[HN Gopher] Stimulation Clicker
___________________________________________________________________
Stimulation Clicker
Author : meetpateltech
Score : 1150 points
Date : 2025-01-06 15:48 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (neal.fun)
(TXT) w3m dump (neal.fun)
| mouse_ wrote:
| fantastic
| rallyforthesun wrote:
| addictive
| belladoreai wrote:
| classic neal.fun
| correlator wrote:
| reminds me of cookie clicker!
| dmazin wrote:
| "Another great neal.fun joint. It made me miserable!"
| higgins wrote:
| banger
| odirf wrote:
| Can someone explain me the point?
| kidfiji wrote:
| It falls under the category of "incremental games" that are
| generally simple but addicting due to the dopamine release from
| watching those numbers go up
| odirf wrote:
| For me, it causes headaches after a while due to the huge
| amount of animations running in parallel.
| zanderwohl wrote:
| Yeah, that's on purpose. It's meant to overstimulate you
| quickly
| 6SixTy wrote:
| It's a form of digital art meant to highlight the absurdity of
| the modern internet. Being overwhelmed by all of the forms of
| multimedia stimulation to finally escape to the ocean and
| appreciating simplicity is the point
| phire wrote:
| It's a parody.
|
| The whole genre of clicker games is a parody to start with, but
| this is more parody than most.
| CobrastanJorji wrote:
| The genre exists in a weird place. Progress Quest is maybe
| the start, and then you get Cow Clicker, which was definitely
| a parody but took off because everyone thought it was funny,
| and then Wikipedia tells me AdVenture Capitalist started as a
| parody but then became a popular and profitable game. And
| that's kind of the problem with the genre: it's kind of
| artistically meant as a parody or a joke, but people keep
| liking them and wanting more, and now it's a real genre, and
| a few of the games (like Paperclips) have a lot of artistic
| value far beyond the initial "haha it's not much of a game"
| joke.
| MR4D wrote:
| This is the stupidest thing - why am I so addicted to it?????
|
| Neal.fun has clearly hacked my brain. it is too much fun and I
| don't know why.
| gabrielcsapo wrote:
| I really enjoyed the animation for seeing how much each button
| press was worth
|
| setInterval(() => { document.querySelector('.main-btn-wrapper
| button').click() }, 10)
|
| helped have me save my trackpad
| xnx wrote:
| Fantastic encapsulation and commentary on the modern web and
| attentionspace.
|
| There's certainly better ways to do this, but here's one way to
| automate 1000 clicks from the console: for (let i
| = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
| document.querySelector('button.main-btn-pretty').click(); }
|
| Automating this art piece probably also says ... something.
| jetbalsa wrote:
| a fun way is to resize the window to be super tiny and the DVD
| Bounce really gets going into the millions
| xnx wrote:
| Good one. Sounds like a geiger counter.
| Imustaskforhelp wrote:
| woah! great job
| yu3zhou4 wrote:
| Infinite version:
|
| let button = document.getElementsByClassName('main-btn');
|
| let clicker = setInterval(() => button[0].click(), 1);
|
| To stop, use this:
|
| window.clearInterval(clicker);
| cainxinth wrote:
| > Fantastic encapsulation and commentary on the modern web and
| attentionspace.
|
| This is why I quit Hearthstone even though I never spent a dime
| on it. I realized I had been habituated into playing it every
| day. I started feeling like a lab rat trained to push a button
| for a reward.
| malux85 wrote:
| Hahaha yeah! Me too! Good thing I escaped that!
|
| Now back to my coding job, I really have to focus and push
| enough of these buttons or I'll get fired and won't get my
| pay
| praptak wrote:
| ...now back to my hourly check of HN frontpage. Gotta be
| diligent and keep up with the industry news.
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| Least we're getting paid for those buttons
| xnx wrote:
| That's one of the things that makes Stimulation Clicker so
| good, by being exposed to the most extreme version, it helps
| you identify other engineered attention grabbers in everyday
| life.
| 3np wrote:
| > most extreme version
|
| Well...
|
| http://ivark.github.io/
| pests wrote:
| > I realized I had been habituated into playing it every day
|
| So like a hobby?
|
| Did you have fun playing it?
| latexr wrote:
| A hobby is something you're supposed to do for fun, not out
| of habit.
| WD-42 wrote:
| It's when you feel guilt or fomo for not playing every day
| that it becomes a problem. Many games like this.
| herghost wrote:
| Cookie Clicker taught me this about Destiny and Destiny 2 as
| well.
|
| I got a lot of enjoyment out of those games - and they were
| partly the backdrop to socialising online with IRL friends
| who didn't live close to me - but at some point the absurdity
| of them became too obvious and we stopped _.
|
| _ "moved on" - to Call of Duty.
| ipsum2 wrote:
| Running it async will prevent the main screen from lagging:
| (async () => { const delay = (ms) => new
| Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, ms)); for (let i
| = 0; i < 10000; i++) {
| document.getElementsByClassName('main-btn')[0].click();
| await delay(5); // 5 ms sleep } })();
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| If you're already using setTimeout, why not just use it
| directly? function clickLoop() {
| document.querySelector('.main-btn').click();
| setTimeout(clickLoop, 50) }
| jampekka wrote:
| That's an infinite loop.
| akx wrote:
| Breakable by `clickLoop = null`.
| eterm wrote:
| What's all this overengineering and waste creating
| timeouts?
|
| Why not just use setInterval? let
| interval = setInterval(() => document.querySelector('.main-
| btn').click(), 50)
|
| Then clearInterval(interval)
|
| to stop
| phelipetls wrote:
| Or use requestAnimationFrame to run infinitely at ~60fps
| window.requestAnimationFrame(function clickButton() {
| document.querySelector(".main-btn").click()
| window.requestAnimationFrame(clickButton) })
| kmoser wrote:
| You could shorten it by using $('.main-btn').click()
| inglor wrote:
| Automate that bitcoin!
|
| ```
|
| setInterval(() => { let max = 100; while(max-->0) { let price =
| +document.querySelector(".last-price").textContent.trim().slice
| (1).replace(",","").split("\n")[0]; if (price > 20000) {
| document.querySelector(".stock-sell").click(); } else if (price
| < 10000) { document.querySelector(".stock-buy").click(); } else
| { break; } } })
|
| ```
| declan_roberts wrote:
| Automating it is the most fun part of these silly games. Here's
| a bash script to do it on mac (brew install clickclick first)
| while true; do cliclick c:. done
| zemo wrote:
| > Automating this art piece probably also says ... something.
|
| if you do that you're not really experiencing it
| mkoryak wrote:
| To everyone who is doing this:
|
| The only person you are cheating is yourself!!!
| narrator wrote:
| Just go into developer mode and just break on a line like so:
| r.sps && r.purchased && this.addStimulation(r.sps \* n, r.id)
|
| and run
| this.addStimulation(10000000000,r.id)
|
| and resume.
| magicmicah85 wrote:
| Nice! I've been playing Star Trek Fleet Command the past few days
| and have been wanting to build a silly clicker game to mock/mimic
| some of the game's aspects and this has given me inspiration.
| Fraaaank wrote:
| I do not like how enjoyable this was.
| notJim wrote:
| Pretty troubling!
| edm0nd wrote:
| the muckbang video, I wish I could get rid of. ended up just
| muting the entire tab.
| tills13 wrote:
| well I cheated and was immediately overstimulated
| irs wrote:
| Wow. Too much fun. My eyes/head hurts. Finally went to the ocean
| in the game.
| rkagerer wrote:
| My game froze up when I bought that upgrade. Not sure if that's
| by design or it might have been an internet hiccup. What
| happens when you go to the ocean?
| irs wrote:
| It's just the end credits with a soothing ocean video in the
| background https://imgur.com/a/eNwfBO6
|
| It was too addictive. My eyes still hurt !!!
| phemartin wrote:
| Beware - this is crack! I clicked it and 20-min has passed.
|
| https://imgur.com/JJHXccN
| tines wrote:
| Very sad, well done.
| erikerikson wrote:
| For those of you loving this, a classic:
| https://orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/
| coldfoundry wrote:
| Cookie Clicker got me into programming back in the day! Super
| simple structure (back then) and fun way to experiment with
| coding in an interactive way with visual feedback.
| MatthiasPortzel wrote:
| Cookie Clicker has received updates almost continuously for the
| last decade. I don't have the commitment to ascend but I
| understand there's quite a bit of content to be unlocked there
| even after you've maxed out your first "run."
| mikewarot wrote:
| I found the ultimate upgrade.
|
| If you run it in portrait on a cellphone, there's not enough room
| for any upgrade button! 8)
| matt3210 wrote:
| Thanks I hate it
| matt3210 wrote:
| Crashes on mobile chrome after about 10 minutes probably for the
| best
| GenerocUsername wrote:
| Same
|
| Lost progress.
|
| It was fun and quirky, but Happy it ended though.
| spacemanspiff01 wrote:
| Same, I can't believe I spent that much time, the guided
| meditation killed me.
| perryizgr8 wrote:
| Same on samsung internet. I was happy it crashed.
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| Samsung has a browser?
| bonestamp2 wrote:
| Crashed on desktop brave as well. I mean, it was still running
| but I couldn't click on anything.
| cruffle_duffle wrote:
| Same. iPhone 14 Pro, both safari and chrome. Eventually the
| sound stops and it gets super laggy.
|
| Almost kind of fitting.
| ArlenBales wrote:
| Unironically, if this was on Steam and monetized through their
| item shop, it would probably make a fortune. See banana:
| https://store.steampowered.com/app/2923300/Banana/
| xnx wrote:
| There is a buymeacoffee link. I'm pretty stingy with donations,
| but thought this was worth 3 coffees.
| lazzlazzlazz wrote:
| Banana is used by bots to exploit specific in-Steam tradable
| items and rewards. It's not a real game.
| bberenberg wrote:
| Can you explain this a bit more? I know there is a lot of
| shady stuff happening with Steam tradable items, but always
| fun to learn about new ones.
| lxe wrote:
| Looks like NFT nonsense but without the blockchain
| rahidz wrote:
| Impressed with the effort. The fake crime podcast is gold.
| KMnO4 wrote:
| It's really well done. At one point the character says
| something along the lines of "but they would rather do other
| things, like play on neal.fun instead of going to the amusement
| park"
| sphars wrote:
| Oh gosh, just what I needed, another clicker game. This is
| excellent!
|
| Tip: On Firefox at least, you can right-click the videos (slime,
| mukbang, etc) and mute them.
| teach wrote:
| Unfortunately you can't mute the podcast in the same way --
| that's what finally forced me to close the tab
| mmastrac wrote:
| I clicked the audio icon on the tab -- it muted the entire
| thing :)
| JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B wrote:
| This game has the same old bug of "Left click + Enter key" to get
| money faster.
| artemonster wrote:
| buy couple of dvds and resize your tab to be a single pixel wide
| - infinite points glitch
| seletskiy wrote:
| Don't blame me. setInterval(() => {
| [...document.querySelectorAll(".upgrade,.loot-box-
| target,button")].map((e) => e.click()); }, 50)
| rglover wrote:
| I thought it was insane just hand-clicking but this
| legitimately made it overwhelming to the point where I had to
| close the tab.
| davepeck wrote:
| Cow Clicker 2025, Professional Edition. So good.
| FrustratedMonky wrote:
| Release the HypnoDrones.
|
| Carpel Tunnel here I come.
|
| Nice.
| BSVogler wrote:
| Ran into a bug where a double tap zoomed the page and it broke
| the game as I could not zoom out again. Unfortunately it does not
| save the progress in a cookie.
| sillysaurusx wrote:
| Ditto. It was also running at about 3 fps on my iPhone 12 on
| safari.
|
| It was a nice shopping trip worth of fun though.
| latexr wrote:
| When that happened to me, a simple [?]0 reset the size.
| blixt wrote:
| Lovely ending, and I appreciate how short this one is. For me it
| really does induce some mixed feelings for what we did to the web
| while at the same time I really enjoyed the nostalgia.
|
| Another game I sunk way too much time into to get to the end is
| Idle Loops which ends up being kind of like programming once you
| get deeper into it: https://dmchurch.github.io/omsi-loops/ (There
| are three versions, all open source on GitHub - this one is the
| third in the chain of forks, with the most updates)
| andybp85 wrote:
| whelp this is making this meeting go way faster
| thebirk wrote:
| Hold Enter, click the reward from the hydraulic press, profit!
| hiroprot wrote:
| Best way I've found to stimulate quickly, resize your window to
| be as small as possible, and have lots of bouncing DVDs.
| hiroprot wrote:
| Level 42 was my limit
| AbraKdabra wrote:
| This is the way, two minutes and already at a million.
| behnamoh wrote:
| Also, zoom in the window!
| chrisfosterelli wrote:
| You can get a massive amount of money with the stock market
| plugin once you get the cryptocurrency and leverage upgrades.
| pplonski86 wrote:
| Why do you think that stock and crypto plugins will be very
| profitable? There are no tools to combine finance data in
| easy way?
| whereismyacc wrote:
| I figured like thirty seconds into using the site that resizing
| it smaller would give me more DVD bounces per second. But then
| during resizing i kinda cheated myself some points
| accidentally, and discovered that trick where they're just
| bouncing on every tick.
|
| Normally I'm a sucker for clicker games, but cheating the
| progress (even accidentally) always kills the point of it.
| justlikereddit wrote:
| Ah, a simulation of hell.
|
| 2025 off for a good start in dystopian scinfi tech
| aaroninsf wrote:
| TIHI
|
| Im lying ILI
| lbrito wrote:
| Genius
| doawoo wrote:
| Art
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| I feel like a cat that's chasing a laser pointer and knows it's a
| toy but doesn't mind
| Galpa wrote:
| I already did a speedrun on it
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTIxBBKNz8g
| cscheid wrote:
| Since we're all sharing clicker games, this one by Frank Lantz is
| a real classic: https://decisionproblem.com/paperclips/
| tibbon wrote:
| I wonder if we can get a superintelligent AI to play this one!
| captaincrunch wrote:
| don't need it - just click the "click" button and then hold
| down enter.
| riccardomc wrote:
| That's exactly what a superintelligent AI would say...
| Carrok wrote:
| You haven't gotten very far if you think that's all the
| game requires.
| gms7777 wrote:
| A Dark Room (https://adarkroom.doublespeakgames.com/) is
| fantastic as well. It's not only a clicker/idle game, but it
| incorporates the mechanics in an interesting way.
|
| On the whole, I've had to adopt a policy of not even touching
| clicker games. I find them incredibly addictive, and most of
| the time I'm not even enjoying the experience or getting
| anything out of it, I just feel hooked. I'd say Universal
| Paperclips and A Dark Room were exceptions to that, in that
| they actually had some depth, strategy, discovery, or story.
| But even those two I've had to stop myself from replaycing.
| drivers99 wrote:
| I'll play Universal Paperclips once a year or so when I
| remember it exists and have nothing I need to do for the next
| 3-6 hours. So I'd add that as a warning to anyone who wants
| to check it out: make sure your next 6 hours are ok to spend
| on it, in case you get sucked in.
| otteromkram wrote:
| Not available on mobile (except by installing an app).
|
| :(
| thispbowden wrote:
| Don't forget Kittensgame! - https://kittensgame.com/web/#
| mkoryak wrote:
| I have not forgotten it. I have been playing it every since I
| started at google (long build times, ya know?) 7 years ago...
|
| All-Time Stats
|
| Total Years Played 7.951M
|
| Run Number 24
|
| Total Paragon 23.614K
|
| Buildings Constructed 143.148K
|
| Total Clicks 2.411M
|
| Transcendence Tier 25
|
| Challenges Completed 11
|
| I have never cheated in it, or used a script to click things.
| thispbowden wrote:
| Same to no cheating - Only been playing a couple of years,
| lots of background.
|
| All-Time Stats Total Kittens 84.84K Kittens Dead 5710 Total
| Years Played 18.33M Run Number 98 Total Paragon 90.36K Rare
| Events Observed 22.31M Unicorns Sacrificed 4.20P Buildings
| Constructed 553.38K Total Clicks 712.37K Trades Completed
| 2.32G Crafting Times 501.64M Avg. Kittens Born (Per
| Century) 0.46 Transcendence Tier 27 Challenges Completed 8
| mkoryak wrote:
| what does Transcendence Tier 27 do for you? there is
| nothing else after 25 right?
|
| You seem to have done a lot better than me with less
| clicks.
| 3np wrote:
| Antimatter Dimensions is another conerstone in the genre.
|
| http://ivark.github.io/
| dta5003 wrote:
| Don't click it, that's most of a year I'll never get back.
| extraduder_ire wrote:
| Both in the pretty rare category of clicker games that you can
| complete and get an ending.
| kristianp wrote:
| Isn't cookie clicker one of the earliest?
|
| https://orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| Needs a URL preview btw
| daRealDodo wrote:
| I accidentally refreshed the screen, fuuuuuck
| Version467 wrote:
| I spent an embarrassing amount of time playing this. Eventually
| it became overwhelming, but for a while it was (un)surprisingly
| engaging.
| akaike wrote:
| Same, the true crime podcast is hilarious :D
| duskwuff wrote:
| [delayed]
| emidoots wrote:
| It has an ending, so play till the end :)
| vasilzhigilei wrote:
| This is awesome. Subway surfers immediately made my attention
| span increase for how long I could tap the button.
| mrmuagi wrote:
| For fans of clicker games I discovered this site [0] a while back
| and come back to it every so often to find some great ones.
|
| [0] https://www.incrementaldb.com
| bogtog wrote:
| This had a really nice length (~1 hour). I was able to wrap up
| the game quite quickly once I unlocked crypto trading
| captaincrunch wrote:
| Best way - Click "Click Me" then hold down enter.
| oytis wrote:
| Why should it collect data for hundreds of partners?
| hooo wrote:
| Why ... does that feel so good
| landtuna wrote:
| I clicked once and closed the page because you can't tell me what
| to do (more than once).
| attentionmech wrote:
| idk what i am doing but i am hooked on it. it's like as if it's
| directly interacting with dopamine of my brain.
| laurent_du wrote:
| Worth every minute, and every cell brain.
| wdfx wrote:
| Twice I accidentally pull-refreshed on mobile and lost all my
| progress :(
| vasilzhigilei wrote:
| I pulled down to reload my email for more dopamine out of habit
| and it refreshed the page.
| zdc1 wrote:
| I finished the game without cheating. I felt like a frog being
| slowly boiled (and it really does feel like you're boiling at the
| end). It's quite the journey...
|
| I love how everything here isn't even farfetched. It's just
| standard YouTube and TikTok content. The red notification bubbles
| were also a nice touch, I felt myself really drawn to those, and
| if I think back, I guess that's the earliest example I can recall
| of where these patterns all started: Facebook's little red
| notification bubble
| Petersipoi wrote:
| As far as clickers go, finishing this game without cheating is
| very easy. Only takes like 20-30 min. But nonetheless, it was
| enjoyable. Really regretted clicking the subway surfer wormhole
| button. Luckily that was right at the end.
| p0w3n3d wrote:
| How much does it require to finish? I mean how many
| stimulation points?
|
| I gave up when I bought auto hydraulic press.
| SparkyMcUnicorn wrote:
| Crypto investing is where the points really start to fly,
| mass clicking buy below $10k selling above $20k. Game
| finished pretty quick after that.
|
| Edit: Just beat it in 19 minutes. Feel like you can't
| finish it much quicker than that without cheating.
| joseda-hg wrote:
| Depending of your definition of cheating, resizing the
| window is a good passive way, specially after the DVD
| upgrade
| tavavex wrote:
| The last, and most expensive item requires 2M stimulation,
| but I think you need to buy most of the preceding items to
| get to it.
| latexr wrote:
| You need 2,000,000 stimulation points for the last item
| which wins the game. It sounds like a lot, but by that
| point you'll be generating an insane amount of points per
| second and passive consumption is worth more than clicking.
| It does get overwhelming, at one point I had to mute the
| sound for a minute or two before resuming.
|
| If you want to know what the last item is, rot13 the next
| paragraph (https://rot13.com/ is an easy way to do it):
|
| Gur ynfg vgrz vf "tbvat gb gur bprna". Gur tnzr jneaf lbh
| gurer vf ab tbvat onpx nsgre gung. Vg fjvgpurf gb n pnyzvat
| ivqrb bs jnirf ba gur ornpu, jvgu perqvgf.
| p0w3n3d wrote:
| Or tr 'A-Za-z' 'N-ZA-Mn-za-m'
|
| If one is on computer or has access to shell from phone.
|
| Gunaxf!
| jakeydus wrote:
| you can see the credits by paying 2m points so depending on
| your definition of winning -\\_(tsu)_/-
| Applejinx wrote:
| I had to restart because I unwittingly clicked the mukbang
| guy too early: can't handle him unless he is drowned out by
| everything else. By contrast I enjoyed the wormhole button.
| Kind of the whole point of the experience, liked it way
| better than certain noises :)
| drivers99 wrote:
| Jonathan Blow had a great (imho) rant about those type of
| notifications that someone clipped from one of his live
| streams. (Warning: strong language.)
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9nmCIrs7HI
| echelon wrote:
| > I felt like a frog being slowly boiled
|
| This game is an excellent simulation of what ADHD feels like,
| especially if you're putting off multiple critical tasks.
| coldfoundry wrote:
| If you are interested in seeing what the depth of the game is and
| you are on desktop, unlock the hydraulic press by holding "enter"
| after clicking on the "click" button for easy currency, then
| after unlocking, do the same by clicking on the +1,000 simulation
| redemption (holding enter afterward) once you go through one
| hydraulic press animation. You will gain 100,000 simulation a
| second!
|
| Fun game, love incrementals.
| eigenvalue wrote:
| Wow, that was amazing. This is honestly a better piece of
| contemporary art (in terms of making you think about modern life
| and what is happening to our environment, the impact on
| ourselves, our kids, etc.) than most of what you might see at a
| fancy art gallery or a contemporary art museum in NYC.
| echelon wrote:
| Neal has continually outdone himself with every single release.
| Everything he makes is a labor of love and is so special and
| deserving of attention. From the factual stuff like "The Size
| of Space" and "Deep Sea", to the more amusing "Absurd Trolly
| Problems", "The Password Game", and so on. It's all so good and
| feels like a gift to the internet.
|
| Stimulation Clicker's social commentary has to the best thus
| far. I know click games are a thing, but to combine that
| mechanic with a parody of the state of the modern attention
| economy is just pure art.
|
| Neal, if you're reading HN, you rock. Please know how
| appreciative we are.
| engineer_22 wrote:
| https://buymeacoffee.com/neal
| diggan wrote:
| > This is honestly a better piece of contemporary art (in terms
| of making you think about modern life and what is happening to
| our environment, the impact on ourselves, our kids, etc.)
|
| Zooming out, I think games in general is in a much better
| position to do this, as a medium, compared to the alternatives
| TV, movies and music.
|
| I guess mainly because it's interactive, but it also feels like
| it can be broader than the other mediums, like on one hand you
| have Idle/Clicker games like these, and on the other the huge
| blockbuster AAA games.
| marifjeren wrote:
| You'll never see games at fancy art galleries or contemporary
| art museums in NYC because games are too accessible
| tomjakubowski wrote:
| I've seen and played games at the Cooper Hewitt Museum in
| NYC. Maybe I got lucky but it's one of like three museum
| visits I've ever done as a tourist in the city.
| raimondious wrote:
| Except perhaps the most well known contemporary art museum in
| the world: https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/798
| NoboruWataya wrote:
| Rather, I think they are not accessible enough. A picture on
| a wall, a movie or music can be experienced by hundreds or
| thousands of people all at once. Games in an art gallery have
| a much lower natural limit to the number of people who can
| interact with them simultaneously (at least in the same
| physical space). Sure, you can watch others do it, but that's
| not really the same thing (it's more like watching
| performance art than playing a game).
|
| I have in fact been to art galleries which had interactive
| game-like exhibits. I basically never got to interact with
| them because, lo and behold, there was a long queue.
| alanbernstein wrote:
| For the live-action, logical conclusion of this concept, watch
| HYPER-REALITY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJg02ivYzSs
| btown wrote:
| > 8 years ago
|
| Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a
| cautionary tale
|
| Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus
| from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus
|
| (via https://x.com/AlexBlechman/status/1457842724128833538?la
| ng=e... )
| benbojangles wrote:
| they should use this to create jobs
| gordondavidf wrote:
| 1) wow, what a great piece of art.
|
| 2) Buy as many DVDs as possible and shrink the size of your
| window. Instant win.
| twohaibei wrote:
| Emails are so funny... :)
| emddudley wrote:
| I'm embarrassed to admit it but I found out this game has an
| ending.
| TZubiri wrote:
| I feel personally attacked by some of the upgrades.
| raviisoccupied wrote:
| I hated that I loved this - great concept.
| yuvalr1 wrote:
| I really don't know if I could survive nowadays internet without
| uBlock. The picker functionality just changes the internet for
| me. I can make most of the noise disappear.
| buryat wrote:
| If you want to speed run it let max = 1000000;
| let btn = $('.main-btn'); function cl() {
| btn.click(); max--; if (max > 0) {
| setTimeout(cl, 1) } } cl()
| buryat wrote:
| I ended up stopping the execution using max=10 and then
| removing annoying elements using the web inspector and keep
| running. I really liked the subway surfers though
| Terr_ wrote:
| A small improvement would be to stop based on the balance,
| rather than a number of clicks, to avoid going into ludicrous
| Yes JS Numbers Are All Floats territory. let
| max_amt = 2000000000*2; // Twice most expensive item let
| btn = $('.main-btn'); function cl() {
| btn.click(); let curr = $(".main-stat-
| num").innerText.replace(/\D/g, ''); if (curr <
| max_amt) { setTimeout(cl, 1) } }
| cl()
| DearNarwhal wrote:
| This site + Neal's other stuff is pretty cool. I wonder if he
| makes it in vanilla JS.
| Terr_ wrote:
| The skywriter VPN ads are one of the few real links, apparently.
| nsypteras wrote:
| Reminds me of a modern version of The Entertainment from Infinite
| Jest.
| dachris wrote:
| It feels like this quote from "Ready Player One" (2018 film)
|
| "Once we can roll back some of Halliday's ad restrictions, we
| estimate we can sell up to 80% of an individual's visual field
| before inducing seizures"
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| Ow, My Balls
| otteromkram wrote:
| > 2018 Film
|
| It was also a great book!
| floren wrote:
| Well, you're half right -- it was a book.
| pseudomode wrote:
| 1 upvote point from me!
| simpsond wrote:
| I needed the ocean at the end. It's a very good game. The
| variable reward and quick repeatability captured me... It
| showcases what we are exposed to in a condensed manner.
| charlieyu1 wrote:
| I have a lot of fun with incremental games recently
| Eji1700 wrote:
| Reminds me of a story I heard as a kid.
|
| Short version, guy can't sleep. Someone tells him get a dog. Dog
| barks, still can't sleep. Well you'll also need a blah... repeat
| until the man has a small farm of loud animals going. Then
| finally "get rid of them" and suddenly it's all so quiet again.
|
| It's pretty fascinating how much more calm everything seems when
| you finish/stop this game
| simonsarris wrote:
| possibly the first good website of this decade
| adamtaylor_13 wrote:
| The "Meditation" one made me chuckle. "Relax your mind"...
|
| As you wage all-out war on your senses.
| duskwuff wrote:
| Not to mention the "faster meditation" upgrade, which plays its
| audio at 2x speed. (You know, so that you can relax faster.)
| adamtaylor_13 wrote:
| It's all about the destination, not the journey!
| atorodius wrote:
| Can't say anything but I FRIGGING LOVED THIS
| danvoell wrote:
| My finger hurts
| hoseja wrote:
| I really wanted the pillow.
| bbno4 wrote:
| I managed to cheat this by buying a bunch of DVDs and making my
| window as small as possible, meaning they hit the edges much more
| often and gained me infinity stimulation.
| uludag wrote:
| This game is truly a work of art. I literally got a migraine
| playing this game though and couldn't finish it unfortunately.
| This is the second piece of media to do this to me behind
| Koyaanisqatsi... now that I think of it, this seems like a modern
| interpretation of the film Koyaanisqatsi.
| devin wrote:
| I was doing okay until the wormhole, and then I actually started
| to feel ill.
| aaurelions wrote:
| Behind such simplicity at first lies incredible work.
| lxe wrote:
| This slowly increases your blood pressure and heart rate.
| dangoodmanUT wrote:
| this is so meta i love it
| Geste wrote:
| Maybe I need a dumbphone, after all...
| atum47 wrote:
| On mobile I can just touch and drag my thumb around the button
| and it trigger several clicks.
| easterncalculus wrote:
| For a 20-something guy this is basically what using the internet
| is like now. Incredible.
| zzzzrrrt wrote:
| I was about to scoff at this and thought "Ugh, another cookie
| clicker", but then I started playing it. I'm glad it is quick
| because my head was going to explode. It is pretty damn brilliant
| take on today's stimuli overload. I think it is more a piece of
| art than a game. I was able to win quickly once I got crypto
| because it was bouncing from $400 to $50,000, but I almost barfed
| because there was SO much going on. Well done.
| nixosbestos wrote:
| oh my god the murder podcast mentions a hydraulic press death.
|
| best thing in a while, bravo.
|
| EDIT: I really wish the still-locked achievements gave a
| hover/hint. I simply can't figure out what these missing
| achievements are, and it looks like the count is wrong. Also, I
| wish I could revive my chicken. :(
| say_it_as_it_is wrote:
| Is this an adderall thing?
| albus0x wrote:
| "Impressive. Very nice" Finished without cheating. But halfway
| disabled sounds. It is too much. You can easily finish the game
| by buying stocks, especially bitcoin. No cheating needed, was
| super simple. But great nonetheless.
| whalesalad wrote:
| I crashed it by giving the button an ID and running this:
| for (let i = 0; i < 100000; i++) {
| document.getElementById("foobar").click(); }
| markusw wrote:
| My pulse is still higher than usual. We just spent an hour on
| this. This is an art game. :D Thank you!
| allemagne wrote:
| This is a fun clicker game whose point seems cynical and self-
| defeating on multiple levels.
|
| Despite the HN comments complaining about it being overwhelming
| and a dark reflection of how awful and distracting the internet
| is, clearly enough people enjoyed it to get to the front page.
| The stimulation torture wasn't really torture, but another level
| to the game.
|
| All the content creators whose inclusion at first seems like an
| indictment of the kinds of internet videos that lead to addiction
| or overstimulation also all get a pleasant shout-out which seems
| silly. Are these supposed to represent what's awful about the
| internet?
|
| EDIT: To hammer the dissonance home, at the end of the game we
| are met with a calming ocean scene that I'm guessing the average
| player appreciated for about thirty seconds before clicking away.
|
| To me, this whole exercise doesn't reflect how distorted humanity
| has become because of technology, but of how humans refuse to
| look themselves in the mirror.
|
| We want to be the kind of people who buck the mold and escape
| systems of control, so that we can properly enjoy things like
| waves of the ocean, but at any point during this game we could
| just open a new tab and watch the ocean on a YouTube livestream.
| Instead we spend an hour clicking and advancing this manic stream
| of chaos.
|
| What's more human, then: calmly watching the waves crash against
| the beach, or clicking buttons trying to win and discover what's
| at the end of a silly game?
| ertgbnm wrote:
| These trends wouldn't be trends if they didn't work. The game
| can be awful and distracting, yet still succeed at garnering
| engagement. Not just in spite of the stimulation but partially
| due to the stimulation. It's not self defeating or
| hypocritical, it's a bad thing, an indictment, and also
| engaging all at the same time.
| allemagne wrote:
| It got me to think and engage, so already I think it succeeds
| at being a great piece of art.
|
| But is "overstimulation" ... "bad", according to the overall
| message? Is this game, livestreamer Ludwig, and all the
| achievements part of the problem being highlighted? (Not to
| mention the mean-spirited Mindspace parody) If you get enough
| stimulation here, it just seems like you get to cash it in so
| that you can advance to a state of higher enlightenment
| rottencupcakes wrote:
| It's not self-defeating, it's a commentary.
|
| I've built up a reflex to leave any sort of overstimulatory
| atmosphere. I don't watch short form videos and leave any page
| that causes high levels of stimulation (Temu's spinner stops me
| from shopping there, for example).
|
| I quit this game after about 10 minutes when it hit a comical
| level of stimulation and still upvoted this. I loved the
| commentary because the game seemed to follow the natural
| "evolution" of the web, straight to the point where every app
| has attached mini games and multiple in-game currencies.
| Listening to the man popping his beer can and pouring it at the
| same time as a live police scanner was truly dystopian but also
| feels like a daily occurrence in modern society.
| allemagne wrote:
| I think it's great that you didn't really have a stomach for
| the absurd level of noise and flashing lights, but I just
| don't think it's a moral victory that people should
| necessarily strive for.
| aszantu wrote:
| I think I quit after the DVD sounds
| nineteen999 wrote:
| You lasted 10 minutes? I lasted about 30 seconds. Life is too
| short.
| zemo wrote:
| you're looking at it from a framework that there's a "right"
| way to interpret a given piece of art, or that a given piece of
| art has "a point" instead of "a set of ways in which people
| interpret it". You're describing one way of interpreting it and
| then leveling a charge against the piece when, in reality, that
| charge should be leveled at that interpretation.
| allemagne wrote:
| I do believe there's an intended interpretation or "point",
| and that's what I'm commenting on. Do you disagree with this?
| zemo wrote:
| are you asking about this specific piece or about art in
| general? Either way yes I disagree.
|
| I don't know the author of this work. I don't know what
| they intended, so I can't comment on their intentions. I
| don't know if there's an "intended interpretation" or not,
| I don't know what that intended interpretation is, I don't
| know if it lines up with the interpretation you described.
| If the author intended for a specific, singular
| interpretation, I would reject that; any interpretation is
| just one of many. Some interpretations make more sense than
| others, and how a piece is interpreted can easily change
| from person to person, or even over time for a single
| person. Whatever you get out of it: it's true that that's
| what you got out of it.
| Centigonal wrote:
| I think work that contemplates a social phenomenon without
| driving home any particular opinion or moral can still be
| interesting.
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| > _at any point during this game we could just open a new tab
| and watch the ocean on a YouTube livestream._
|
| That's a great observation.
|
| I'm not sure how to phrase this exactly, but there's something
| going on for at least some people - definitely for me - that
| the thing we're seeking refuge in are given meaning by the
| things we're seeking refuge from. Like you said, at any point
| during the game - or before, or after - I could open a new tab
| and watch the ocean on YouTube, or even watch the same thing
| that was the ending of the game. Except, _obviously_ , I
| wouldn't, because _why would I_? It would be totally random and
| arbitrary, a kind of plot _non sequitur_ you 'd complain about
| if it was a piece of fiction. This ocean scene only makes sense
| as an ending of this game, as a refuge, a contrast, a
| punchline. It's the stimulation game preceding it, that gives
| meaning to the ending.
|
| I've noticed I often feel similarly about many hobbies,
| interests, tasks, - heck, even people - they rapidly stop being
| interesting once I don't have any stressing obligation I should
| be working on instead.
|
| (My HN comment history, too, is strongly and positively
| correlated with amount of stuff I should be doing instead in my
| life, but not necessarily want to.)
| firebaze wrote:
| This is so German
| jal278 wrote:
| > Despite the HN comments complaining about it being
| overwhelming and a dark reflection of how awful and distracting
| the internet is, clearly enough people enjoyed it to get to the
| front page.
|
| Is this like a massive HN wooosh -- how can this be the top-
| voted comment?
|
| From Neil Postman's 1985 "Amusing Ourselves to Death":
|
| > "With television, we vault ourselves into a continuous,
| incoherent present."
|
| > "Spiritual devastation is more likely to come from an enemy
| with a smiling face."
|
| It's less about whether we "enjoy" the stimulation, more about
| what kind of people we become when we lose ourselves in this
| bizarre sea of superstimuli. We're like reinforcement agents
| creating adversarial examples for each other, drawing ourselves
| further out of any sort of meaningful life, into a fever dream
| where the most desirable job for the next generation is to be
| famous for being famous [1] rather than do anything for any
| kind of deeper purpose.
|
| [1] https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/what-is-gen-zs-
| no...
| afpx wrote:
| I like your description. I sometimes wonder if the final
| equilibrium state will be most people working on addictive
| products and the rest working on addiction treatment.
| taneq wrote:
| Spoiler warning OMG. :P
| dachris wrote:
| Windows 12 sneak preview
| simpaticoder wrote:
| Wonderful comment on our noisy world. Highly recommend some sort
| of warning for users, particularly the subway surfer wormhole.
| I'm not light sensitive but even I now have a headache.
| ic4l wrote:
| In case you are wondering this actually beats the game:
| setInterval(() => Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.main-
| btn, .upgrade-icon, .press-collect, .press-btn,
| .collect')).forEach(item => item.click()), 50);
|
| After around level 40 things get very very slow.
| kkarpkkarp wrote:
| such sites isn't fun anymore since I've discovered after the
| first click you have to just press enter key and do not release
| it
| navane wrote:
| I'm going way too hard on this. Help.
| itissid wrote:
| more fun at https://ncase.me/
| sprokolopolis wrote:
| This is reminding me of an ascii art game called Candy Box. It
| begins very minimal like this, but unfolds into a wonderfully
| imaginative RPG game.
|
| https://candybox2.github.io/candybox/
| blueaquilae wrote:
| This is a great piece of art, it has a message and it capture
| you. When you get the final message you feel dumb. Thanks for
| this original piece!
| uptownfunk wrote:
| This is insane. We are wired so strangely.
| p0w3n3d wrote:
| I have a serious question. If I know someone who plays such type
| of games, should I worry about his health?
|
| I mean games that do not require to make any decisions at all or
| little as possible - similar to this one. Just numbers going up
| NoboruWataya wrote:
| Why does this feel like the most productive thing I've done all
| day?
| 4b11b4 wrote:
| This really drives home the point eh?
| johnneville wrote:
| i went into this expecting a quick, shallow, PoC game to make a
| fast point. i was rewarded as the game continued to add
| incredible depth, showing real care and thought. if there's one
| thing i can recommend, it's to read all the emails. they are
| hilarious and gave me the most joy. i burst out laughing while
| reading some which took me over my stimulation threshold and
| allowed me to fully embrace the absurdity of the entire thing
| (which i was initially playing somewhat competitively).
| OpFour wrote:
| Ha! Level 32 bitches! Mmmm... I'm now sitting on the beach,
| enjoying the quiet...
| sharkweek wrote:
| Neal.fun keeping weird internet alive, one micro game at a time.
|
| Other favorites:
|
| * Absurd Trolley Problem: https://neal.fun/absurd-trolley-
| problems/
|
| * Password game: https://neal.fun/password-game/
| ewhanley wrote:
| This is a Black Mirror level hellscape. It really does capture
| the overstimulation of the modern world without filters. I found
| myself simultaneously anxious and inclined to keep clicking so I
| can unlock the next tier. It's over the top but not by much.
| utopcell wrote:
| Oh no. Last time [1] I wasted half a day clicking on buttons.
| There were some aliens, some AI stuff, then something happened to
| (this) universe. Never again!
|
| Many years back, someone had made a clicker parody game
| internally at Google (go/swe-simulator-game). You clicked to
| write CLs, DDs, build a team, get into committees, get promoted.
| I wish that was made available externally, it was hilarious and
| painful at the same time.
|
| [1] https://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/
| ayaros wrote:
| See also: Antimatter Dimensions, Universal Paperclips, and Candy
| Box 1 & 2.
| 31337Logic wrote:
| Brilliant!!
|
| Thank you!
| CodeWriter23 wrote:
| As a 5 Time World Universal Paperclip Champion, I think this game
| is garbage.
| wcfrobert wrote:
| I had to stop my lofi Spotify playlist and my Pomodoro timer to
| play this game... This is a work of art!
| Nekorosu wrote:
| It took some effort to escape this trap. :D Great!
| nidnogg wrote:
| I was having a pretty bad day at work and this brightened me up.
| Thanks!
| StefanBatory wrote:
| It is very scary for me because I... actually enjoyed it.
|
| I know the point the game was making. And that's why it scares me
| even more.
| anonyonoor wrote:
| I accidentally got addicted to crypto trading and made 34 million
| stimulation before I realized there was a "win game" button.
|
| I guess this game is more representative than we'd like to think.
| pprunty wrote:
| dopamineeeee come to meeeeee
| timzaman wrote:
| fantastic. very interactive and artistic. fun game almost.
| snake42 wrote:
| I finished the game and immediately went to pick up my phone to
| check Instagram. Before I started I had just been thinking about
| how my lack of capacity to focus has been causing me to get
| nothing done. Not sure how to escape/re-train myself.
| bijant wrote:
| window.$nuxt.$children[1].$children[0].$children[0].stimulation =
| 999999
| codethief wrote:
| Unfortunately, at some point (while I was getting 5-10k SPS),
| there was this blue droplet(?) (for a lack of a better word)
| passing down my screen. Tapping it crashed the game for me on
| Firefox for Android in the sense that pretty much everything
| turned non-responsive after that. :\
|
| EDIT: Almost crashed Chromium on Android / Vanadium, too.
| cess11 wrote:
| That was fun, can't wait for more content!
|
| Until then I'm returning to http://trimps.github.io/.
| emidoots wrote:
| This is so toxic, I love it! Great work, love that it has an
| ending. Donated a bit to you as well.
| EcommerceFlow wrote:
| I think I'd get addicted to a fake crypto trading game
| Aeolun wrote:
| My 6 year old son was entertained for about 2 minutes. Not enough
| stimulation in this one.
| 4ggr0 wrote:
| i finished the game in 20mins, got a headache now. very creative,
| i like it.
|
| what happens after you buy the trip to the ocean? the game hung
| up at this point on my phone, seemed to use a lot of RAM. lots of
| animations were lagging from quite early on.
| StevenNunez wrote:
| That was delightful.
| mansilladev wrote:
| Anyone get to Zombocom level?
| sergiotapia wrote:
| Thank for the stimulation!
| rwesty wrote:
| I was able to find a bug to get lots of clicks. Buy at least one
| bouncing DVD, open dev tools into responsive mode and make the
| screen width 52pixels (the lowest allowed). The DVDs will then
| bounce with each frame, racking up a bunch of points.
| joshchernoff wrote:
| setInterval(()=>{$0.click()}, 1); and weeeeeee
| kernelguardian wrote:
| const button = document.querySelector(".main-btn");
|
| if (button) { const clickButtonMultipleTimes = async () => {
| while (true) { const userInput = prompt("Enter the number of
| times to click the button (or type 'exit' to stop):");
| if (userInput === null || userInput.toLowerCase() === 'exit') {
| alert("Exiting the click process."); break;
| } const clicks = parseInt(userInput, 10);
| if (isNaN(clicks) || clicks < 0) { alert("Please
| enter a valid non-negative number."); continue;
| } for (let i = 0; i < clicks; i++) {
| button.click(); } alert(`Clicked the
| button ${clicks} time(s)!`); } };
| clickButtonMultipleTimes();
|
| } else { alert("The button with class 'main-btn' was not found on
| this page."); }
| t0wk wrote:
| Well done Neal and team. I clicked around and chuckled at the
| obvious stimulation "memes", but quickly felt a compulsion to
| "win". Ended up scoring huge with the crypto mini game and
| unlocked everything. I'd say the biggest surprise was clicking on
| the ocean without thought (since I was mindlessly clicking at
| everything), and was left a bit disappointed that it ended.
| Lesson learned: Read everything carefully before clicking.
| SebastianSosa wrote:
| Neal.. screw you. Youve robbed me of 15 mins. So far....
| nexoft wrote:
| I was sucked in it for 1 hour
| dandigangi wrote:
| This was entertaining as all hell.
| AirMax98 wrote:
| I'm blown away. Literally laughed out loud when the lo-fi beat
| kicked in. Neal has outdone himself here.
| klik99 wrote:
| Really wonderful, worth playing towards the end!
|
| I remember cookie clicker taking days to finish when it first
| released, I like this is a self-contained experience that ends,
| and really generates the kind of anxiety it's trying to comment
| on by the end, and then gracefully steps away at the right time.
| fl1pper wrote:
| that's very fun! good job!
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-01-06 23:00 UTC)