
Show HN: BitBums – a classic PHP tick based game and crypto themed satire - AdamSC1
https://www.bitbums.co/
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AdamSC1
Hey folks this is AdamSC1 the creator of BitBums and I wanted to tell you a
little bit of background about the project and my journey with it.

I love a good satire, and I love a good incremental PHP tick-based game (you
know, the classics like Dominion, A3, Hobowars, Neopets, Ogame, etc).

I've always wanted to build a game. I had thought about building a game of my
own, but, I always worried I wasn't good enough to do that.

I've always viewed game design as a unique art form, especially these
text/flat-image based games, as they aren't relying on flash to keep you
hooked so much as the story and world they build, and I didn't think I could
compare.

Almost two years ago, I was going through an emotional struggle and in the
past it was escaping into video games that had helped me to get through
challenging times. But, this time it was to no avail, video games didn't seem
to grasp me the same way anymore. I struggled to find ones I enjoyed the same
way, and while part of the challenge lay with me, I also realized that part of
the challenge was the shell that many video games had become. Most games had
become pay-2-win flashy apps that all had the same core. (Don't get me wrong,
there are exceptions, but this dominated the marketplace).

Usually with my side projects, I find I become exhausted. I always want to
build something people will love, I get launch anxiety worrying what people
think, and I spend so much time trying to worry about promotion and
monetization. But, when I was looking for the game I needed at the time
something finally clicked. I realized that I didn't need to build a flashy
game. I didn't need to build for anyone else. I was going to build a game
based on the games I used to love playing, the communities that brought me joy
when I was young, and the humor that I always found comfort in. I was going to
build a game for me - and if along the way other people liked that great!
Maybe it ends up only having 4 or 5 players, but, if they get the joy from the
game that I was looking for then I'm thrilled.

So 2 years ago, I cashed out a lot of my savings account and my crypto, and I
set about building a game. I started with an existing PHP game script (which
was a mistake in retrospect as I had to entirely rebuild it in the end) and I
spent nights and weekends outside of work improving my development skills. I
hired a junior developer, and an amazing comic artist and we started building.
I found myself learning so much but also being filled up by pouring myself
into the creative process and bringing to life something that resembled the
games that were so important to me growing up. Some people find themselves in
their writing, and I got to find myself again in building out a game.

Now, as I mentioned BitBums is a satire. I believe that we as humans can laugh
at anything, it's how we deal with the challenging times, and there is nothing
better to laugh at than yourself and the communities you belong to. As someone
who has been deeply involved in the crypto community since late 2012, I
couldn't think of anything better to poke fun at than magic internet money!
(Let's face it, its petty crazy and certainly filled with memes and tropes).

The game follows your character, a 'BitBum', who was previously a highly-paid
San Francisco engineer. You left your job, cashed out your stock and sold your
house at the height of the Bitcoin boom to buy more Bitcoin at the super
reasonable price of $20,000 per coin. While the market tanked, your still a
strong believer in the future of crypto and found a group of likeminded
BitBums living in a make-shift city beneath an underpass. The BitBums of
CryptoCity live in their cardboard community, using spare parts to build make-
shift potato powered mining rigs, and run their entire society on a crypto
called Bottlecaps. What you do in CryptoCity is really up to you, you can
refine your skills at mining, use make shift weapons to fight your way to
glory in the arena, start a gang and engage in turf wars to try and become the
mayor, or become the best at Tiny Soldiers 30,000 the table top RPG that
BitBums love so much.

While the game is littered with hilarious references to crypto, and will
actually have a number of features that are blockchain related (such as being
able to move items and accounts out via the blockchain) the entire game is not
on a blockchain. There is no complicated MetaMask login or issues with sending
delays, and the game is designed so that even someone who knows next to
nothing about Bitcoin can pick up the game, play it and still find lots of
laughs along the way.

I've published a detailed FAQ here: [https://medium.com/@bitbums/bitbums-
faq-45b31a194deb](https://medium.com/@bitbums/bitbums-faq-45b31a194deb)

And our full sneak peak blog post can be found here:
[https://medium.com/@bitbums/your-sneak-peak-of-bitbums-
the-o...](https://medium.com/@bitbums/your-sneak-peak-of-bitbums-the-online-
crypto-satire-game-19a80a494a5a)

Most of our writing keeps the strong satire tone, but, in sharing this journey
with HN I wanted to take a moment to step back and discuss how the development
journey impacted me, and encourage others that if they have a dream side
project, dive on in, make mistakes and figure it out along the way. Your end
product won't always be flashy, it may not be well received, and it likely
won't be the next big thing - but, if you start truly building for yourself,
you'll be happy with the outcome either way!

Thanks for taking the time to read!

If you are interested in following along with updates you can follow us on a
social channel of your choice:

-Facebook: [http://facebook.com/bitbums](http://facebook.com/bitbums) -Twitter: [https://twitter.com/bitbums](https://twitter.com/bitbums) -Reddit: [https://reddit.com/r/bitbums](https://reddit.com/r/bitbums)

Or on the mailing list sign-up found on
[https://bitbums.co/](https://bitbums.co/)

I'm also happy to hear any feedback about the site and project so far!

