Wageslave – I quit my soul sucking job to make a game about it
Game development used to be something I dabbled in and off, and despite having chosen to major in Computer Science to follow a career in the field, I never managed to establish any consistency with it. So I relegated this aspiration to the realm of pipe dreams, something whose idea I preferred to the actual process of doing it, and I continued working as a software engineer. This only changed after a disruption to my job: the fintech I worked for got acquired by a big traditional bank and we were absorbed into their ranks. Long story short: it wasn't a culture fit. After six months, I…
Wageslave – I quit my soul sucking job to make a game about it launched on March 31, 2026 with 16 votes, #953 of 23,380 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches.
In plain words
Wageslave is a game created by a former software engineer who left his job at a traditional bank to pursue game development. The game explores themes of workplace dissatisfaction and corporate culture through interactive gameplay. It's designed for players interested in narratives about career transitions and work-life struggles. The project stands out as a personal creative response to a real career disruption, transforming professional frustration into artistic expression.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
A short, narrative dystopian office survival game
A short, narrative, dystopian office survival game. Play as Job Cyphus, a newly-hired programmer eager to deliver value. Ship code to eat. Optimise your nootropics stack. Stay sane. Cope with HR’s passive-aggressive pings. Climb the career ladder. Retire early (if you can). I hope you have pleasant associations with DM pings. You are going to hear them a lot. Your KPIs? Lines of code. You don’t produce, you don’t eat. It’s that simple. Find the optimal balance of stimulants and mood-stabilisers to increase your output while staying sane. Unlock new consumables with each promotion. Each promotion brings higher earnings and pressure. Save enough to hit your retirement target and escape the…from cauldron.itch.io
In the maker’s words, at launch
Game development used to be something I dabbled in and off, and despite having chosen to major in Computer Science to follow a career in the field, I never managed to establish any consistency with it. So I relegated this aspiration to the realm of pipe dreams, something whose idea I preferred to the actual process…
Does a similar job
all alternatives →- AFA friend and I spent 6 years making a simulation game, finally released2022 · ▲1,157
I've seen some interests in (simulation) video games here on HN so I thought I'd share a short version of our story. More than 6 years ago, me and my friend from university were playing around with an idea of making a game we always wanted to play. We worked on it on weekends but the progress was quite slow, especially due to so many dead ends and wasted effort. Eventually however, we solidified our direction and decided to take the risk to resign from our well paid SWE jobs and work on it full time. It took more than a year but yesterday we have finally released it on Steam:…
- 6M6 months ago I quit my job to pursue indie dev. Here is our first game2013 · playadrift.com · ▲858
- IGI got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam2025 · ▲1,581
I was at FB/Meta from late 2013 to early 2023, mostly working in the compiler/runtime spaces. I got hit in the spring 2023 layoff wave. I immediately started making games in my newfound free time (a lifelong interest, and I even worked in AA(A?) back ca. ~2000), and in October 2023 I stumbled upon the idea of a roguelike pachinko/plinko game inspired by Luck Be A Landlord. Things snowballed quickly, I started talking to publishers, then worked like crazy through all of 2024, almost the hardest I've ever worked in my career, and launched the game in December 2024. It's sold…
Classic Video Poker2023 · lfgslots.com · ▲578I'm a Unity 3D refugee, certified expert, started in 2005 when it was a two man-band with Joachim and David. I've been lucky enough to make a good living out of Unity with my own consultancy over the years making data visualisation applications (Wind Energy) and innovation projects (Visualising accounting data for Wolters Kluwer etc.). Godot is pretty amazing in my opinion. Wrote this game over a few days and was productive in Godot basically instantly. I couldn't get up and running in Unreal despite trying a few times. It's my ambition to start a niche agency developing 80's style games of…
- MAmade a html5 game, polished it many many times2011 · hotbazooka.com · ▲211
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!
I created a no-code job board for careers in indie games2020 · workwithindies.com · ▲68Work With Indies is a job board and a community for artists, designers, developers, and more, to find their next role working in indie games.
More work this month
the category →
Endless lofi beats composed live in your browser, over pixel-art nights in Paris, Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong, Sydney, San Francisco and more. Free, no sign-up.
Work · 26d ago · loficities.com
Smooth Recorder▲257Mac screen recordings that look edited when you hit stop
Work · 20d ago · smoothrecorder.com


Work · 14d ago · readrare.com
Source: Show HN post ↗ · launch text quoted in part
Launched alongside, March 2026
the whole month →


Switch from ChatGPT to Claude with import memory feature
AI · Mar 2026 · claude.com
Littlebird▲709Littlebird remembers everything across your meetings, messages, docs, and apps, then takes action so you can recall any detail and never lose context.
AI · Mar 2026 · littlebird.ai

