Works On My Machine · StackPlay

My own projects, shipped unfinished and in public: a word game, platformer physics experiments, a game-feel dial, whatever's next. Each gets a playable build, a short devlog, and an open comment box. Once a month I answer the best punches in Patch Notes.

Surface vibeA veteran getting roasted for his jump arc.

Profound layerProof I know what shipping costs, still build with my own hands, and don't flinch when the critique is right.

Builds

Build 01 · Playable rig · gameplay loop in progress · 2026-07-23

DULY NOTED

A real-time word game where you're a sophist talking your way past a pedantic bureaucrat. Satisfy its cruel, arbitrary rules faster than its patience runs out, then out-lawyer a system that starts cheating to beat you.

Right now you get the feel, not the game. It's a juice rig wrapped around an empty Compliance Window: type words and watch the letters pop, shake, chain up a do-re-mi ladder, and grow personalities. Two rails flank the window so you can tune every effect live. The rule generator and the verdict beat come next.

Play the current build

Try this

Start mashing. Valid words climb the ladder; the tile pop and pitch ramp are the first thing to judge.
Open the Juice rail and hit Randomize, then Default. Tell me which randomized feel you preferred and why.
Add ?ab=B to the URL for the handwritten onboarding arm, ?ab=A for plain. Which one taught you faster?

Critique wanted. Does the feel earn the word game, or is it a fireworks show over a spreadsheet? Be specific: which effect, at what moment.

On the bench

Candidate

Juice Dial

A standalone tuning toy: the same live effect rails from DULY NOTED, pointed at any small game. Programmers who don't know which levers to pull get sliders instead of a lecture.

Candidate

JuiceDB

A queryable catalog of juice techniques and scored clips. Parked while I sort out whether it's mine or the day job's.

Take your shot

Patch Notes

Patch Notes 01 · 2026-07-23

The onboarding A/B, and why B has handwriting

The critique: The best critique on the first build was blunt: "I didn't know what to do. I typed my name." The reveal choreography looked great and taught nothing.

What changed: Shipped two onboarding arms. A is the plain original. B adds lightweight handwritten prompts through each reveal phase, in a scrawl, so they read as a person's note rather than a system message. The choice is saved and shareable as a link, so you can send someone the arm you want them to judge.

What didn't: I didn't add a tutorial screen. I've never shipped one on purpose and I'm not starting with my own game. If B doesn't teach faster than A, the prompts go, not the principle.

Why: Tutorial sounds like homework. A note from a person doesn't.

Co-op variant: Prototype Together

PlaceholderPlaceholder. Two variants. Either the guest plays my current build live and roasts it, or we jam for an hour on a one-sentence constraint the guest sets.

Prototype Together: the guest sets the constraint, I have sixty minutes, and the whole thing is on screen. The build ships to Works On My Machine no matter how it looks at the end.