Chip Fab Story
A real Famicom/NES game about running a chip fab from 1971 to AI superintelligence, wrapped for phone browsers. The developer says it was built entirely inside the Codex app, and lists Codex on the team.
Official site protomo.itch.io, verified Nov 3, 2026. The developer's own itch.io page (protomo), linked from its jam submission.
Where to play
Every platform this game is on. Links are checked against official sources; we never host or mirror games.
- Play free — itch.ioitch.ioReleased · Jamference: AI Game Jam Hack 2 entry; NES ROM in a web wrapper, plus the ROM as a downloadFree
Plays in the browser on itch.io. No download.
Browser (no download) · Desktop · Official link verified Nov 3, 2026.
- Play free — official siteBrowserReleasedFree
Runs in a desktop or mobile browser. No download.
Browser (no download) · Mobile · Official link verified Nov 3, 2026.
About Chip Fab Story
Chip Fab Story is a Famicom (NES) game about building a chip company through history, from the early days of logic controllers in 1971 to, as the page puts it, human-free recursive AI superintelligence fabrication in the year 20xx. You choose which chips to craft, from logic and memory chips to microprocessors and AI chips; lots run automatically, most chips sell for cash and spares pay for equipment. Profits go into tools, cleanrooms for better yield, automation for faster lots and lab R&D for ideas, and as lots ship, offers arrive to fund the next era's breakthrough; passing on an offer can close your company, with the risk rising by 10% per pass up to 50%. You hire teams, make decisions and try not to go bankrupt. The developer describes the idea as “like Game Dev Story, but on a Famicom”. The ROM runs inside a web wrapper built for phones, with touch controls, a 1×, 2× or 4× pace that actually raises the emulated clock speed, saves kept in the browser and information that pops out of the game; the .nes file also runs in any NES emulator or on real hardware with a flash cart. The developer, damijin (protomo on itch.io), made it for Jamference: AI Game Jam Hack 2 and says it was developed entirely inside the ChatGPT/Codex Windows app, listing Codex as a team member. Free in the browser on itch.io and on a chatgpt.site page, with the ROM as a download.
How it was built
VerifiedIn the jam submission the developer answers that the game was developed entirely inside the ChatGPT/Codex Windows frontend: “we” built an NES ROM around chip fabrication through history and then wrapped it in a web wrapper for easy mobile play, with interstitials and information that pops out of the NES game. The submission lists the team as “damijin, codex”, and the itch.io page says the project was produced with the help of, and natively within, Codex from OpenAI; the page is tagged codex and its AI disclosure ticks AI Assisted, Code, Graphics, Sounds and Text. No model is named.
- Developeritch.io page: “This project was produced with the help of (and natively within) Codex from OpenAI.” — itch.io
An NES ROM for the 6502 processor (the submission's tagline calls it a game about recursive self-improvement for the 6502), wrapped in a web page that runs it in the browser through the open-source JSNES emulator (observed in the page's code) and adds touch controls, a pace setting, browser saves and event cards. The itch.io page explains that speeding up play raises the clock speed of the emulated machine, so the wrapper throttles input and manages its own sound playback at non-native speeds. The developer says the work was done entirely inside the ChatGPT/Codex Windows app; version 0.2 followed three days after release.
- Engine / framework
- No engine (NES ROM; web wrapper using the JSNES emulator)
- Languages
- Not disclosed
- Team size
- 1 (solo)Developer Reporteditch.io (Jamference: AI Game Jam Hack 2, hosted by dg)
- Development time
- Not disclosed
- Development cost
- Not disclosed
- AI-written code
- Not disclosed
“I developed the game entirely inside of the ChatGPT/Codex Windows frontend.”Verification notes: AI use from the developer's answers on the Jamference: AI Game Jam Hack 2 submission page and from the itch.io page; gameplay from the itch.io page and the how-to-play panel of the web version. Publication (22 Oct 2026, 05:54 UTC) and update (25 Oct 2026, 05:29 UTC, with the version 0.2 devlog) from the itch.io page. The jam, hosted by dg, ran 16–23 Oct 2026 (07:00 UTC) with 37 entries, and voting closed on 29 Oct 2026; results as shown on 4 Nov 2026 (UTC): #24 overall, #20 for Use of AI and for Polish, #33 for Fun, from 7 ratings. Team size 1 counts only the human member of the listed team “damijin, codex”. The itch.io rating of 5.0 rests on a single rating. The submission calls the ROM “tiny 32kb”, while the itch.io download ChipFabStory.nes is listed at 40 kB; both figures are given as stated. The comparison with Game Dev Story is the developer's own and concerns the concept; no source mentions Game Dev Story names or assets in the game, so no IP notice is attached. The web version loads the ROM from its own host and makes no calls to AI services (checked). No real name or location is given. The ROM was not run on hardware and the game was not played through.
Development history
Published on itch.io (05:54 UTC) and submitted to Jamference: AI Game Jam Hack 2, a day before the deadline.
Version 0.2 posted as a devlog on the itch.io page.
Observeditch.ioJam voting closes. Final result: #24 overall of 37 entries, #20 for Use of AI and Polish, from 7 ratings.
Game performance
Each figure measures something different — concurrent players, owners, downloads and sales are never interchangeable and are never added together. Labels show where each number comes from.
itch.io
Free: playable in the browser, with ChipFabStory.nes (40 kB) as a download for NES emulators or a flash cart.
Not publicly available: Gross revenue.
Browser (official site)
Free in the browser; progress is saved in the browser.
No public metrics recorded for this listing.
Not publicly available: Concurrent players (site), Monthly revenue, Gross revenue.
Reviews & rankings
Not yet reviewed by our editors.
Sources
| Source | Type | Published | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chip Fab Story [.NES] by protomo itch.io | Store page | Oct 22, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Chip Fab Story [.NES] by protomo for Jamference: AI Game Jam Hack 2 itch.io (Jamference: AI Game Jam Hack 2, hosted by dg) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Jamference: AI Game Jam Hack 2 itch.io (dg) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Chip Fab Story — A little factory for the future damijin (chatgpt.site) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Official game page (language check) damijin | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
