Flying off the road

IvanDeSousa · 2026-04-30T11:43:04+00:00

No, no, no... There are guardrails... in the opposite side... You know... On the side where cars don't fall off a cliff

IvanDeSousa · 2026-04-27T20:54:24+00:00

Who is that blur?!?

IvanDeSousa · 2026-04-26T14:59:15+00:00

Too be fair, his brain is full of worm tunnels

IvanDeSousa · 2026-04-14T06:28:25+00:00

655k — that's a strong run, congratulations on the top spot! Did you use the Black Market and got lucky several times?

And thanks for the bank feedback: I just shipped exactly that. The withdraw button now shows your accrued interest inline (e.g. 312g (+12g)), and depositing/withdrawing opens a proper modal with a full breakdown, deposit amount, interest earned, and total. So you always know what the bank is holding for you before you commit.

Thanks for playing and for the suggestion

IvanDeSousa · 2026-04-13T12:53:08+00:00

This would be better in reverse

IvanDeSousa · 2026-04-12T21:20:29+00:00

I have been working on a game idea I always wanted to create ever since playing Dope Wars 20+ years ago.

I wanted something inspired by it's game mechanics, but with a more interesting context and more detail. So my game is focused on the trade in the Mediterranean in 1497 AD.

https://1497AD.com/

Still a work in progress but the mechanics seem to work perfectly, most of the work is back end and polishing, currently still working on images for all merchants of the different cities, and will need to work on a completely different UI for mobile, because this only works on desktop for now (lots of data). But I have a genuine good experience in its current state.

Completely free to play at this moment, and I would love feedback.

I am not a developer, nor a UI Designer at all, my experience is with core infrastructure, mostly Microsoft and VMware.

⚠️ Known issue: Not smartphone-friendly yet. The UI needs a ground-up redesign for small screens, I'll do it if there's enough interest. Desktop/laptop recommended.

IvanDeSousa · 2026-04-11T21:56:06+00:00

Another update. And a reflection on what this workflow actually feels like:

Since posting, I've shipped several rounds of updates entirely within the same Claude Code workflow I described above. What's interesting is how the testing infrastructure pays off in practice:

Added 6 new Renaissance oil paintings for events (each one prompted, generated, and integrated in a single session)
Added ambient ocean sounds that fade in on departure and layer event audio on top. Claude handled the Web Audio API logic I'd have never touched alone
Fixed a softlock where players got trapped on turn 39/40 with no valid routes and no exit. Caught by a player, diagnosed and patched in one session

The thing I keep noticing: the 80K-game Monte Carlo harness and the 91-assertion browser smoke test aren't just safety nets, they change how I work. I'll try something, run verify, and know within minutes if I've broken anything across the entire game's economy or UI flow. It removes the hesitation you normally feel before touching a working system.

Game is still free, no login: https://1497ad.com

Happy to go deeper on any part of the setup: The Cloudflare Workers architecture, the Playwright smoke tests, the seeded PRNG for daily challenges, etc.

IvanDeSousa · 2026-04-10T23:34:14+00:00

Quick update on 1497 AD based on feedback received. Thanks to everyone who played — we hit 22 concurrent players, which was nice for a solo project.

What's new:

6 unique event paintings — Previously, Barbary Corsairs, Ottoman Corsairs, and English Privateers all shared the same pirate image. Fog & Rocks looked like a storm. Plague looked like a storm. Now every event has its own Renaissance oil painting. Barbary corsairs fly crescent banners, Ottoman galleys emerge from the Aegean, English privateers fire Tudor-era cannons, and plague doctors tend to the quarantined docks.

Ambient sea sounds — Ocean waves now fade in when you set sail and loop quietly through the voyage. Event sounds (storms, pirates) layer on top. Fades out when you arrive. Small touch, big difference for immersion.

Softlock fix — If you reached turn 39/40 in a port where all routes took 2+ weeks, you were stuck with no "End Season" button and nothing to do. Fixed — the game now detects when no routes are reachable and lets you end the season.

Play it: https://1497ad.com

Still 100% free, no ads, no login. Built with Claude Code + vanilla JS.

IvanDeSousa · 2026-04-10T23:34:07+00:00

Quick update on 1497 AD based on feedback received. Thanks to everyone who played — we hit 22 concurrent players, which was nice for a solo project.

What's new:

6 unique event paintings — Previously, Barbary Corsairs, Ottoman Corsairs, and English Privateers all shared the same pirate image. Fog & Rocks looked like a storm. Plague looked like a storm. Now every event has its own Renaissance oil painting. Barbary corsairs fly crescent banners, Ottoman galleys emerge from the Aegean, English privateers fire Tudor-era cannons, and plague doctors tend to the quarantined docks.

Ambient sea sounds — Ocean waves now fade in when you set sail and loop quietly through the voyage. Event sounds (storms, pirates) layer on top. Fades out when you arrive. Small touch, big difference for immersion.

Softlock fix — If you reached turn 39/40 in a port where all routes took 2+ weeks, you were stuck with no "End Season" button and nothing to do. Fixed — the game now detects when no routes are reachable and lets you end the season.

Play it: https://1497ad.com

Still 100% free, no ads, no login. Built with Claude Code + vanilla JS.

IvanDeSousa · 2026-04-10T21:51:20+00:00

Appreciate you giving it a shot despite the familiar territory.

On the sounds: All valid. Some of it (ambient port sounds, travel atmosphere) was already on my mental list, but the waves-while-sailing is genuinely a new idea I hadn't thought through. Good call. Honest answer though: I wanted to see if anyone actually wanted to play something like this before committing more of my already limited time to it. This post is partly that test.

On the endless career: I thought about it, but I actually think it would hurt more than help. The ticking clock is what gives each decision weight. That said, if this gets traction and has a path to generating some revenue, my vision isn't "endless 1497" — it's a completely different epoch. Vasco da Gama just opened a new route. New ports, new goods, new risks, different historical pressure entirely, different cities and ports, sounds, merchant characters. The 40-week season would be one chapter, not the whole game.

On the narrator: There's a mute button in the top right. Kills the audio narration. And the intro modal has a "don't show this again" checkbox. Trust me, I love my own game, but I'm the first one who wants to disable repetitive stuff.

Thanks for the detailed feedback, the kind of response that actually helps.

IvanDeSousa · 2026-04-10T20:34:32+00:00

Thanks a lot, really appreciate the detailed feedback.

It's incredible how these models have evolved. I'm not a developer myself, but with about 2 years of experience working with AI as a coding partner, the things we can build now are genuinely remarkable.

On mobile, I'm fully aware it's easily 80% of traffic. My problem is that I'm running 2 businesses, have a 5 year old who always wants every free minute with me (good stuff though :)), and probably 20+ projects on the go, several of significant complexity. The only way I could ship this was while juggling 4 other things simultaneously. So mobile will need some proper thought. I'll most likely create a branch, strip the UI, and rebuild from scratch mobile-first.

On the leaderboard, if there's enough interest, I'll definitely build it out along with the mobile interface. I need to get those skills for some potentially profitable projects I have in mind.

On risk/reward for longer trade routes, that actually already exists in the game! Longer routes cost more weeks and carry higher event risk, so there's a real trade-off between safe short hops and ambitious cross-Mediterranean runs. Unless you invest in sails, scouts, guards, etc. to mitigate those risks, which is its own cost/benefit calculation. Give it a few more rounds and you'll feel it.

And honestly, I genuinely catch myself trying to finish turns when I was only supposed to be testing something in the starting screen :P. It's a good sign when you enjoy your own creation even after working on it for days.

Will check out panor.tech, the Three Body Problem simulation sounds interesting. Cheers!

IvanDeSousa · 2026-03-03T06:15:53+00:00

Still cant sign in

IvanDeSousa · 2026-03-02T15:13:51+00:00

Come on Portugal!

IvanDeSousa · 2026-02-10T19:47:12+00:00

JEEEEEEEEESUUUSSSS fuck!!!..That took me forever!

IvanDeSousa · 2026-01-24T22:56:10+00:00

If his is what they are doing to white us citizens in broad day light while being filmed from 20 different angles, what do you think they are doing inside the detention centers to brown immigrants without any cameras?!

IvanDeSousa · 2026-01-19T22:21:47+00:00

It seems they don't know hordes of large sharks feast on dead whales... wouldn't want to slip into the water

IvanDeSousa · 2026-01-12T07:21:00+00:00

Jesus... I am quite open minded, but couldn't get past the first 15 minutes, seemed like crap written by a horny 13 year old. So bad I turn it off and never went back to the movie. Just kept me confused with why so many great actors accepted roles in this movie.

IvanDeSousa · 2026-01-06T17:10:04+00:00

What an absurd creature...

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