Games with Gran
Simple games with built in video - keep your family in touch
No ones used it in the last 90 days and it never got much traction. Covid restrictions on meeting family are (hopefully) a think of the past.
I like to think it was a nice idea and I know some people did get some use out of it, but it came too late in the pandemic and had no clear path to monitisation.
Some children (esp some with additional needs) find it very distracting to see their own face in a video chat - so one quick update later you can dim then turn it off without stopping the other person seeing you. 
As is often the case with size projects I've given ZERO thought in how to promote this and there is no point in developing the MVP further if there is no interest.
Started setting up a basic footprint on the interwebs with a Facebook page, Twitter account and now an Indie Hackers profile - so now the real work of figuring out how to build interest begins and I MUST stop myself from further coding until I've achieved something in this area.
I decided an MVP should be a web app that would also work well on mobile. Tech stack :-
- Twilio programmable video (API in front of WebRTC and IaaS for STUN/TURN)
- NodeJS, WebPack, Typescript/JavaScript, Bootstrap, jQuery, SVG
- Netlify for marketing site
I've been a developer in the MS ecosystem for decades but a lot of the tech stack and was new and I've not done lots on the front end so somehow spent absolutely ages faffing with bootstrap, grid layouts and css.... <sigh>
I've also looked into how to convert this into a mobile app and so far Ionic seems to be the sweet spot.
During the first lockdown in the UK I had used video chat apps to help keep my young kids in touch with family and friends.
It doesn't always work well though, without some structure young kids (and those with additional needs) tend to spend more time watching themselves pulling funny faces than actually talking.
We started playing simple games like Tic Tac Toe or Connect 4 - but this isn't easy, you need to add some ABC/123 grid system onto the 'board' and a tripod or mount to keep everything positioned so the other side can see the game and the player and then 'minion will knock everything about.
There has to be a better way I thought...
1 Comment
Sometimes closing up shop and moving to something new is the way to go - and now you can do so without any distractions.