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Lessons from releasing a personal project as a commercial product

Hugh Jeremy on July 14, 2018

Aliens. It all begins with aliens. Rewind to San Francisco, and a game developer named Unknown Worlds.  Unknown Worlds is awesome. We're chilled ou...
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Jérémy Lal

While i can relate to the fact it's vital to keep your health in good shape, i'm totally not convinced by the "don't get drunk" advice. One has to do some simulated annealing from time to time, to make sure your brain is not just a giant ball of shit ideas intertwined so tightly only you understand them. And the only legal drug to do that is... tada... alcohol ! So you'd better find a good local brewer ;)

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Hugh Jeremy

OMG Jeremy I'm in tears 😂 Simulated annealing... I love it!

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Michiel Hendriks

There is nothing more dangerous on a big software project than a mediocre programmer. [..] Eventually I learned enough to realise I needed to ban myself from our game's codebases.

A sign of a software developer becoming better:

"One of the best programming skills you can have is knowing when to walk away for awhile." - Oscar Godson

Don't be afraid to build your own systems.

A thing you often hear "Don't reinvent the wheel". The problem with a lot of frameworks is that you cannot just use the wheel, you need to include the driveshaft, suspension, and blinkers. The problem though, is that you actually wanted to make a wheelbarrow.

I think it works better to first create your own (partial) system and then look what frameworks, tools, and libraries can support your desired system.

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Hugh Jeremy

Unf, I love the driveshaft / suspension / blinkers analogy! Going to pass than on for sure Michiel 👍

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Ben Halpern

I can relate to soooooooo much of this. Lovely read. I wrote a post with some lessons of my own if anyone care's to read:

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Hugh Jeremy

AHH! Ben! I remember reading your Five Keys article when you posted it. I loved it. It was hugely influential on me in shaping Amatino. Also you're my hero and I am fanboi squeeing very hard right now. Please accept this awkward fan hug: 🤗

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Johan AKZ

This is a great read! Hearing your thoughts about lesson 5 was encouraging. Someone else reaching the same conclusion. I am not insane. Thx!

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Hugh Jeremy

But what if... What if we're BOTH insane?! 😱

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Emma Odia

Really inspiring article!

Quick question: How long did it take in all to complete this project?

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Hugh Jeremy

Thanks for the kind words Emma! Hmm... tricky question. Since I started writing the first code, it has been about four years. Some periods I pushed harder than others. And now, Amatino is in a '0.0.1 / Alpha' state, I would say there is at least 6 months - year left to get it 'Beta / stable'.

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Emma Odia

Wow! Hearing this reply makes it all the more inspiring! That is commitment in focus! Wow! I'm amazed at your focus and persistence. Thanks for the reply. Wish you all the best man.

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Daniel Golant

Props for being honest on this. I've noticed entire companies... bending the truth about their age or the age of a project haha. Congrats on getting there :)

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Cédric Foellmi

Thanks a lot. Lessons 3, 4 and 5 are keys, indeed.

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Thoby V ijishakin

Reading this post and then reading the comments and then figuring that Ben wrote his side project story is just amazing. Thank you for sharing, Jeremy. I learnt alot.

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Hugh Jeremy

My pleasure Thoby, glad it was useful for you 😊

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peaceman

Good article, Keep it up 😄

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Hugh Jeremy

Thank you peaceman ☺️

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Hmaal

This article was awesome! Thank you, really needed this!

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Hugh Jeremy

Thank you Hmaal ☺️

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Kyle Galbraith

Great article Hugh! As someone that is in the same boat I really believe you did a great job of sharing your perspective. I think your lessons are spot on as well.

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Fyodor

Great story, so inspirational, thanks! 👍

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Hugh Jeremy

Thank you Fyodor 😊

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Kasey Speakman

Fantastic article. Thanks for sharing.

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Hugh Jeremy

Thanks Kasey 😊

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Nick Cinger

Great lessons, thanks for the write-up! And cheers to Dušan :D

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James Robb

Is the project open sourced to contribute towards the roadmap? Cool work thusly.

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Hugh Jeremy

Thanks James! All client libraries are open source (github.com/amatino-code) - Right now I'm slogging through them trying to build as quickly as I can on my own. I'd love to foster contribution, hit me up at hugh@amatino.io / @hugh_jeremy on Twitter / right here in the comments. I'd love to hear more of your ideas and thoughts.

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Abdur-Rahmaan Janhangeer

One of my best reads ✔