Happy Tax Day, New York. We’re taxing the rich.

I’ve been trying to make apps in incredibly crowded markets instead of building what I love.

Games.

Time to pivot… #buildinpublic

Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.

Hey I made a Product Hunt for Focus for Change.

Upvotes help a lot over there and are much appreciated!

www.producthunt.com/products/foc...

#buildinpublic #producthunt

All sound effects have been updated and should loop seamlessly.

Give them a listen. Music is next.

focusforchange.com

#buildinpublic

Implemented analytics.

Do me a favor and go click on things.

focusforchange.com

#buildinpublic

Added a sample version of the focus timer to the landing page and I'm pretty excited about it.

focusforchange.com

#buildinpublic #indiehackers

Totally agree on blocking and that's why I want to avoid that rabbit hole for now. Music/sounds are definitely on the short list though!

Hey thanks! Focused on getting the core loop right and getting it in front of users so they can tell me what they want.

Ambient sounds/lofi music, app/website blocking, and session prompts are high on my list.

Curious which of those would matter most to you or if you had any other suggestions?

I spent 10 years building retention systems for online casinos and mobile games.

So I just launched something I'm actually proud of: a focus timer that turns your sessions into real charitable donations.

Looking for honest feedback and suggestions! focusforchange.com

#buildinpublic #productivity

I’m pretty much always the weird one, especially when it comes to design.

DarkPattern.games » Healthy Gaming « Avoid Addictive Dark Patterns Game reviews to help you find good games that don't trick you into addictive gaming patterns.

Just found www.darkpattern.games and I'm posting here to remind myself to dig in more later.

patrick star from spongebob is holding a hammer and a saw and says i just build stuff ALT: patrick star from spongebob is holding a hammer and a saw and says i just build stuff

Maybe just a gif today because this is kind of how I'm feeling?

#buildinpublic

Looking for opinions, should quests have rewards like gold and XP? Or should we stick to super minimal, you either complete the quests or don’t, that’s it?

Rewards would require more content and features 🧐

thedailyquests.com

Yellow-free family today.

#wordle

Yeah I know I’m putting myself at a disadvantage right off the bat by avoiding addiction mechanics but I’ve spent too much of my life designing them. Time to pursue better ideas, I appreciate the thoughts!

I agree, removing those addictive mechanics will certainly lead to less retention and that’s exactly the middle ground I’m trying to find with GG. Right now I’m thinking about leaving out rewards completely and this just being more of a task tracker than anything.

Another new idea, a list of 25 daily quests that everyone in the world tries to complete each day (currently just my personal list).

You can vote for the quests you want in the top 25 and also pay a small amount monthly for custom quests.

Would you use this?!

thedailyquests.com

#buildinpublic

Genuine question: where do you all go to find early beta testers for apps and games?

Product Hunt? Reddit? Discord communities? Would love to hear what's actually working. Reddit is most definitely NOT working for me so far...

#buildinpublic #indiehacker

Another book to add to the pile of books I need to read this year...

Why Gamification Fails: New Findings for 2026 And what to do instead

Another great article from Sam Liberty.

1. Design experiences people want to have
2. Align company goals with user goals
3. Make the core activity inherently satisfying

medium.com/design-bootc...

I’m looking for feedback on a focus timer prototype I’ve been working on.

focusforchange.com

Give me the good, the bad and especially the ugly so I can make it better.

#productivity #focus

Done ethically, I think there’s a huge opportunity for gamifying exercise but we can’t just guilt trip ourselves into exercising more.

Far and above the best comic strip that has ever existed.

I am so ready for a new sheet of paper to draw on.

Dark Patterns: Are Your Games Playing You? YouTube video by Chris Wilson

Just watched this video from Chris Wilson about Dark Patterns in gaming. Very well presented with lots of specific examples.

He just got a new subscriber.

youtu.be/OCkO8mNK3Gg

For me this coming year, the move is picking things that feel good along the way, not just at some imaginary finish line.

I'm also focusing on smaller daily wins, but even those can be tough most days. Either way, let's make some cool shit.

gamification: a photograph of chocolate-dipped broccoli

Gamification makes about as much sense as chocolate-dipped broccoli. That's as true for educational game design as it is for meetings.

www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/ev...

#events #gamification #design #games #education #learning

Nailed it. The real work is designing the experience itself, not sprinkling points on top of it.

Thanks for the article and all the links in it that I need to read now.

However, I am intrigued about how that broccoli would taste…