December 9, 2025
Cheat codes vs CSS woes
Writing our own Cheat Engine in Rust
DIY game cheats in Rust spark hype, worry, and a weird Firefox bug
TLDR: A series shows how to build a mini game-cheating tool in Rust, framed as educational and Windows-focused. The most talked-about moment wasn’t the ethics or tech—it was a mobile Firefox layout bug, while the crowd lightly debated language choice and legality, making it oddly relatable.
A tutorial series promises a tiny, home‑built “Cheat Engine” — a tool for tweaking numbers in single‑player games — written in Rust for Windows, with lots of “for education only” vibes. The author references Linux alternatives like GameConqueror and even admits you don’t need to be a Rust wizard, just ready for a little unsafe action. That’s the setup. The reaction? Pure internet chaos. The loudest voice wasn’t about ethics or Rust at all — it was a reader on mobile Firefox reporting the page literally drifting off-screen. UI glitch beats game glitch. Cue the chorus: “Fix your CSS before fixing games,” joked more than one onlooker (in our heads). Meanwhile, the usual culture war stirred in the background: Rust stans cheering the speed, Python fans waving “it’s easier!” links, and rule‑followers tapping the EULA (End User License Agreement) sign like a bouncer. Some loved the peek into how memory scanning works, others clutched pearls over teaching “cheats,” despite the don’t use this for bad stuff disclaimer. And yes, the acronym FFI (a way of calling native system functions) triggered a few “explain it like I’m five” requests. Bottom line: people came for cheats, stayed for the browser drama, and left arguing about language choice.
Key Points
- •The post launches a series on building a minimal Cheat Engine–like tool in Rust to complete the Cheat Engine tutorial.
- •It targets Windows for development but notes Linux memory reading is possible and points to GameConqueror/scanmem as alternatives.
- •Rust is chosen for Windows API interoperability, memory safety with careful use of unsafe, and performance; Python via ctypes is also viable.
- •The series is for educational use with a reminder to respect EULAs/ToS of target applications.
- •Cheat Engine’s codebase is large, mature, mostly Pascal and C, with features like a disassembler; the author will infer some internals rather than fully analyze it.