I literally JUST bought a Thumby out of a vending machine this past weekend, so this post feels a bit serendipitous for me. Thanks for sharing, and I'll have to check this out!
This is for 72×40 display right now but I was also working on an interface layer to abstract Thumby specific functionality in order to play on potentially other platforms running MicroPython/Python. Going to try and add that in the next iteration.
Following up here, I just added a game interface abstraction to make it easier to support more devices. Planning on getting a few MakeCode-compatible devices to adapt for them.
Small bug: the sim seems to double count residential population for taxes, industrial pop gets ignored. The duplicate logic seems to exist in UI but it's correct there.
Also I wonder if all the repetition could be reduced, or would it affect performance on MicroPython?
Yeah great catch. So I mentioned this in the README but much of the mechanics were heavily inspired by jhhoward's MicroCity. This is the same way he calculated taxes and I figured to test it out to see how it worked in game. I really liked the flow of how his game played and seems like there are some pros/cons to that inbalance.
Pros:
- Makes residential population more valuable for taxes, which helps early‑game cash flow.
- Encourages zoning residential since it has outsized budget impact.
- Offsets the fact that residential growth can be more constrained by pollution/unemployment.
Cons:
- Skews the economy away from industrial/commercial impact.
- Makes budget feel inconsistent with “total population.”
- Can mask balance issues by injecting extra money, making difficulty tuning harder.
Readit News
bbcmicrobit/micropython: https://github.com/bbcmicrobit/micropython
But Pi Pico; RP2040, RP2350:
"Show HN: PicoVGA Library – VGA/TV Display on Raspberry Pi Pico" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35117847#35120403
"MaplePad – RP2040 Dreamcast controller, VMU, and Purupuru (rumble pack) emulator" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37522059 :
> PicoVision
pimoroni/picovision micropython: https://github.com/pimoroni/picovision :
> PicoVision enables you to create big, bold audio visual projects using MicroPython and an HDMI display of your choice.
> powerful digital video stick for bold audio visual adventures, with dual RP2040 chips and a conveniently HDMI-shaped output connector to boot!
> [...] dual RP2040 chips and a conveniently HDMI-shaped output connector to boot!
Also I wonder if all the repetition could be reduced, or would it affect performance on MicroPython?
https://github.com/chrisdiana/TinyCity/blob/88d07cf98f13bb73...
Pros: - Makes residential population more valuable for taxes, which helps early‑game cash flow. - Encourages zoning residential since it has outsized budget impact. - Offsets the fact that residential growth can be more constrained by pollution/unemployment.
Cons: - Skews the economy away from industrial/commercial impact. - Makes budget feel inconsistent with “total population.” - Can mask balance issues by injecting extra money, making difficulty tuning harder.