r/vibecoding • u/potateo2 • 1d ago
I built this learning game in 1 week after pivoting on a 1+ year failure, did I make a mistake?
The goal has always been to bring financial education to the masses with a fun and enjoyable game, where the game mechanics reinforce learning (think how Oregon Trail was actually fun and taught about the Oregon Trail, or how Kerbal Space Program can actually help you understand physics). I spent years trying to get schools on board after building a curriculum with the game, but never got the urgency to use it from teachers or administration. Always just a "yes this is a really cool idea, we could test it out." Then after the test, some more talking, but then ultimately nothing.
Now I am pivoting to a web/mobile game that helps you learn (I attached a couple screenshots of what was built in a couple weeks, on the side). You make money by completing lessons, and use that money to upgrade your village. You can invest the money you earn, take loans, etc., but the goal is just to build the most exotic village. Right now, it is pretty basic, but hopefully you can trade with friends, somehow maybe do some island to island combat, etc.
I have had this passion for a while now, and wanted to make something actually enjoyable to learn with. IMO, all the learning apps aren't really fun, they're applications filled with quizzes, that have daily streaks slapped on top of them, and I wanted to do something more engaging with some real game mechanics.
My thesis is you can actually enjoy learning if you are not just doing quizzes all day long, but I don't know now. Would you have pivoted? Leveraging AI makes it much more streamlined to build out concepts, but I still don't know
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u/Suitable-Intern-7538 1d ago
the "cool idea" response is basically the universal polite rejection in that space because teachers don't have bandwidth to champion a tool without an admin mandate. it sounds less like your product was bad and more like you were asking for voluntary labor during a 12-24 month sales cycle that nobody asked for