May 12, 2026
Size wars: browser edition
Docker images are MB; a full game engine compiles to 35MB WASM
Tiny game engine shocks the crowd as commenters argue the internet got way too chunky
TLDR: A developer showed that a full browser game engine can fit into 35MB, smaller than Facebook’s homepage and far smaller than many software bundles. Commenters turned it into a drama fest over software bloat, with some calling it shocking proof the web got fat and others saying the comparison isn’t fully fair.
A developer casually dropped a wild size comparison and the internet instantly turned it into a full-on tech food fight. The claim: a playable browser game built with the Godot engine comes out to just 35MB, while some common app packages and websites are far bigger. That means a whole 3D game setup you can open with zero install weighs less than Facebook’s homepage and absolutely humiliates some giant software bundles. Commenters were equal parts impressed, nostalgic, and ready to nitpick everything.
The biggest flex in the thread was basically, “Why is a whole game engine smaller than tools that just run websites and scripts?” That sent people spiraling into two camps. One side treated it like proof that modern software has become hilariously bloated, with one commenter gawking at 10MB for Google and 44MB for Facebook like they’d just discovered their favorite snack is mostly air. Another went full grandpa mode in the best way, reminding everyone that Atari 2600 hits once fit into 4KB, which is the kind of comment that makes every modern download look personally embarrassing.
But the pushback was spicy too. Some argued the comparison is a little sneaky because the browser is doing a lot of the heavy lifting already, so it’s not exactly fair to compare a browser-ready game file to a full package that includes its own runtime. Others flexed that Docker can be tiny too if you build it carefully, basically saying, “skill issue.” The vibe? Equal parts awe, disbelief, and a roast session for the modern web.
Key Points
- •The article says a Godot 4 game skeleton exported to WebAssembly produced a 35MB binary that includes a full 3D engine, Jolt physics, GDScript runtime, and Ink interpreter.
- •It compares that 35MB WASM artifact with larger payloads and images, including Facebook’s homepage at 44MB and `python:3.14-slim-trixie` at 144MB.
- •The article’s size table also lists Google’s homepage at 10MB, livekit/livekit-server at 75MB, node:latest at 421MB, ghcr.io/gohugoio/hugo at 423MB, a REST API at 300–400MB, and a Python-based AI agent at 1.45GB.
- •The post says Go could help but describes `wasip1` as preview-only and lacking sockets in the standard runtime and threads; it also says Zig is not fully there yet.
- •The article notes existing WASM-related infrastructure such as Cloudflare Workers, containerd runwasi, Kubernetes kwasm experiments, and WASI runtimes, then asks why WASM adoption has not become standard despite an estimated 10× transfer-size advantage.