Development Setup of Gameup App
It’s time…
Grab your shades, even if it's pitch black wherever you are. Fire up the computer, open the code editor, and let's dive into the madness!
Starting Fresh
Front-End
Before we kicked off this journey, it was just me, a lone developer, figuring out how to bring this app to life. As a front-end web dev, I'm all cozy with React and Vue frameworks. So, for the mobile app gig, React Native with Expo seemed like the perfect fit. Not far from my familiar territory.
Even though it's React, diving into the mobile app realm is like stepping into a whole new universe. However, you can relax knowing that I thrive on learning new stuff. It's what keeps me going!
Back-End
Now, what about the back-end? Front-end's a breeze, but the back-end? Not so much my thing.
At first, I thought, "I'll whip up a Node.js server with my own authentication and all that jazz".
After a few days of banging my head against the keyboard, I had a realisation, thanks to YouTube.
Building everything from scratch is like reinventing the wheel, who the hell wants to do that? Not me, that’s for sure.
So, back to the drawing board, or rather, back to the research.
Firebase and Supabase caught my eye. Firebase seemed like a safer bet, given its rep. Plus, my buddy Deividas Gruzdzevičius hopped on board, and we both sorta nodded in agreement towards Firebase.
Agile, Scrum, Sprints?
Ah, the buzzwords! Just tossed them in there for Google's sake.
Truth is, we're not all about that jargon. With our tiny team, sprints and whatnot just felt like unnecessary baggage. So, we settled for something simple.
We used Asana for task management and divided it into three boards:
- App: Where all the development magic happens.
- Design: For crafting the app's look and feel.
- Business: A catch-all for marketing and brainstorming.
Organisation is my thing. Without structure, chaos would strive.
Team Meetings
Every two weeks, we gather around to catch up on what's cooking, what's been done, and what's next on the agenda. These meetings are our lifeline. Without them, it's easy for folks to lose motivation and drift off.
Of course, the two-week period is not set in stone; sometimes we skip for longer amounts of time. We’re quite flexible on this matter, maybe even too much flexible as I think of it now.
Staying Motivated & Finding Balance
Ech, motivation and the eternal struggle for work-life balance. Sometimes I'm super inspired and motivated to create great things. Other times, well, let’s just say Netflix gets more attention than whatever else.
I've decided to adjust things up with this blog. Not gonna spam you every week like at the start. Every two-four weeks sounds about right. Keeps things fresh without sacrificing coding and other personal life stuff time (yeah, Netflix included).
It's a familiar dance for me. Whenever I stumble upon something shiny and new, my old hobbies take a backseat. Good thing is, they always make a comeback!
Tech Stack Roundup
Keeping it light on the tech talk, here's a quick summary of our code base stack:
- React Native
- Expo
- Firebase
- Plus, a bunch of add-ons like date pickers and whatnot. We’re using as much as possible of other creators, inventing something fresh would require much more time and is not worth the effort in my opinion.
Listened to:
Thanks for reading. Peace.