Meet tycoon_kid

I do not see game design as just a hobby or a technical skill. I see game design everywhere.

A classroom can be a game. A business can be a game. A habit can be a game. A conversation can be a game. A walk down the street can become a game if you suddenly decide not to step on the cracks.

Game design is the art of making life more playable.

It teaches creativity, empathy, leadership, writing, reading, systems thinking, collaboration, note taking, prototyping, and iteration. It also teaches something deeper: how to care about another person's experience.

A good game designer asks:

• What does the player feel?
• What is confusing?
• What is exciting?
• What makes them want to keep going?
• What happens when chance enters the system?
• How can this be more fun?

Those questions apply far beyond games. They apply to teaching, to technology, to business, to life.

One of the first computer games I ever made was called Fear the Sphere.

I created the original version in college for a math and coding class. The assignment was to use Python to build something related to mathematics. I liked games, so instead of making a normal school project, I built a physics-based game with bouncing spheres on a platform.

The idea was simple:

Control your sphere. Bounce around. Knock the other spheres off. Try not to get launched into the void.

It was chaotic, funny, and surprisingly fun.

The best part was not just building it. The best part was sharing it with friends, watching them play, seeing what made them laugh, and noticing what needed to be improved.

That was one of the first times I really felt the joy of game design:

You make something.
Someone else plays it.
Their reaction teaches you what the game wants to become.

Years later, while teaching Vibe Code Game Studio, I brought Fear the Sphere back to life using modern AI coding tools. I took the old idea, rebuilt it, and shared it with students as an example of how a game can evolve across time.

Old ideas are not dead. Sometimes they are just waiting for new tools, new energy, and a new generation of players.

Alongside Fear the Sphere, I'm building Tycoon Tycoon — a fictional game studio that makes tycoon games about everything. Lawnmower Tycoon. Water Tycoon. Classroom Tycoon. Kindness Tycoon. The joke is also the vision: what if there was a tycoon game for every part of life?

If you like systems, business sims, and building little worlds, that's the one to check out next.

Two of my favorite ingredients in game design are fun and randomness.

Fun matters because games should create energy. They should spark curiosity, laughter, challenge, surprise, connection, and momentum. A good game gives people a reason to care.

Randomness matters because life is unpredictable. Dice, cards, random seeds, surprise events, unexpected obstacles, and player choices all make games feel alive.

Minecraft is a perfect example. Every world begins with a different seed, which means no two worlds are exactly the same. That randomness creates discovery. It makes the game feel infinite.

That is why I love games that combine:

• Clear goals + surprising outcomes
• Simple rules + infinite possibilities
• Imagination + systems
• Play + meaning

When I teach game design, I do not expect students to start with a perfect idea. Actually, I teach the opposite:

Prototype first. Perfect later.

The first version of a game is never the final version. The first version is a question.

Will this work? Is it fun? Do players understand it? Where do they get stuck? What do they want more of?

That is why playtesting is so important. A game becomes good by being played.

In my classes, students learn to:

• Turn imagination into a playable experience
• Write clear rules and instructions
• Build quick prototypes
• Test their games with real players
• Take notes from feedback
• Improve through iteration
• Remix ideas from games they already love
• Think about the player's experience
• Collaborate with other designers
• Use technology and AI as creative partners

Game design gives students a safe place to practice creative courage.

They learn that they do not need to wait until they are "ready." They can start now. They can build a small version. They can test it. They can improve it. They can keep going.

That lesson applies to games, but it also applies to life.

Fear the Sphere and Tycoon Tycoon both come from the same creative belief:

Games help us turn invisible ideas into playable worlds.

You can start with almost nothing — a sphere, a rule, a random idea, a childhood memory, a favorite game, a question — and build something that other people can play.

That is the invitation behind all of my games. Not just to play.

To notice. To imagine. To remix. To build. To test. To laugh. To learn. To make life more fun.

Because game design is not just about making games.

It is about making life more playable.