Public · Economic simulation
Lemonade
A modern revival of the classic Lemonade Stand built around a deliberately tiny interface: three operating decisions, one day of sales, and immediate economic consequences.
- Niche
- Accessible business simulation
- Core stack
- TypeScript · React · Vite · deterministic simulation
- Interaction
- Inventory · advertising · price · submit
- Presentation
- Vector 3D · procedural audio · accessible charts
The niche
Lemonade deliberately resists the usual simulation-game instinct to add more controls.
The player manages inventory, advertising and price while weather and market sentiment remain conditions to interpret rather than extra knobs. The niche is a business simulation simple enough to understand immediately but systemic enough to teach demand, risk, diminishing returns and cash discipline through play.
What is different
The product constraint is that three variables must remain enough.
Complexity appears in consequences and environment rather than through dashboards of configuration.
The revived simulation preserves the recognizable shape of the Apple II economics while replacing opaque globals with typed, testable rules.
Taxes, banking costs, interest and supplier economics can appear as progression without replacing the core daily decision loop.
Vector 3D and procedural audio aim for the charm of an early computer game without reproducing its artwork or turning the experience into literal pixel nostalgia.
Product & design thinking
The interface is intentionally anti-spreadsheet.
The neighborhood, stand activity, weather, customer flow and short audio motifs make the economic result feel like a day that happened, while charts and the ledger remain available for reflection afterward. The player acts first through three understandable decisions, then receives enough evidence to form a better model for the next day.
Accessibility is part of that simplicity: keyboard play, precise numeric entry, reduced-motion modes, non-color cues and textual equivalents are considered part of the core design rather than post-release accommodations.
Development approach
The simulation is isolated so presentation can become ambitious without making the business rules fragile.
The target architecture keeps deterministic accounting and demand rules in a pure package with injected randomness and fixed-precision money. React, 3D rendering, audio, storage and optional Tauri capabilities remain adapters around that core.
The repository is also designed for AI-assisted development: strict types, named balance constants, exhaustive domain states, deterministic replay tests and small reviewable changes make intent easier to preserve across many implementation passes.