Open Mic Empire

Inspiration

Open Mic Empire grew from my experience with comedy clubs: a great night depends on more than the person holding the microphone. Seating, atmosphere and knowing when to handle an interruption all matter. I wanted to turn that backstage judgement into a playful management game.

What it does

Players run a small basement comedy club, choose comedians, welcome a mixed crowd and help laughter spread through the room. Each show earns tips to reinvest in lighting, seating and sound, while changing audiences create new decisions.

How I built it

I used AI-assisted development to build the game in JavaScript, HTML5 and Three.js, iterating through gameplay, accessibility, graphics and audio passes. Recorded character performances bring the comedians, audience and narrator to life. The submitted build bundles its code, libraries, fonts, artwork and audio for offline play.

Challenges

The biggest challenge was making a lively club readable on a phone. Early versions had too much copy, crowded controls and actions that felt unresponsive. I simplified the interface, enlarged text and touch targets, made guest emotions clearer and tightened the timing between jokes.

What I learned

Clarity creates room for strategy. Players enjoy making decisions when they understand the crowd and trust the controls. Repeated testing also reinforced that AI-generated changes need verification: readable code, responsive actions and reliable recovery matter as much as adding features. Challenges

The biggest challenge was making a lively club readable on a phone. Early versions had too much copy, crowded controls and actions that felt unresponsive. I simplified the interface, enlarged text and touch targets, made guest emotions clearer and tightened the timing between jokes.

What I learned

Clarity creates room for strategy. Players enjoy making decisions when they understand the crowd and trust the controls. Repeated testing also reinforced that AI-generated changes need verification: readable code, responsive actions and reliable recovery matter as much as adding features.