the rapidly dwindling sanity of valve programmers as expressed through code comments
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN cites it as an example of messy code behind successful games and of the human stories that code comments can hold.
What it is
A short video that reads out comments from the leaked Team Fortress 2 source code to show the frustration of Valve's programmers over time.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2021 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Cites bfors · 2024-04 · on “Leaving Rust gamedev after 3 years”
Like the author states, the "written in Rust" bonus many projects get does not apply to games. Most of the games I consider to be the most fun are built on an absolute rats nest dumpster fire of code (see: [this video] ). Sometimes bugs even expand game mechanics and make them more fun and expressive. That being said I'll definitely check out Unrelaxing Quacks, it looks great.
Cites u8 · 2026-03 · on “Ask HN: Are you too getting addicted to the dev workflow of coding with agents?”
I've been coding by hand for nearly 20 years. I don't get any rush from generating code with agents. Most of the time I just feel loss. Coding to me has always been the work of a craftsman. I spent years learning syntax, studying APIs, and generally becoming an expert in a language I could then use to exactly express myself. My code became my way of of telling a story. I picked that language not only because it was the right tool for the job, but because I liked the community, I liked the direction of the tool, and I liked writing it. Agents obliterate all of that. Before, source code was like exploring a canyon. Each function, loop, and nested brackets was someone's choice. There was an imp