Shipped a new update to my side project, Retro Watch — themes, BGM, and a small UX tweak

Hey everyone 👋

I’ve been slowly iterating on my small side project, Retro Watch — a retro pixel-art web clock.

Just pushed a new update and wanted to share what changed:

🎮 3 New Themes

• Plastic Battlefield

• Desert Operation

• Stationery Skirmish

Trying to move beyond “backgrounds” and make each one feel like a tiny scene.

🎧 3 New 8-bit BGM Tracks

Each theme now has matching audio.
The idea is to make it feel a bit like a passive game running in the background while you work.

🎚️ BGM Selector (finally)

This was a missing piece.

• Browse tracks

• Select / play / pause

• See titles + thumbnails

Feels much closer to an actual retro UI now.

📱 Motion Background (mobile)

On portrait mode, the background now slowly shifts left/right.

Before: wide scenes were just cropped
Now: you can naturally see more of the environment

(Also optional — can be turned off)

💭 What I’m learning

I started this as a super simple idea:

“What if checking the time wasn’t boring?”

But it’s gradually becoming more about micro-experiences than just a clock.

Also realizing:

• Small UX details (like motion or sound control) matter more than big features

• “Feels alive” is harder than “looks good”

Still building this solo in small iterations.

Curious what you think — especially around:

• Does BGM make sense for something like this?

• Would you keep it open while working?

Thanks 🙏