Building Levely in public

The journal

One solo dev, one iOS app, one hackathon deadline. I write down what I build, what breaks, and what I got wrong the first time.

Entry 7Sep 21, 20266 min readLatest

Just publish an app. How hard can it f*****g be?

It's settled. I will proceed with the launch. At approximately 12:13:47 PM I tap the button. Every person in the world, or at least the ones who can afford an iPhone, can now have their very own XP bar. One hour later, I get sick.

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Entry 6Sep 11, 20265 min read

I built an app because a 2002 video game taught me how to skill up

I realized the reason I kept replaying the same RPGs was the thrill of growing a character. Recently I decided I'd rather that character be me.

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Entry 5Aug 30, 20265 min read

I have two testers for my app. One of them is my wife

As I’m sipping from my Mojito on the French Riviera, I’ve decided that it’s about time to inform my readers about how I’ve managed to go from a wannabe indie app dev to making enough money to retire on my own yacht and sail into the sunset on the crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean. Radu, snap out of it, your app is barely in TestFlight.

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Entry 4Aug 22, 20266 min read

How to market an app when you're its only user

I can't outspend my competition, so I picked a different battlefield. I tried to write a user persona, failed, and realised I was describing myself. Here's the guerrilla marketing plan that came out of it: Reddit, articles, RPG gamers, and no ad budget whatsoever.

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Entry 3Aug 3, 20268 min read

Designing a leveling system for real life

Join me as I dig into the reasons why a leveling system for real skills can't just copy video game XP systems. Why XP should measure commitment, not competence.

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Entry 2Jul 20, 20265 min read

Revealing my super secret plan

Before building anything I will lay out the three things that worry me the most. How to make XP mean something outside a video game, how to design without design skill, and how to get an app in front of anyone at all, plus the first concrete wins: a landing page and an X account with one follower.

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Entry 1Jul 13, 20265 min read

Can a new iOS developer ship an app in two months?

I decided to enter Shipaton, a two-month mobile app hackathon, with zero iOS experience and no audience. This is the first journal entry: why a focus timer, why RPG-style XP instead of another pomodoro clone, and why I'm doing this on no sleep.

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