I've downloaded helloworld.zip to my local computer, I think. 2. I open the filer.app.js by clicking the link on the webpage. This open a 90s.dev instance right on the page. 3. Then i'm supposed to mount helloworld/app as app and click it, so i click the mount button, it asks for the drive name, hi put in helloworld/app and click mount but nothing happens.
I must be missing how you're supposed to get helloworld.zip into the 90s.dev instance... how do you upload it into the instance?
In the console I see:
Seems to work fine in Chrome though.Based on https://90s.dev/getting-started/hello-world.html, it seems like JSX meets pico8. Is that a decent description?
Looking forward to your WC2 clone!