As a learning project, copy a successful project and mind map it, program it and find customers. You will learn so much that you can apply to whatever project you come up with. You'll get frustrated because you will need to go out and learn a lot but power thru it. You'll be better off for the hard work. Good luck!
I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains
101–110 of 267 posts
Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains
#102> I buy a domain name → I code for 3 all-nighters → I lose interest → I start again. That's ADHD for you. A former coworker of mine lamented this - "I start so many projects or hobbies, but just when I feel like I've learned a lot I lose interest". I had to point out to him that his hobby isn't - whatever, sheep shearing or book bindery or underwater basket weaving - but rather his hobby is learning things . That's a…
Similar problem for me.
Every project I've wanted to do, there's usually some technical hurdle I need to achieve, and once I've achieved it, I lose interest and have something that's not even enough to be considered a proof-of-concept, let alone an MVP.
For example, there's an arcade game called Killer Queen that I loved, and thought it was a travesty that there wasn't a PC version, since it's a 10-player game that's played on 2 cabinets, and who has that many friends going to the arcade at the same time? It needed to be online!
So I decided I was going to create a clone of it. The big hurdle I needed to figure out was how to make a realtime multiplayer platforming game that kept clients in sync while also compensating for latency. My implementation worked by having both client and server keeping copies of the last 60 frames of game state, and the client would merely send their inputs and a time stamp (Really a frame number) to the server, which would then go back to the frame state for that number and re-simulate the game with that input. It would also stream the current state (It was only ~300 bytes) to other players with their inputs, which would also do a similar re-simulation.
I even made it mostly cheat-proof. There's no hidden information (All players see the exact same screen), but I figured a modded client could simply see what other players have done, then send inputs with time stamps in the past to put themselves into an advantageous position, but I prevent that by making the server reject inputs older than 250 ms.
But...after getting all that working, and basic platforming working...I got bored. Never touched the project again.
EDIT: I've got another game I worked on and actually got to the MVP part, but it needs a heavy refactor and I just haven't bothered. Mainly because I hate writing and testing front-end code, and I feel like I've already written it once and don't want to write it again. I haven't bought a domain for it yet, thankfully. I'm going to insist on a .game domain for it, which is like $400/year.
Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains
#103> I buy a domain name → I code for 3 all-nighters → I lose interest → I start again. That's ADHD for you. A former coworker of mine lamented this - "I start so many projects or hobbies, but just when I feel like I've learned a lot I lose interest". I had to point out to him that his hobby isn't - whatever, sheep shearing or book bindery or underwater basket weaving - but rather his hobby is learning things . That's a…
Maybe this is where a lot of my stress comes from. I need that outlet, but I suppress it to avoid collecting future trash or losing money selling a bunch of like-new stuff (and having to deal with the process of selling things all the time).
Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains
#104The trick is just buying 1 domain and putting every project on a different subdomain. Apart from this I see myself represented in this post.
Except it never gets any users.
I suppose the plus side to spending months rather than days on projects that never go anywhere is I have fewer domains. Only 7 here. Sigh.
Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains
#105I suggest you don't code at all. Do a very detailed mind map of the project. It will include, the users you are targeting, what's the goal -- why are they better off with your project, how will you get customers, and there is so much before you start to code. As a learning project, copy a successful project and mind map it, program it and find customers. You will learn so much that you can apply to whatever project y…
[1] Lacking Any Major Excitement
Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains
#106Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains
#107> I buy a domain name → I code for 3 all-nighters → I lose interest → I start again. That's ADHD for you. A former coworker of mine lamented this - "I start so many projects or hobbies, but just when I feel like I've learned a lot I lose interest". I had to point out to him that his hobby isn't - whatever, sheep shearing or book bindery or underwater basket weaving - but rather his hobby is learning things . That's a…
Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains
#108I created a rule almost ten years ago that I won't buy the domain until I actually have something to host, and it's done me reasonably well. I however have a similar but more expensive problem, I develop side projects to an MVP and leave them up for literal decades with no one but myself using them, paying for the domain and hosting. I can't let things go. I rewrote a number of things in Go recently so they could sca…
if i search for a domain and it's available, i feel unreasonable pressure to buy it IMMEDIATELY. I'm paranoid that some squatter can tell which domains i'm searching for and they'll swoop in and get it as soon as they know there's one interested party
And FWIW, your (our) paranoia is justifiable. As mentioned in another comment, GoDaddy is historically-notorious for front-running domain searches. ICANN tried to make that a bit less practical, but I just assume that they (and other sketchy registrars) still do it.
If you search directly through whois (i.e. from the command line), you should be OK. That's been my strategy, and I think it works.
Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains
#109Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains
#110I am in a similar boat. My problem is that once I lose momentum on a project I have no interest in every revisiting the work I have done. Sometimes it is a full day of coding, sometimes it is a couple continuous days coding. Once I break away from the computer and start living life it feels like to much work to load all of the project back into my brain. I would finish more projects if I didn't have friends, family,…
It helped me a lot that every time a have a new idea or want to start a new side-project that I wait at least two days before I dig deeper and get really started. Only then I really know if I really want this or if it’s just the initial hype/momentum.