Revealing my super secret plan

I left the previous journal entry on quite a cliffhanger. As promised here is my ultra secret plan:

1. Develop the best app humanity has ever seen.

2. Promote it (though I think it might be unnecessary since it will be so good)

3. Win the Shipaton grand prize and retire.

Sounds good, doesn't it? Ah well, it's fun to fantasize sometimes. I will define the actual plan before the end of this journal entry, but first I need to go over some of my main worries and challenges.

The very first challenge is to define a solid progression system. Skills and XP leveling work very well in a video game environment but real life is a bit messier and there are more variables involved. Just to give you an example, it's alright for a game to have your character level up to 100 in a certain skill, but it fails to capture the nuance of actual mastery. You don't have a skill cap in real life. This constraint will have to be treated somehow, either by introducing tiers or something else. I'm still researching this.

The second challenge is design. I like to think that I have good taste, but I suck at actually designing. I have a vision for how the app should look like but I find it hard to transcribe it to reality. I will experiment with some AI design tools though to be frank I'm quite scared that the app will end up looking generic. I'm constrained by the time limit to ship this. I will have to figure this out on the go.

And the third and last one is promoting! As I've said in the previous article, I'm basically invisible on the Internet. My online presence is in the negative digits. Social media has eluded me. My posts go straight into the void. I've created an account on X since I guess that's the easiest platform where I can get my voice across, and I have an older Reddit account where I've been semi-active, and that's basically it. My last article has been read by almost 5 people. I'm not doing too great. I will have to learn fast and build some sort of audience. To be frank, this is the thing that worries me the most. I'm sure I can create an awesome app that people will enjoy using it, but I don't know how to get it in the hands of actual users.

These are the main things I'm worried about so if any of you have any advice I'd most appreciate it. Is anyone even out there?

Anyways, not to get all gloomy with my anxieties, here's a list of wins since I've posted the last journal entry:

1. I've got a landing page all setup! Check it out at

   https://levely.quest

2. I've got a brand new X account! You can follow me there if you want. I've got one devoted follower right now, though I think it might not be human.

   https://x.com/radu_codes

3. I've continued working my way through the 100 days of Swift UI course; (I will probably use AI driven development to create the app since 2 months is not a realistic timeline for someone who doesn't know iOS to deliver a polished app, however one of my objectives still is to learn mobile so I don't have to rely on some AI overlord to center my divs or whatever the equivalent is for mobile devs)

You might be surprised that I haven't even started developing the actual app. You are correct and that is intentional. I first wanted to nail down the foundation of the build in public aspect of the contest so that when I actually start coding I have some kind of format to share my experiences. Writing, as you might know, takes quite some time, and time is really valuable, especially in my case when you can only savor some peace and quiet late into the night. Another reason I haven't started yet is that I still have to nail down the mechanics, the user flow and the design as I've stated in the beginning of this journal entry. I know that Shipaton values speed and user acquisition, but this is an app that I want to grow beyond just the timeline of this hackathon. I want to build something that I'm proud of and that I enjoy using!

Now that I've added some context into what I'm facing, here's my actual plan:

1. Define the exact mechanics of the app;

2. Make a list of all the necessary views (screens)

3. Come up with a design

4. Develop the actual app

5. Get feedback while developing

6. Figure out how to promote and market the app.

7. Launch the app! Yay

8. Get feedback!

9. Improve the app.

10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 until I've got the best focus app in the universe.

Someone said something like 'No plan survives contact with the enemy' or something similar. I tend to agree, so this list will evolve as I make progress. The quest has officially begun and I'm really excited to finally launch my first app! There's lots of things I have to learn but staying true to my RPG idea, I will treat this as an opportunity to Level Up!

In case you haven't noticed I'm not writing these journal entries just for entertainment. I'm also using them to create some clarity within my thoughts. In the next entry I plan on doing a deep dive on leveling systems, the research behind them and how to efficiently implement them in an app that actually gets people excited to improve their skills.