A strategic life simulation game where you navigate the challenging journey of a software developer's career from student to tech veteran.
Make critical decisions, manage your resources wisely, build your skills strategically, and discover multiple paths to success—including hidden easter eggs for the most strategic players!
- About
- Screenshots
- Features
- Game Mechanics
- Actions & Strategies
- Tech Stack
- Contributing
- License
- Credits
Life@Dev is an immersive career simulation game that captures the real challenges and triumphs of being a software developer. Starting from your choice of either a traditional CS degree path or a self-taught bootcamp journey, you'll face realistic decisions about how to spend your limited time each week.
- 🎓 Educational: Learn about different career paths in tech
- 📊 Strategic: Plan your moves carefully - every week counts
- 🌟 Realistic: Based on real-world developer career progression
- 🎨 Engaging: Beautiful UI with smooth animations and responsive design
- 🏆 Replayable: Multiple paths and endings to discover
🏠 Start Screen - Choose your path and begin your journey
🎓 Path Selection - CS Student with Family Support or Self-Taught Bootcamp
💼 Gameplay - Manage your career, skills, and life balance
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🛤️ Multiple Starting Paths:
- CS Student (Family Supported): Easiest start - family covers tuition and rent for 4 years
- CS Student (Self-Funded): Medium difficulty - pay $10K/year tuition + $4K/year rent
- Unemployed/Bootcamp Graduate: Hardest start - learn to hustle, freelance, and survive
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⏰ Time-Based Progression:
- Each year consists of 52 weeks
- Actions cost weeks and resources
- Plan carefully - time is your most precious resource
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🎯 Action-Based System:
- Build side projects (3 weeks)
- Grind LeetCode (1 week)
- Network online (1 week)
- Freelance gigs (4 weeks)
- Attend hackathons (2 weeks)
- And many more strategic choices!
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⚡ Resource Management:
- Energy: Depletes with actions, recover through rest
- Stress: Increases with work, manage carefully to avoid burnout
- Money: Earn through jobs and freelancing, spend on rent and upgrades
- Coding Skill: Scale from 0-1000 through practice and experience
- Reputation: Build through networking, open source, and achievements
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🎓 Progressive Career System:
- Auto-promotions at junior/mid levels
- Manual job hunting at senior+ for strategic career pivots
- 6+ distinct career paths with unique progression
| Path | Starting Point | Key Positions | Peak Role | Salary Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🏢 Corporate Ladder | CS Student → Intern | Junior → Mid → Senior Dev | Senior Developer | $60K - $140K |
| 👔 Management Track | From Senior Dev | Team Lead → Eng Manager | CTO | $160K - $300K |
| 👨💻 IC Track | From Senior Dev | Staff → Principal | Distinguished Fellow | $200K - $400K |
| 💼 Hustler Path | Unemployed | Script Kiddie → Freelancer | Digital Nomad | $5K - $75K |
| 🚀 Business Track | From Hustler | Agency Owner → Tech Influencer | Tech Mogul | $120K - $1M |
| 🔒 Specialist Track | From Hustler/Senior | Contractor → Consultant | Industry Architect | $180K - $2M |
- 📅 52-Week Years: Realistic annual progression with year-end reviews
- 📈 Stat Scaling: Long-term progression with 0-1000 scale for coding and reputation
- 💰 Dynamic Income: Freelance payouts and salaries scale with your skills
- 🎯 Smart Promotions: Strategic job changes unlock new opportunities
- 👨👩👧 Family Support: Financial safety net for CS Student path (first 4 years)
- 🎲 Random Events: Unexpected opportunities and challenges
- 🎤 AI Interviews: Practice interviews with AI-generated questions
- 🎉 Multiple Endings: Different outcomes based on your career choices
- 🥚 Easter Eggs: Discover hidden achievements
- 📱 Responsive Design: Play on desktop, tablet, or mobile
- 🎨 Modern UI: Clean, professional interface with smooth animations
- ⚡ PWA Ready: Progressive Web App structure (offline support coming soon)
- 💾 Save: Game state persistence with manual save option
- 📊 Career Statistics: Track your lifetime earnings and progress
Energy (0-100)
├─ Depletes when taking actions
├─ Recover through rest and self-care
└─ Required for all productive activities
Stress (0-100)
├─ Increases with work and challenges
├─ Reduce through self-care and breaks
└─ High stress leads to burnout (game over at 100)
Money ($)
├─ Earn through jobs and freelancing
├─ Spend on rent and investments
├─ Can go negative (debt) but risky
└─ Bankruptcy at year-end if unable to cover expenses
Coding Skill (0-1000)
├─ Improve through practice and work
├─ Unlocks better job opportunities
└─ Scales freelance income
Reputation (0-1000)
├─ Build through networking and achievements
├─ Opens doors to better positions
└─ Increases freelance rates
Each action costs:
- Weeks: Time investment (1-4 weeks)
- Energy: Effort required (5-60 points)
- Stress: Mental toll (5-40 points)
- Money: Sometimes required for investments and shop
Each action provides:
- Coding Skill: Technical improvement
- Reputation: Professional network growth
- Money: Direct income
- Special Effects: Unlock new paths or opportunities
At the end of each year:
- 📊 Performance Review: See your annual progress
- 💰 Salary/Financial Summary: Review earnings vs expenses
- 📈 Promotion Check: Eligible for advancement?
- 🎯 Career Suggestions: Recommendations for next steps
- 🎉 Achievements: Unlock special milestones
| Action | Weeks | Energy | Coding | Reputation | Money |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🧮 Grind LeetCode | 1 | 15 | +5 | 0 | 0 |
| 🛠️ Build Side Project | 3 | 30 | +8 | +5 | 0 |
| 💼 Freelance Gig | 4 | 25 | +10 | +2 | Dynamic* |
| 🏆 Attend Hackathon | 2 | 40 | +20 | +5 | 0 |
*Freelance income scales with your coding skill and reputation
| Action | Weeks | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🌐 Network Online | 1 | $100 | +10 reputation |
| Action | Weeks | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 😴 Sleep In | 1 | +50 energy, -10 stress |
| 🏝️ Touch Grass | 3 | +100 energy, -50 stress |
- Next.js 16.1 - React framework with App Router
- React 19.2 - Latest React with concurrent features
- TypeScript 5 - Type-safe development
- Tailwind CSS 4 - Utility-first CSS framework
- Google Gemini AI - AI-powered interview generation
- Appwrite - Backend-as-a-Service
- ESLint & Prettier - Code quality tools
- Start with CS Student (Family Supported) for easier gameplay
- Balance energy and stress management carefully
- Build coding skills early through LeetCode and side projects
- Save money for career transitions
- Network consistently to build reputation
- Scale freelance income with high coding + reputation
- Plan strategic career pivots at the right time
- Discover easter eggs through unique action combinations
- Optimize with multi-week actions for efficiency
We welcome contributions! Whether it's bug fixes, new features, or documentation improvements, your help is appreciated.
Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.
- Follow TypeScript best practices
- Use Prettier for code formatting
- Ensure ESLint passes without errors
- Add comments for complex logic
- Test your changes thoroughly
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
Built with ❤️ using React, Next.js, TypeScript, Appwrite and Tailwind CSS.
Made with ❤️ by developers, for developers