Kingdom
A shelved game concept became a finished iOS app through rapid, AI-assisted development.
The Mission
Kingdom started a couple of years ago as one of the ideas a circle of friends liked to trade: a game where you learn how a business works by running one. It got sketched out in some detail. Then everyone got busy and it sat untouched.
The Outcome
A five-chapter business sim for iPhone with four playable CEOs, over 100 decision cards, and plain-language financials, plus a marketing site at kingdomgame.app.
The Impact
Rapid development with Claude, ChatGPT and Runway ML took the app from concept to a tested build submitted to Apple. The project also gave the team a clear, hands-on answer to how far these tools can take a real product.
The original pitch was simple. Start a tech company in your mom's garage, hire a team, ship products, and grow it all the way to an IPO. Every choice shows up in the numbers, so players pick up how a real company runs without being lectured.
The chapters, the characters and the monthly decisions all took shape casually, over conversations among friends. Everyone liked it, and nobody had time for it. So it waited.
When the team wanted to test AI-assisted development on something real, Kingdom was the obvious pick. The design thinking was already done, which meant the experiment could focus on building.
Using Claude, ChatGPT and Runway ML together, the team moved from concept to a tested build quickly. The tools covered a lot of ground. Judgment calls on balance, tone and what felt fun still came from people playing it and adjusting.
We now use the same approach in Zero to MVP, taking founders from an idea to a live product.
The heart of the game is a card that arrives each month. An angry review. A bridge loan. A rival's recruiter calling your best engineer. Each card offers two or three options, each with a cost, and some effects land months later.
Around that loop sit the parts of running a company that most people never see up close: product grades that set pricing, year-end reviews and raises, and a P&L and balance sheet written so anyone can read them.
Players pick one of four animal CEOs, each with a backstory and a strength that shapes the run. A laid-off product lead who ships fast. A top graduate with two hundred rejections. An agency veteran who is done with Friday-night rewrites. A longtime operator starting over after a buyout.
The characters keep the tone light, so the business lessons go down easily.
Kingdom has been submitted to Apple for review and is coming soon to the App Store. Chapter 1 is free, and one purchase unlocks the remaining four chapters with no subscription.