Comment by chanip0114

Hi HN,

I’m sharing an interactive project a friend is building called Zest. We felt that most system design resources are too theoretical (books and videos). He wanted to create a "flight simulator" where you can actually practice making architectural trade-offs in real-world scenarios.

The App: https://staff-engineering-simulator-880284904082.us-west1.ru...

Why we are here: We are in early Alpha and looking for the community's brutal feedback:

Scenario Realism: Do these challenges feel like the actual high-scale problems a Staff/Principal engineer faces?

AI Mentorship: The app uses an LLM-powered engine to provide feedback on your design choices. Does it feel insightful or too generic?

The "Hands-on" Approach: Is this interactive format helpful for learning architecture?

It’s a functional prototype running on Google Cloud Run. We would love to hear your thoughts, criticisms, or ideas for new scenarios!

Thanks for the feedback!