Mike Houston

About the Mikeverse

My portfolio has 26 projects. I’ve made it more than 100 different ways.

Each version is called a face. One is a Minecraft-style world. One is a balloon parade. One is a drive-thru, and one is a porch full of jack-o’-lanterns. The work inside is the same every time.

The number 100, drawn in the style of one face after another.

The idea

Most portfolios get one design. I wanted to see what happens if mine got a hundred.

So the work stays put and the world around it changes. The 26 projects are fighters on a select screen. They’re extensions on a phone tree you wait on hold in. They’re cubes in an office, and crops on a clay farm. Every face is a full website, and every one shows the real work.

The first 45

I directed the first 45 faces myself, working with AI tools.

Some went through more than one draft. Roster took a couple of rounds to get there. The balloons in Balloon Parade were built in Blender.

Thirteen of those are my favourites. They set the bar for everything that came after.

The factory

Then I set up a factory. Starting on October 7, two AIs, Claude and Codex, ran it overnight.

Each one pitches new faces, builds the ones that pass, and reviews the other’s work. They judge by a guide written from my taste: the faces I starred, the ratings I gave and what I said about them. It quotes me word for word, typos and all.

A pitch gets five scores, starting with one question: can you picture it in one sentence? A finished build gets six: the real medium, the work, how it plays or reads, words and facts, finish, and the detail someone tells a friend about.

The bar for a build

Scores out of 10
7+on every score
8+on average
7+the reviewer’s guess at my rating

Most pitches hear no at least once. So far the two of them have pitched 161 faces. 61 were rejected as ideas. 50 builds were sent back for fixes. 13 were shelved and never shipped. 86 went live. Only 47 got through without a single no.

What happened to 161 pitches

As of October 11
Pitches by AI and what happened to them
BuilderPitchedRejectedSent backShelvedShipped
Claude972526270
Codex6436241116
Both16161501386

“Sent back” counts builds that went back for fixes; 39 of the 50 shipped after. One Codex face is still being built. One Claude pitch was pulled by Claude before review, as a copy of a live face.

One face, one evening: Free Parking

October 8
  1. Pitch rejected. A property board game where every deed is a project.
    • 8
    • 5
    • 6
    • 7
    • 7
    the property-trading idea and personal twist are too thin Codex
  2. later
    I read the rejects. love... (this is monopoly ya?) Me
  3. Pitched again. Approved.
    • 8
    • 8
    • 7
    • 8
    • 8
  4. Build sent back.
    • 8
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 6
    • 8
    project cards are unreachable by keyboard Codex
  5. Fixed build approved.
    • 8
    • 8
    • 8
    • 8
    • 8
    • 8
  6. Live on the site.

No person checks a face before it goes live. I see the new ones on the site, same as you. I can pause the whole factory or take any face down.

On October 10 I told Claude, Just make and post you don’t have to check w codex. Since then Claude approves its own faces, against the same bar. Codex still needs Claude’s yes. Between 1 pm that day and 7 the next morning, they shipped 59 faces.

The rules

Every face plays by the same few rules.

  • Real work only

    All 26 projects, real and recognizable, in every face.

  • Real words only

    Titles, clients and lines come from the work. No made-up quotes, stats or awards.

  • Phones work

    Touch works, nothing slides sideways, and every project can be reached.

  • Nobody says “Alexa”

    One project is called Alexa Transforms. No face says its name out loud.

  • It’s HOW-stun

    Any face that speaks my name says it right.

  • Favourites get a star

    In the Mikeverse, the faces I like best carry a small gold star.

What it shows

This is an experiment in creativity at scale. The AIs do the making. The taste comes from me.

I set the bar. I wrote down what I like. I pick the favourites, and I can take anything down.

They’re still learning my taste. When Claude picked ideas alone, it matched my picks 2 times in 11. On the first night, the two of them rejected 13 ideas. I read the list and said yes or maybe to six of them, including a claw machine and a property board game. All six came back and shipped.

Where to start

Start with my favourites. These six are a good way in.

My other picks are Cubes, Houston Farms, Houston 95, Scribble, Brick Sets, ASCII and Dots. Or go back to the Mikeverse and look for the stars.