Twitter/X

Ethan Mollick (post dated 2026-06-12) asked Claude Code with Fable to reconstruct…

2026-06-12 · 20:52 UTC ·@emollick ·0 min read

Brief

Ethan Mollick reports that on 2026-06-12 he reissued a brief to Claude Code with Fable to recreate the lost Maxis simulation SimRefinery from screenshots and documentation; the result is a fully playable, more sophisticated version (including a learning mode) that he contrasts with an earlier ChatGPT Codex prototype, and he links a live demo at simrefinery.netlify.app.

Why it matters

Ethan Mollick (post dated 2026-06-12) asked Claude Code with Fable to reconstruct SimRefinery from surviving screenshots and documentation and received a fully playable build with a learning mode and additional sophistication.

Key details

  • Mollick contrasts this 10-month-later build with an earlier prototype produced by ChatGPT Codex, noting the new version shows clear improvements; the playable demo is hosted at simrefinery.netlify.app.
Source evidence

10 months later, I gave Claude Code with Fable the same brief, asking it to construct SimRefinery from surviving screenshots and documentation. Fully playable, with a learning mode & all sorts of sophistication. Look at the difference from the old version! simrefinery.netlify.app/

Video

Ethan Mollick (@emollick)

I gave ChatGPT Codex an article & screenshot from a famous, lost Maxis simulation, SimRefinery, and asked it to create it for me.

It built a playable prototype for me while I did other stuff, never touching any code once, instead just occasionally poking Codex for small changes.

Video

— https://nitter.net/emollick/status/1972043547550666796#m