Growing up with video games
jasonleow • 6 Apr 2025 •
Just added Space Defenders to Vibejam competition organised by @levelsio right at the last minute!
Not had this much fun with a project in a while.
Coding a game was definitely not on my 2025 bingo card, but had sooo much fun designing the classic aliens and spacejet, and just following the vibe and letting AI code it out…
Felt like I was reliving my childhood playing Atari at home with my cousins, like Super Mario, Star Wars. Or my days hanging out in video game shops with other kids, playing the games on their test sets, learning how to up up down down left right left right A B start. Or my pre-teens playing the original Street Fighter on an arcade machine in some dark dinky, low arcade shop.
Video games were a big part of growing up. And never expected I can code a game I used to play back then, lest say a legend.
All thanks to AI, to @levelsio, to the indie hacking community for showing the way.
The best kind of peer influence, only on X!
Comments
Me too! I still play Mario Kart 8 on a daily basis with my wife. It’s our way of de-stressing. I remember a boxing kangaroo in a very old console. Sonic and Mario games were my favorites (I generally love platformers). I kinda stopped playing video games when they turned 3D, but I’m back to playing. Zelda: Breath of the Wild was an addiction for some time. Never got into RPG and online gaming, though.
Gamers unite! I loved playing video games on our SNES. We also had an Atari2600. I think video games was my gateway into loving computers so much.
@haideralmosawi I never found RPGs appealing, until sometime after my mid 20s, a friend begged me to try WoW, with him and some of his friends online, and wow, it was soooooo satisfying. A dropped it some years later (it was becoming too addictive and life got in the way). I later continued playing Battlefield with friends online for years and then stopped. When the pandemic came, we rekindled the old group and started playing CoD to almost a few months ago, when some of us got too busy to coincide online. Definitely recommend online gaming.
@drodol Thank you for sharing your experience! I have a friend who’s now the founder of a $100M+ startup. He said he learned the fundamentals of economics and trade playing RuneScape. 😂
These games are a tad intimidating for me as a beginner and time-consuming, as well. But I’d love to free up some time and get into them.
@therealbrandonwilson Oh man the OG Mario is still the best! I can hear the mario jingle in my head now
@haideralmosawi Yeah same here. 3D just felt… weird? Why though I don’t know!
@drodol Yeah i think so too. Video games played a huge part in getting me interested in computers for sure!
👏👏 Video games are a big part of growing up for me too. Everybody is all fired up over the latest Mario Kart, and I still remember the OG on the Super Nintendo.