u/Electricvid

Hope this one fits!

One important disclosure up front: I used AI tools extensively during development, especially for coding, implementation, debugging, UI work, and some of the website copy.

The underlying idea, game design, energy system model, mechanics, balancing decisions, testing, and direction of the project are mine. I have a background in energy systems, and a large part of the work has been deciding what the game should actually simulate, how those systems should interact, checking whether the results make sense, and iterating on it until it became something playable.

AI is ultimately what made it possible for me to turn an idea I had almost 10 years ago into an actual game rather than leaving it as another unfinished side project.

Back then, I had the slightly foolish idea of making a city building and management game focused almost entirely on the energy system. I posted about it on Reddit looking for people to join the project.

The idea was far too ambitious for me at the time, but the post got quite a bit of interest, and the concept never really left me.

Now, almost 10 years later, I finally have a playable version: Powerstate.

It is essentially a city builder where the "city" you manage is its energy system. You build generation, manage demand, deal with changing conditions, expand the system, and try to keep everything reliable and economically viable.

My goal is to make it easy enough to jump into, but deep enough that understanding and optimizing the system actually takes some effort.

It is definitely a niche game, but I suspect this might be one of the better places to find people who enjoy exactly that kind of niche.

Gameplay:
https://www.powerstate-game.com/gameplay/

The game is:

• Free to play
• Still rough around the edges visually and mechanically
• Occasionally unbalanced in ways that can make a run much easier or much harder than intended
• Fairly demanding in the browser, with a desktop version planned as well

I have a long list of systems and improvements I still want to add, but at this stage I am especially interested in what people who actually play city builders think.

What feels good?

What is confusing?

What would you want an energy system game like this to simulate that it currently does not?

And if something about the energy system or physics looks wrong, please tell me. That is probably the feedback I am most interested in.

I would genuinely love feedback, criticism, and ideas.

For anyone curious, here is the original Reddit thread from almost 10 years ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/engineering/comments/5hp6sc/anybody_interested_on_working_on_a_energyeconomy/

I have also set up r/PowerState for ongoing development updates.

One important disclosure up front: I used AI tools extensively during development, especially for coding, implementation, debugging, UI work, and some of the website copy.

The underlying idea, game design, energy system model, mechanics, balancing decisions, testing, and direction of the project are mine. I have a background in energy systems, and a large part of the work has been deciding what the game should actually simulate, how those systems should interact, checking whether the results make sense, and iterating on it until it became something playable.

AI is ultimately what made it possible for me to turn an idea into an actual game rather than leaving it as another unfinished side project.

10 years ago I posted on Reddit looking for people to help me build an energy-economy simulation game. I finally built it.

Back then, I had the slightly foolish idea of making a city-building / construction-and-management game focused entirely on the energy system ALONE. I posted about it on Reddit looking for people to join the project.

The idea was far too ambitious for me at the time, but the post got quite a bit of interest, and the concept never really left me.

Now, almost 10 years later, I finally have a playable version: Powerstate.

It’s essentially a city builder where the “city” you manage is its energy system. You build generation, manage demand, deal with changing conditions, and try to keep the system reliable and economically viable.

My goal is to make it easy enough to jump into, but deep enough that understanding and optimizing the system actually takes some effort. It’s definitely a niche game, but I suspect this might be one of the better places to find people who enjoy exactly that kind of niche.

Gameplay: https://www.powerstate-game.com/gameplay/

The game is currently:

• free to play
• still rough around the edges visually and mechanically
• occasionally unbalanced in ways that can make a run much easier or much harder than intended
• fairly demanding in the browser; I’m planning a desktop version as well

I’m planning to keep developing it, and I already have a long list of things I want to add and improve. But at this stage I’m especially interested in what people who actually play city builders think.

What feels good? What is confusing? What would you want a game like this to simulate that it currently doesn’t?

I’d genuinely love feedback, criticism, and ideas.

For anyone curious, here is the original Reddit thread from almost 10 years ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/engineering/comments/5hp6sc/anybody_interested_on_working_on_a_energyeconomy/

I’ve also set up r/PowerState for ongoing development updates.