Can we make the T-Rex bigger? A simple dinosaur game demo

Kids asked "Can we make the T-Rex bigger?" and that question sparked a quick side project: a tiny dinosaur game built in under an hour with less than 500 lines of code. The stack was deliberately simple-Phaser.js for the engine, Vite for instant reloads, and vanilla JavaScript for everything else-so the result runs in any browser without complex setup.

The surprise was how the same core patterns that keep a game responsive-event loops, state management, and responsive design-are the exact building blocks used in large-scale enterprise applications. By focusing on a constrained, visual problem, the author could see those abstractions in action, making the trade-offs and feedback loops crystal clear.

The post argues that developers should deliberately build small, fun projects like games to sharpen their thinking. Constraints force you to prioritize, and instant user feedback lets you iterate faster than most corporate codebases allow. The payoff is a deeper intuition for the mechanics that power the systems you build for customers.

Ultimately, the piece is a call to action: step away from tutorials and architecture debates, grab a simple framework, and build something that makes a kid smile. The immediate joy and clear metrics of success translate into better engineering judgment when you return to your day-to-day work.