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I turned my entrepreneur journey into a game
- CGamesPlay 7y agoIf I may: "I designed my blog as a video game interface." It's not really a game for anyone except maybe for you.
- durovo 7y agoI actually found it quite enjoyable.
- todaysAI 7y agoI found it quite charming in a nostalgic sense.
- thih9 7y agoI initially thought the same, then again I realised that it is a game in a way: - There are objectives. - You can make choices, e.g.: subscribe to the newsletter or not. - The game's outcome will depend on your choices, e.g.: main quest of getting 100 newsletter subscribers will be a bit closer to done. True, it's not a video game, the action takes place in the real world. But it might still be a game.
- rhn_mk1 7y agoSo... I'm the NPC in this game?
- fromdevtomaker 7y agoNever thought about it that way, but in a sense, everybody except me is an NPC... until I make it a project where everybody can join in
- hndamien 7y agoFrom your perspective they will still be NPCs.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- matonias 7y agoSalty
- dvasdekis 7y agoI love it! It's really cool. I wish I had one. But you shouldn't care what I think. You should care about what your target customer is prepared to pay you for, at least until you can lead a happy retirement with your runway. Much love, and best of luck!
- stereolambda 7y agoThis is actually cool, I like experiments with (semi-)gamifying work for myself. One thing you always struggle with is good measurements. I had been experimenting with giving myself points for improvements and work on various areas, and there were certainly problems with inflation and "underinvested" areas feeling a little less satisfying. Still, as long as I persevered, this was a nice motivation along with a way to actually track what I did with my time. I wonder if the skill stats here points to the next level, or are they meant to represent his skills on an absolute scale. Not doubting this person in particular, but I think there is almost always a big room for improvement in any skill in life even if you're already masterful.
- rememberlenny 7y agoIf you like this idea, look up http://pioneer.app/ http://pioneer.app/
- peteforde 7y agoI think that this site itself could be the basis of a SaaS product. It's awesome. However, I also know from painful experience that time spent on this is likely a distraction from actually building the thing. The happy exception would be if this was indeed the core idea of the thing that you're building. If so: well played. If not: get back to work. ps. Most books are also distractions, but I've heard excellent things about Traction.
- fromdevtomaker 7y agoI thought about making it a SaaS product but I made the mistake to build without having any demands. Seeing how much people are enjoying it, maybe I can turn this into something. I'll sleep on it. Thanks for the recommendation, adding Traction to the list!
- jraby3 7y agoI think if some of the game quests are to improve marketing and design skills then op hit it out of the park. In his case it’s not a waste of time, it’s a genius marketing and design quest.
- peteforde 7y agoFocus, focus, focus.
- jascii 7y agoOne of the major but rarely talked about causes of failure for startups is simply the entrepreneur getting demotivated. Gamefication could be an excellent way to deal with that. Beating yourself over the head and giving yourself a guild complex "Focus! Distraction! I should be..." Tend to build resentment and do more harm then good.
- xwdv 7y agoExcept this isn’t how companies are built. If you have to rely on “motivation” to accomplish something, you’re finished. You’ll never do it, your motivation will run out. And then what’s going to carry you? This goes not just for companies, but for anything else in life, such as school or exercise. The real way you build a company is by honing a hard discipline: getting up everyday and doing things you have to do whether you like it or not (and usually not). Whether you’re motivated or unmotivated, inspired or uninspired, sick or healthy, confident or afraid. You just get out there and fucking do it, and if you can’t, then be a failure. A company can stay challenging longer than you can stay motivated.
- jimmySixDOF 7y agoYou should get on to this Open Startup list at some point you will definitely qualify [1] Show HN: Open Startup List - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22668802 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22668802
- fromdevtomaker 7y agoI guess I'm not a startup yet but will definitely consider this afterwards!
- exdsq 7y agoI love this UI! And, as a huge JRPG fan, also the idea behind it. Best of luck that you don't run out of health before finishing a few high-level quests!
- fromdevtomaker 7y agoThanks, that comment really touches me the most coming from a fellow gamer!
- mthwsjc_ 7y agostart small stay small is great.
- fromdevtomaker 7y agoAwesome book! I learned a ton from reading just 200 pages!
- isakkeyten 7y agoIt's using this NES.css from what i can tell https://nostalgic-css.github.io/NES.css/ https://nostalgic-css.github.io/NES.css/
- johnmarcus 7y agoI would also recommend 'the mom test' audiobook. It's a wonderful book for new entrepreneurs.
- fromdevtomaker 7y agoAdded The Mom Test in my list of books to read / listen!
- Hitton 7y agoOn one hand it looks really cool, on the other hand it gives me flash-era flashbacks. But he is not trying to pass this as an useful homepage to unsuspecting small business owners who should know better, so I guess this is fine.
- al_ 7y agoVery fun. Huge potential if turned into a product.
- totololo 7y agoCan you elaborate? I don’t see it..
- bravura 7y agoWould you build your startup, while following prompts from a dungeon master, and perhaps interact with other players, as part of an actual D&D game? If so, please drop me a message on this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScsQVowUDsIOYM4OaqRije2EvhyOsiy0zTvsqqV0B7E3MvEWQ/viewform https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScsQVowUDsIOYM4OaqR... I have been brainstorming this for a while and the design of this inspired me to post.
- vervez 7y agoThis could work out pretty well. I remember reading somewhere (can't find the article) that Brian Eno works with artists this way as a producer, creating artificial constraints to expand their creativity. Would be interesting to see how this affects the startup process where optionality can be overwhelming.
- johnnyfived 7y agoI think this is a super interesting idea. It feels like the natural progression of this would be a set of UI tools to rest on top of JIRA / Trello, or a new task management platform of its own. Basically, a way to create the "gameplay" automatically in the UI
- em-bee 7y agoD&D is role playing, and role playing is interactive learning. multi user dungeons were used as the basis for the first interactive online learning systems. so most certainly this idea is a great fit, whether it's online or offline.
- fromdevtomaker 7y agoThanks for adding this on HackerNews!
- _curious_ 7y agoWhat a neat application of game design elements and at work here... if nothing else for your own experiences and learnings as you seem to be on that journey :) Thanks for sharing it. May I ask how much time and effort you've invested to get it to this point? Further, there is some potential to turn it into a broader tool that others seeking to become more entrepreneurial could benefit from in their daily lives...maybe a freemium MVO model here (charging scrappy entrepreneurs is haphazard at best for both sides). Beyond that, however, I can see more of an enterprise product potential...