I think we've all sat at some point thinking "Wouldn't it be fun to make a game?" or maybe that's just me, although I think as developers it would be a natural inclination. However building a game comes with the headache of actually building the game. But what if the game existed already and all you had to do was create a layer of code around the game to actually play. Introducing SPACE TRADERS API, a very cool project I just happened to stumble upon over the weekend.

The idea is simple, SPACE TRADERS is a game you play where every action in the game is its own endpoint. Want to buy a space, endpoint, want to travel to the next area, endpoint and so on and so fourth. And now you might think that it's a game to teach beginners how to use endpoints. And while that is absolutely a possible way to use this game it just doesn't stop at beginners as you can automate tasks and compete with other players on who has the most effective algorithms.

You can play the game from the terminal, you could use it as an opportunity to try out new languages or even just practice the one you're already the most comfortable with. Or like me, you can try and create a frontend layer on top of the api, a GUI for the game if you will. The possibilities for how to play this game are almost endless and only your imagination is the limiting factor. There is no right or wrong way to approach this.

There are leaderboards and weekly resets so you can compare and contrast how you're doing and optimise for the best outcome or you can approach the game more casually.

I often hear whispering through the great vine that a lot of people want to start fun side projects but have no idea where to start or what to build. Here you have a foundation for your next project. Make a GUI if you're a frontender, setup an automation system if you're a backender. It's a game, it's meant to be fun and you can make it as big or as small as you want it to be.

So get out there, gain some exp and let me know how you would approach this game in the comments. I'd love to see how others have approached this.

In the future when I've gotten a bit further I'll start to share how I went about it. For starters I can say that I'm building a GUI with Next js, authentication through Supabase and experimenting with v0 and shadcn/ui so I can start building the interactivity rather than get bogged down by "how it looks". Hopefully later on it's gonna be at such a level that I can actually show people and they can play the game themselves straight from the browser.