Nicheloom

The opportunity tracker for new startups.

Sources

creative tech experiments and simulations

Recent window: last 5.3 months (2026-04-28 → 2026-10-05), compared with the prior 5.3 months.

education · 298 members · Data as of 2026-10-08

These products include physics visualizers, open-source systems, and niche hobbyist software or hardware hacks. They are built for developers, students, and tech enthusiasts seeking educational tools, scientific curiosities, or playful technical experiments. Unlike commercial SaaS platforms, this cluster is defined by independent passion projects driven by exploratory engineering and creative novelty.

Metrics

Stage
crowded
Recent count
176
Prior count
104
Total count
298
Momentum
69.23
Attention
0.61
Crowding
0.83
Concentration
0.81
Opportunity
0.35

Opportunity components

Attention
0.61
Low crowding
0.17
Momentum (normalized)
0.42
Low concentration
0.19

Source split

github
14 (0.08)
hn
97 (0.55)
ph
62 (0.35)
yc
3 (0.02)

Dominant source: hn · Divergence: 0.53

Similar niches

Monthly trajectory

Members

Name Source Upvotes ▼ Launched
I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s HN 2935 2026-07-19
Strange Attractors HN 804 2025-10-31
What if the speed of light was 5 km/h? HN 626 2026-09-10
Physically accurate black hole you can put in your room HN 477 2026-07-23
AsteroidOS 2.0 HN 470 2026-02-17
I made a flight simulator, except you're just a passenger HN 441 2026-09-14
Gaming Couch HN 437 2025-12-21
Algorithmically finding the longest line of sight on Earth HN 412 2026-02-09
Real-time Solar System with 526k asteroids and all tracked satellites HN 405 2026-09-29
The HN Arcade HN 352 2026-01-28
HN Wrapped 2025 HN 313 2025-12-20
I created a Mars colony RPG based on Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars books HN 307 2026-02-08
An interactive map of Tolkien's Middle-earth HN 291 2026-04-07
Expeditione PH 263 2026-08-16
Browser-based interactive 3D Three-Body problem simulator HN 249 2025-11-18
Yamanote.fun HN 238 2026-07-07
AxionOrbital Space : SOTA Foundation Models for 24/7 Earth Observation YC 230 2026-01-06
Homegames. An open-source game platform I've been making for 8 years HN 229 2026-07-05
Gravity HN 217 2026-06-09
I made some transistor animations HN 212 2026-07-24
A physically-based GPU ray tracer written in Julia HN 198 2026-02-19
Decomp Academy HN 197 2026-06-28
Infinite canvas notes in the non-Euclidean Poincaré disk HN 188 2026-06-02
AstroQuest GITHUB 188 2026-10-03
Micropolis/SimCity Clone in Emacs Lisp HN 176 2026-02-05
Rocket Launch and Orbit Simulator HN 166 2026-01-09
Automatically detect and patch walking-dead states in Sierra games HN 161 2026-08-19
Microlandia, a brutally honest city builder HN 144 2025-12-03
I turned algae into a bio-altimeter and put it on a weather balloon HN 142 2025-11-22
Galaxium, an experimental WebGPU space explorer HN 137 2026-08-24
Termcraft HN 136 2026-03-21
Pelican-bicycle alternatives HN 131 2026-09-14
I designed my own 3D printer motherboard HN 127 2025-12-06
I built a refinery simulator game to explain job to my kids HN 127 2026-03-11
GhostBox HN 126 2026-05-01
I made a tactical map-based WWII submarine simulator (public beta) HN 125 2026-05-18
GRU Space: First Hotel on the Moon - Applications Open 🌕 YC 122 2026-01-12
Kinesis HN 121 2026-09-14
A working 3D model of an Enigma machine HN 115 2026-09-29
Moon simulator game, ray-casting HN 114 2026-04-06
I'm launching a LPFM radio station HN 113 2026-02-17
Engineering Schizophrenia: Trusting yourself through Byzantine faults HN 111 2026-01-11
A self-running space economy SIM in Rust and Bevy HN 110 2026-07-21
I built a new version of my fun spatial 3D online meeting app HN 98 2026-09-17
Godot and Rust based multiplexer (terminal panes and more) HN 97 2026-09-11
Artificial Ivy in the Browser HN 96 2026-01-20
Our space game has a built-in RISC-V emulator that runs Linux HN 94 2026-10-02
AstroHelm HN 88 2026-10-04
Reversing YouTube’s “Most Replayed” Graph HN 87 2026-01-16
Interactive physics simulations I built while teaching my daughter HN 87 2026-01-19