DEV Community: cieux1

Do You Miss Vine? I do. So I made a little app inspired by it.

cieux1 — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 08:34:13 +0000

Do You Miss Vine?

Vine was Twitter's video app. You could record and post videos up to six seconds long, and they would automatically loop when they ended. There was a time when Twitter was full of creative videos made within that six-second constraint. People enjoyed watching them.

Maybe it was because there was no viable business model, but Vine was discontinued rather abruptly. I still remember getting a LINE message from my mother, who was pretty good at using her iPad mini: "Vine has turned black." She was talking about the app icon.

So, I made a similar camera app called Veeene.

It's been a while since we've entered the era of everyone being an AI creator [citation needed], so I guess I'm a creator now, too.

Hello, I'm Veeene

👉 Download Veeene on the App Store

It's pronounced "Veen," not "Vine."

Features

Record a few short clips, and you get one looping video up to 12 seconds long.

Here's the recording screen:

Why 12 Seconds Instead of 6?

At first, I set the limit to six seconds, just like Vine. If you're making something Vine-like, six seconds seems like the obvious choice.

But when I actually tried using it, six seconds felt a little too short by today's standards. I think we've gotten used to watching slightly longer short-form videos on TikTok and Instagram Reels.

(Or maybe the exciting part back then was simply being able to stitch clips together and upload them to social media without video-editing software. Maybe that's not exciting anymore. I briefly stared into the distance, but thinking too hard about it would have kept me from finishing the app, so I pretended not to notice and pushed ahead toward release.)

After trying a few things, I settled on 12 seconds.

Two Ways to Record

There are two recording modes:

Tap and hold: Recording continues while you hold the button, up to three seconds per clip.
Tap: Records a three-second clip automatically.

Once the total reaches 12 seconds, you can't add any more clips.

Tap and Hold: Record in Short Bursts

You can connect short clips and experiment with different rhythms.
You can optionally add the date and time. There are three font styles.
The colors look pretty limited here because this is a GIF.
I visited two convenience stores to shoot sample footage.
After eating ice cream, I was going to devour a local Okinawan Zebra Bread, too. Then I turned the package over, saw 730 kcal, and decided against it.

Tap: Record Three Seconds at a Time

Recording stops automatically after three seconds.
Since the total limit is 12 seconds, you'll end up recording four clips.
You can mix the two recording methods in the same video, of course. And vice versa.

Some Thoughts

Thinking About Constraints

When you let AI handle the coding, building a simple app like a camera app can be surprisingly quick. But once you start making it, ideas for features keep popping into your head. Before you know it, the app is getting more and more complicated.

At one point, I felt like I was just making something increasingly similar to the built-in iOS Camera app. I was losing sight of what I wanted to build.

So, with Veeene, I tried not to add features just because I could. I wanted to keep it simple and focus on recording short clips in sequence.

I debated whether to let users upload directly to social platforms when exporting. In the end, I decided not to include that feature for now. Export the video and upload it to whichever social network you prefer.

I Barely Wrote Any Code

Writing this might make some developers sigh and mutter, "Oh, come on." I can almost hear it.

But for this project, I mostly took the role of a designer, thinking through the specifications and UI while Claude Code did the implementation. Not writing the code doesn't mean there's nothing to think about. The work just shifts to other areas.

Some of the decisions I made were:

Make the video 12 seconds long.
Use four clips of up to three seconds each.
Design the recording UI.
Decide on the monetization model.

Pricing

Free: Veeene

Create up to three videos at a time. Export and delete a video, and you can make another.
Videos include a watermark.

Paid: Veeene+

No limit on the number of videos you can create.
Combine multiple videos when exporting.

Prices

$1.99 / month ($14.99 / year)

This is my first app, and I had no idea what to charge. I went with the lowest pricing Claude suggested.

My App Store Review Was Rejected Once

My first submission received a Guideline 2.1 request for additional information.

Apple asked for things like:

A screen recording showing how the app works.
Explanations of various items in the app.
A response of up to 4,000 characters.

The purchase screen was particularly important. The recording needed to clearly show the price, subscription duration, and links to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

I ran into a small problem with TestFlight. The sandbox account's subscription state persisted, so I couldn't display the purchase screen as it would appear to someone who hadn't subscribed.

I cleared the test account's subscription state and recorded the app in its initial state. Then I submitted the information.

The app passed review about five days later.

App Store Registration Is a Pain

I feel like I've read something similar somewhere before, but the time I spent implementing the app was about the same as the time I spent creating the promotional slide images for the App Store.

Both took roughly a week, working on them on and off.

What's Next?

A couple of features I'm considering adding are:

Reordering clips.
Deleting individual clips.

Nothing is decided yet.

👉 Download Veeene on the App Store

Uno Bomb is yet another Uno-like game with fun complications

cieux1 — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 12:12:07 +0000

For my portfolio, I've built an online card game app inspired by a game I enjoyed with friends in high school. I streamlined the rules, removing unnecessary complexities, and finally brought it to life as an app. This new version, titled Uno Bomb, captures the core gameplay while offering a more streamlined experience.

Tech Stack

Astro.js, Svelte

URL

https://uno-bomb.com

Here's how to play:

Basics

The gameplay is essentially similar to Uno.
Some cards have special roles, just like in Uno.
When you have multiple cards with the same number, you can play them all at once (if you want).

How to win

To win the game, a player needs to bomb.

Bombing

You can bomb at any point during the game.
To bomb, you must play all of your cards at once. No partial plays allowed.
Players can bomb (play all) their cards based on the sum, division, multiplication, or subtraction of all the cards in their hand.
Division, subtraction, and multiplication can only be done only when you have two cards in your hand, not more or not less.
Addition can be done with two cards or more, as long as the total of all cards does not exceed 13.
By the way, playing the last card isn't allowed. Simply draw another one.
You can bomb only to the cards thrown by other players.

Bombing Examples

Hand	Cards that can be bombed
2♥, 3♠, 4♦	9♦ (2 + 3 + 4)
3♥, 4♥	1♥ (4 - 3) 7♣ (3 + 4) 12♥ (3 x 4)
6♦, 12♠	2♥ (12 / 6) 6♣ (12 - 6)
4♣, 4♦	1♣ (4 / 4) 8♥ (4 + 4)
1♦, 10♣	9♥ (10 - 1) 10♣ (10 x 1) 11♠ (10 + 1)

The suit is not relevant.
You can see bomb-able numbers by turning on the Guide in the settings menu.

Counter-Bombing

You can also bomb the last card that others have bombed onto the deck. (It's quite satisfying.)

Card with roles

Card	Role
A (all suits)	Skip the next player.
2 (all suits)	Take 2: The next player draws 2 cards (unless they play a 2). The number of cards drawn doubles for each consecutive 2 played (e.g., 4, 8, 16).
9 (all suits)	Reverse the turn order.
J (all suits)	Specify the next suit. Can be played on any card except when you need to take 2.
K (all suits)	Open your current hand (unless you play a K).

Tips

The best tip: Play the game with friends or family once you've learned the rules here. You'll truly appreciate the advantages (and, of course, the disadvantages) of open cards when you're playing the game with real people.
Setting up bomb traps or avoiding them is the most enjoyable part of the game, and keep in mind that the computer logic I implemented for this app might not be clever enough to fall into traps.
And get ready for the thrill of counter-bombing chain reactions!

Traps

Once you become more experienced, you'll discover that creating traps like these isn't as challenging as it may seem.

Basic Trap

3♠, 4♠, 7♦
Then throw 7.

Nasty Trap

2♥, 6♦, 12♠
Then throw 2.

3♥, 10♦, 13♣
Then throw K.

The suit is not relevant.
You can opt out of playing a 2 or a K if you suspect a trap, but choosing not to play a 2 or K means taking 2 or revealing your hand.

Scoring

Here's how we used to keep track of points back in high school. It's just one way to do it.

Winner Takes All: The last player to successfully bomb wins and receives all points from other players.
Card Count: At the end of the game, players lose points equal to the number of cards remaining in their hand. (Three cards? You lose 3 points!)
Penalty Zones:
- Bombed: If someone bombs you, you lose an additional 5 points on top of your card count.
- Counter-Bombed: If someone counter-bombs you lose 10 points. (No double dipping from both penalties if both occur.)
Grand Prize: The winner scoops up the total points lost by all other players.

We even used to track points as 10 yen each (Approx. 10 cents) and keep a scorebook for years but no one really claimed the money seriously since we all knew none of us had the money then.

Hope someone could find as much fun as I got back then.
https://uno-bomb.com

Update

2024-01-03

Points and medal system.
Stats modal.

2024-01-08

Play count.