Building Over 30 Mini Games for One Story

When people first hear about 2036: Another Social Media App, they usually think it's a collection of mini games.

While that's technically true, it isn't how we've approached development.

From the beginning, our goal wasn't to build thirty separate games. It was to create one experience that constantly surprises players.

Each mini game represents a different test designed by the AI. Because of that, every challenge needs its own identity. Some focus on quick reactions, others require logical thinking, pattern recognition, memory, timing, or precision. Reusing the same mechanics over and over would have made the game predictable, so every new mini game starts with one question:

"What human ability hasn't been tested yet?"

That philosophy has made development much more difficult than expected.

Every mini game has its own gameplay loop, balancing, user interface, tutorials, animations, sound effects, and difficulty curve. Something as simple as changing the player's movement speed in one challenge can completely alter the overall pacing of the game.

We've also learned that making a mini game is only half the work. Making it enjoyable after the tenth playthrough is a completely different challenge. Many early prototypes were removed because they felt repetitive or didn't fit the world we were building.

Our current focus is polishing what already exists rather than constantly adding more content. We'd rather have fewer memorable challenges than dozens of average ones.

As development continues, we're excited to share more of these individual challenges and explain the thinking behind them.