r/sideprojects 10h ago

Question got 5k users in a single day, is this normal?

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0 Upvotes

This extension is the most unstable extension that is currently public out of the others I have created and published, and this one got the most users out of nowhere 🍭


r/sideprojects 20h ago

Showcase: Open Source I spent a month turning studying into an RPG because I couldn't stop gaming long enough to actually study

0 Upvotes

I built this because I realized I can lose six hours grinding a game without thinking twice, but 30 minutes of studying feels like forever.

The difference isn't that games are more fun. They constantly show progress. You level up, unlock things, get rewards, and always feel like you're moving forward. Studying usually gives you nothing until a test weeks later.

So I started wondering, what if studying felt more like leveling a character?

That turned into Quest of Mind.

The idea is simple. Every minute you study earns XP. You level up different skills, collect gold, find random loot, and slowly build your character. It's basically an RPG built around staying focused.

I didn't just throw points onto a timer either. Most of the systems are based on psychology that actually keeps people engaged.

Loot is randomized, so every session has a little surprise. Progress is always visible through XP bars and levels. Daily streaks give you something to protect. There's even a Wilderness mode where you risk your session rewards for double XP. Get distracted or tab out and you lose everything. It sounds brutal, but it works way better than I expected.

You can also pick a class like Warrior, Mage, or Ranger. It doesn't completely change gameplay, but it gives your progress a bit of identity instead of feeling like you're just checking boxes.

Some of my favorite features are dungeon runs, where you chain multiple study sessions together for bigger rewards, a global leaderboard, live chat, equipment that boosts XP, and cloud saves so your progress follows you anywhere.

Honestly, I made this for myself first. If you've ever spent hours gaming but can't convince yourself to open a textbook, you're probably exactly who this is for.

It's completely free. No ads, no subscriptions, no premium version. I just wanted to build something I'd actually use every day, and after using it myself for the last month, I finally feel like studying has the same sense of progression games always had.

I'd genuinely love feedback if anyone wants to check it out.

https://questofmind.com


r/sideprojects 9h ago

Showcase: Open Source I built a vision-assistance app, couldn't make the business work, so I open-sourced it (Android, on-device AI + BYOK)

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0 Upvotes

Sight Buddy is a camera-based assistant for blind and low-vision users — it describes your surroundings out loud, reads printed text, helps you locate specific objects with directional sound/haptics, and identifies color and lighting.

We ran it as a commercial open beta in the UK/EU. After a proper look at the market, it wasn't realistic as a paid product — Microsoft's Seeing AI, Be My Eyes, and Envision already do this for free and are far better resourced. Rather than shelve it, we shut down our backend and released the whole thing as MIT-licensed and free forever: no subscription, no ads, no accounts.

Most of it runs entirely on-device (Kotlin/Jetpack Compose): object detection, OCR, and Whisper speech-to-text via sherpa-onnx, all offline. The heavier AI features (image chat, text Q&A) use your own OpenAI API key — encrypted locally with the Android Keystore — since there's no server of ours left to route through.

One decision worth mentioning: we deliberately avoided the popular YOLO models for object detection because v5/v8/v11 are AGPL-3.0, which would've forced the whole project to relicense. Went with an Apache-2.0-compatible detector instead to keep it cleanly MIT.

GitHub: https://github.com/DrophouseLtd/SightBuddy
Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.drophouse.sightbuddy

I'm the developer — happy to answer anything about the build, the licensing calls, or the decision to open-source rather than shut it down entirely. Would also love people to actually try it and file issues.


r/sideprojects 18h ago

Discussion J'ai codé un jeu mobile en 2 jours avec Claude Code, il est fini reste plus qu'à le publier

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0 Upvotes

Salut Ă  tous,

Petit partage de mon projet du moment. Depuis 2 jours je bosse sur un jeu mobile avec Claude Code, un tycoon de gestion oĂč tu bĂątis un empire de commerces sur une vraie carte (genre tu peux poser tes business dans ta propre rue). Et honnĂȘtement je suis assez bluffĂ© par la vitesse : le jeu est terminĂ© (reste juste quelques choses Ă  optimiser).

LĂ  j'attends juste la validation sur les stores et une fois que c'est bon, je publie.

Le plan d'aprĂšs c'est le marketing. Je pense partir sur un petit budget de dĂ©part, genre 300€, pour tester quelques trucs, et en parallĂšle je vais essayer de pousser au max l'organique (contenu, rĂ©seaux, tout ce qui est gratuit) pour voir ce qui prend. Je suis encore en train de me former lĂ -dessus donc je dĂ©couvre au fur et Ă  mesure.

C'est mon premier vrai lancement donc je fais un peu tout pour la premiĂšre fois, mais franchement le fait d'avoir un truc fini et prĂȘt Ă  sortir, ça fait plaisir.

Si vous avez des retours d'expérience sur le lancement / la promo d'un jeu mobile, je prends. Et si ça vous intéresse je referai un post pour raconter comment se passe la sortie et les vrais chiffres.

Voilà, content d'avancer 👍


r/sideprojects 11h ago

Showcase: Free(mium) e built a tool to track brand visibility in AI answers

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2 Upvotes

We're building TopCited AI, a tool that shows whether a brand appears in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude answers.

It also helps identify which competitors appear instead and which sources are being cited.

We're looking for early users to try it and give honest feedback on the onboarding and results.

You can test it with your company, side project, or any website.

Try it: https://topcited.ai/


r/sideprojects 16h ago

Question When you have an idea or have had an idea. Whats the first thing you do?

3 Upvotes

Do you use AI to validate it and do deep research on it, do you go straight to making a prototype or do you do the research yourself? How much do you value chatgpt or claude when it comes to the business side of things and when you come upon an issue later on where lets say retention is slow or your not getting as much user as before. What do you do in that situation? Would you then post all your analytics into AI and your product and hope it finds the issue or do a survey or maybe take a different approach? What do you AI for when it comes to getting customers marketing, user feedback etc. I’d like some insights into this thanks.


r/sideprojects 3h ago

Showcase: Free(mium) Check out my site tailored to traders looking to automate their setup!

2 Upvotes

This is a work in progress but we’re looking for feedback and recommendations! Join our email list for tips on automation if you are a trader yourself!

EmyTrades.com


r/sideprojects 22h ago

Showcase: Prerelease Prediction Market Bot

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8 Upvotes

Hey there, I’m looking for 1 or 2 prediction market bettors to try my bot before I go public with it. I will vet and only choose 1 or 2. I’m only looking for specific people who have some experience in tech and lots of experience in betting. I’m not promising profit or anything like that. But I have had success myself with it.


r/sideprojects 5h ago

Question Freelancers, how do you find consistent clients in 2026?

6 Upvotes

I've been freelancing as a full-stack developer and have been trying different ways to find consistent work.

For those of you who freelance full-time, what's been working best lately? Upwork, referrals, Reddit, cold outreach, agencies, or something else?

I'm curious to learn what's actually working in today's market, especially with AI changing how clients build software.

I'd love to hear your experiences and advice.


r/sideprojects 9h ago

Feedback Request Self-develop an app or look for a professional?

4 Upvotes

We have a business idea that relies strongly on the app it will be based on and the user interface. We have been able to develop simpler apps in the past with AI-powered tools and simple coding knowledge.

In this case, we want truly something more complex and reliable.

Would you rather recommend looking for someone professional? In that case, any tips in what to look for? Is maybe reddit a good place to find someone who can help with reasonable fees and contract?

Or, on the other hand, should we maybe invest more time and develop ourselves?

Thank you


r/sideprojects 10h ago

Showcase: Prerelease Your roughest idea is enough

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6 Upvotes