Building the MVP

Hey IH,
I’m Adrijan, a solo developer with 5 years of experience. Earlier this year, I decided to build something I’ve wanted to play for a long time — a browser-based geopolitical strategy game where players can train, work, fight, and create political structures like parties and states.

The idea came from being frustrated with how many online strategy games today are either super grindy or aggressively pay-to-win. I wanted to build something more fair, slower-paced, and player-driven.

Building Solo
I did everything myself — design, frontend (React), backend (NestJS/PostgreSQL), and deployment on a Hetzner VPS. I kept things as lean as possible, no libraries unless I really needed them, and no fancy design tools — just code and iteration.

Launching the MVP
The first version had only a few core features:

• Users could train to improve stats

• Work to earn currency

• Fight to gain rewards

• Create or join a party/state

No map, no visuals beyond simple UI — but it worked. I shared it on Reddit and launched on Product Hunt. In the first month:

• Over 400 people signed up

• I made $300 from a few users who bought optional upgrades

What I learned

• People are surprisingly forgiving if your core idea is strong

• Feedback was brutally helpful — a few users called out confusing flows I never noticed

• Support takes time — even if the app "works," someone will ask how or why

• I launched way earlier than I was comfortable with, and I’m glad I did

Next
I’m slowly building out retention systems and making onboarding easier. I'm keeping things browser-only for now — no plans for mobile app yet.