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Work · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to My 4 Week Project

Well HN, I've finally produced something I think is worthy of sharing, but I didn't do it "in a weekend". Yeah, it's an iOS puzzle game. And yeah, it's a game I built because I wanted to play it rather than based on market research, so all this sort of makes it the antithesis of a popular HN post. But whatever. Still hoping for some of that patented (har har) expert HN feedback. Critique any part of it except the music. Also, PM me for upgrade codes, or I can post some here if there's any interest. Download (it's free):…

My 4 Week Project is a free iOS puzzle game created by a developer for their own enjoyment rather than based on market demand. The game is available on Apple's App Store and offers an alternative take on puzzle gaming… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. My 4 Week Project launched in 2012; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1MA

    hi all, I've always wanted to make my own game, but couldn't afford a thousand-dollar adobe (flash+photoshop) license. I'm not a talented programmer, have no degree in CS. But I understand some elements of design. So I got me a copy of ImpactJS, and after about 5 months of steep learning curve (at least for me), I managed to come up with a game. I also integrated it with a highscore and badge system, similar to what you get at Kongregate. You need to login with Google/OpenID to earn badges/scores. link is: http://www.hotbazooka.com/privatejoe hope to hear some feedback/questions from you guys!

    2011 · hotbazooka.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2
    Az▲70

    Relaxing word puzzle game for iOS

    2021 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    I've been playing with this for quite some time and I think it's finally ready for public consumption. All feedback welcome.

    2025 · madmonk13.github.io · its alternatives →

  4. 4IB

    It's like a mix between Picross (Nonograms) and Polyominoes. It's a minimalist puzzler which has no text, no tutorials (none required) and no ads set in a relaxing environment. App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/shapeuku-shape-puzzle-game/i... Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dtbgames.s... I have a bulk load of Android promo codes to give away, so if you'd like one let me know! (Sorry iOS users, I have no free codes left!)

    2018 · its alternatives →

  5. 5

    Hello HN! I just launched a new social iPhone game called "unun". It's like drawsomething but in a puzzle way. You can also animate your puzzle and message your friend during the game. Would definitely enjoy any feedback so I can make it better! Feel free to check out the demo video and download it from appstore. Demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8aPmDej65s Download: https://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/unun/id555254223?mt=8

    2013 · youtube.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6MN

    This is an idea I’ve been kicking around for a long time, and I decided to finally code it up. In the same way that Scrabble decomposes words into letters, what if there was a game that decomposed letters into sub-shapes? There’s a lot of directions this could go, and I’m still exploring the possibility space. Enjoy. Suggestions welcome. It doesn’t have a real name yet.

    2024 · shovemedia.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    Hey everyone, I'm Fabio, a very long time lurker here. Today I want to celebrate and share with you, again, a game that I conceived more than 8 years ago. I shared it last week with all its history (if you're curious) [1], but it just stayed in the "shownew" and never reached the main "show" page, hopefully this time it'll do better (:crossed_fingers:)! What changed since last week? Today I've also published the mobile apps for both iOS and Android (last week it was just web), which are also my first mobile apps ever. So I believe it's still a worthwhile post and something to show :) I'd…

    2024 · fiftygame.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8MH

    Back in October, the "HN Make November Launch an App Month" discussion was started and it sounded like a great opportunity, so I joined the Facebook group and decided to build my take on an iOS version of the classic Quotefalls puzzle game, thinking I would learn a ton and it would be a great way to get my feet wet with making, marketing, and managing my own software. A week before the group presentation (end of Nov.), I took my project off the project list because I was nowhere near finished. One of the many great things I’ve learned in all this is how easy it is to justify all the feature…

    2011 · quotiac.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9MF

    My first iOS game is released. It took me 2 weekends to develop and 9 day approval time. Here are a few promo codes. If you take a promo code, can you please also leave a review? Happy to answer any questions. An update is already being prepared for iPhone support as well as a more major update that adds difficulty adjustments and a "dreaded" twist :-) The Game: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pop-corn/id905859076?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 Promo Codes: F79LRP4JNWT4 X94XXNNW77E3 PEWJ77FHTME7 9PHN99RLLE6W

    2014 · its alternatives →

  10. 10IF

    I was wondering whether it’s possible to successfully create a weekend project and if so, with which quality. Here at HN I’ve read many stories of random people (to me they are like teachers) creating “Show HN” projects in 48 hrs which are amazingly awesome and also hit the top site of HN. So here I’m presenting mine: http://keepandplay.com. This is actually not a weekend project, I tried for it to be, but I failed. It actually took me 5 days to have it as it is right now. So I’m still profoundly skeptic on how to realize a 48 hrs side project with the look and feel and quality I…

    2016 · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    Hello everyone! I've finally finished my latest side project - a RPG game made in Blazor. It started as a small project to learn some Blazor (I'm .NET dev but kept mainly to backend and ASP.NET). I had such a good time coding it that at some point I decided to make a full featured game out of it. I might've have bitten off more that I could chew as RPGs have so many systems and elements but overall I think it worked out well, especially for a single person project. I want to hop on the next project soon so any comments/questions/tips than can make me better really appreciated!

    2024 · whimsicalwyrm.itch.io · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    Hi HN! In the last couple of weeks I've been working on Cranki: Cranki = Crosswords + Anki. (It's a stupid name tbh, haha) I like doing crosswords in Spanish (to learn vocab) but none of the apps out there allowed me to use my own list of words that I come across. So I built one instead. It's entirely client-side. No server, no database, no accounts, etc. Your words and stats are stored in local storage. I built this for myself but let me know if you like it!

    Apr 2026 · cranki.app · its alternatives →

  13. 13IB

    I had an idea for this concept for a while and decided to build a little website around it. It's kind of a silly idea but I'm really curious to see how it plays out. If you're a particularly curious person, be warned. By submitting a payment to the game, you get to see how many other people were curious enough to play. You will be ranked based on your payment amount, and get to discover some interesting insights about the game's dynamics. Hope you like it

    2024 · thecuriositygame.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14MS

    linkrdr (www.linkrdr.com), a personal link aggregator, was directly inspired by http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3555923 I read while browsing on HN. It's still a bit rough, but the concept is an interesting one and people have already shown interest. Let me know what you think. Also, if anyone knows a good UX designer, email me :)

    2012 · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    I haven't seen anything like this so I decided to build it in a weekend. How it works: You see a bunch of things pulled from Wikipedia displayed on cards. You ask yes or no questions to figure out which card is the secret article. The AI model has access to the image and wiki text and it's own knowledge to answer your question. Happy to have my credits burned for the day but I'll probably have to make this paid at some point so enjoy. I found it's not easy to get cheap+fast+good responses but the tech is getting there. Most of the prompts are running through Groq infra or hitting a cache…

    Apr 2026 · sleuththetruth.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    I recently prototyped a web game for a nonprofit to highlight the dangers of phone addiction, but unfortunately I ended up making a really addictive game instead. :-\ I'm sharing this here mainly to serve as an indicator of what can be achieved early-2026 by a senior dev working with Opus 4.7 over 2 days using genuinely collaborative prompting. (ie plan->feedback->iterate) Hope it provides some inspiration or entertainment - there's a level editor too - maybe Hacker Newsers could share their favourite creations here? PS: If there's enough demand I'm happy to Open Source this (or DM me) -…

    May 2026 · downtime.partridge.works · its alternatives →

  17. 17IB

    Hi HN, here is my humble weekend project. I couldn’t find any similar utilities online that would let me download all of my chess games, so I decided to make one. It’s definitely imperfect, so please let me know if you have any feedback!

    2023 · chessgamedownloader.fly.dev · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    In each level, the goal is to climb to the top of the wall. Each wall has a unique layout of handholds, magnets, hooks, and elevators, and only one path to the top. The challenge is finding the right combination of moves to get you there. After each unsuccessful attempt, you can view the entire wall from afar to plan your route and strategize before trying again. I just released this on App Lab and would love to get some feedback and see how much interest there is in the concept. It’s listed at $3, but if anyone here wants a free key, just email me at [email protected]. I also set up…

    2024 · meta.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    I built a website for games that catch my eye or have something interesting going on. I made it for fun but then updating became a habit. Maybe you'll find your next "must-play" game here? GitHub repo: https://github.com/RaycatWhoDat/games-list

    Nov 2025 · alistof.games · its alternatives →

  20. 20WM

    Hi Hacker News! My friend and I [1] would like to share with you something we did this week-end. We really like the idea of game jams like the Ludum Dare, and we’d like to participate, but it’s often complicated for us, as we are often limited by the rules inherent to this kind of competition: we have to be available at specific dates, and the rules doesn’t always work for us. For example: if you want to participate as a team in a Ludum Dare compo, you have 72h instead of 48h, and you are not required to publish your code. We realized that what we really like is: - To work together. - The…

    2014 · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    Hi everyone, I just saw a vibe coded game on HN, and thought maybe I should post about this here. I'm organizing a vibe coding game dev competition called Vibe Jam. Last year we did it too and there was 1000+ games submitted. This year the deadline is May 1 and you can submit your games until then. There's $35,000 in prizes with the Gold prize being $20,000. Let me know what you think! -Pieter

    Apr 2026 · vibej.am · its alternatives →

  22. 22IM

    Hey there HN, I took a page from Wordle's mechanisms and made this game for fun for some friends and I. Check out Wheredle and let me know what you think of it! ↙ ↗ ↘ https://wheredle.xyz

    2022 · wheredle.xyz · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    Howdy, long time HN'er. Spent ~20 years in FAANG and startups, got the pink slip during a big layoff wave in spring 2023. That's ok, I was about to quit anyway :) Finally got back to a lifelong goal of mine, making an "indie" game. (Indie is subjective, but you get the drift.) So, here it is: Ballionaire, a "fast-paced pachinko roguelike where strategy meets physics to create outrageous wealth!" My influences were: Plinko(TM), Luck Be A Landlord, and Totally Accurate Battle Simulator. I was really fortunate because localthunk, the dev behind Balatro, noticed my game during its first month of…

    2024 · store.steampowered.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24AS

    Proud to share the very first release of my new game: Alverde - It's for my 4yo - Currently works only on desktop browsers - As long as I keep having fun building it, it will keep evolving Game: https://alverde.netlify.app/ Source: https://github.com/trumbitta/playroom Plans: https://github.com/trumbitta/playroom/discussions/20

    2022 · its alternatives →

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