HN Reader

About a month ago, I shared the Day 1 prototype of this project (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46448670). It has since evolved into a somewhat more polished "Slot-Machine Deckbuilder."

I also recently moved the project from qq-pwn.com to alt-qq.com. I did this mid-development specifically to see if I could migrate a live player base and session states without losing people.

The Design Challenge: The core of the game is a "One-Armed Bandit" dungeon crawler. The challenge is balancing the "house always wins" nature of slots with the player agency required for a good roguelike.

What I’d love your feedback on: The First 30 Seconds: Is it immediately obvious how to play? I’ve tried to keep the onboarding "invisible," but I worry the manipulation mechanics might be buried.

Skill vs. Luck: Does the game feel like a mindless gamble, or do you feel like you have agency over the outcome?

The "Cursed Seed" UX: I’ve added a way to share specific runs via a URL. Does the transition from "clicking a friend's link" to "playing the game" feel seamless?

Mobile/PWA Performance: It’s built to be a PWA. Does it feel like a "web page" or does it feel like a native app on your device?

I'm especially interested when and where exactly did you feel like quitting?

Technology: The project is built with React and Vite, hosted on a Cloudflare edge stack. The code is 100% augmented by AI, which allowed me to focus more on the architecture of the project and the design of the mechanics rather than implementation syntax.

Reel Rogue: The Bandit's Tale is playable here: https://alt-qq.com