MileSmile

The Problem: "Are we there yet?" Last year, my wife suggested we drive to Greece for our summer vacation. I loved the idea of the destination, but I dreaded the journey: a 2-day drive (one way) with my two daughters (8 and 15).

My memories of our last short trip were fresh: "Don't touch me," "Can we skip this song?", and the endless "Are we there yet?" I knew I needed a distraction to keep the peace, but everything I found online failed. Conversational card games required a passenger to read (leaving the driver out), and most apps required looking at a screen—which makes my beloved girls car sick and isn't good while driving.

The Solution: Scratching my own itch My developer instincts kicked in. I realised I didn't just need a game; I needed a safe co-pilot. I built MileSmile, a game engine designed specifically for the "Family Car Constraint."

I focused on solving the friction points of existing games:

• Truly Hands-Free: It uses text-to-speech to read questions and answers aloud. I can control the flow without taking my eyes off the road.

• The "Age Gap" Issue: Content is personalised to the team you define, so my teenager and my 8-year-old can both participate along with us.

• Zero Prep: No cards to shuffle or rules to explain. Just launch and drive.

• Infinite Topics: You can create or use AI to generate topics for the selected game and your team/family

💻 The Dev Details: Scaling with AI (Tech Stack)

As a full-stack Java/React developer with a full-time job, I didn't have the bandwidth to code the entire MVP myself. I approached this like a Product Manager/Team Lead - overseeing a smart junior dev(s):

• Tech Stack: I used React Native with Expo, which made multi-platform deployment seamless and code review experience possible.

• The MVP Code: The interesting part: Claude Caude was the one who actually wrote the code.

• My Role: I handled the high-level architecture, reviewed Claude's plans, suggested refactorings, and oversaw the entire process.

This let me progress with the app without sacrificing productivity at my day job.

How it works: We ended up cancelling the Greece trip, but we still use the app on every weekend drive.

• The "Retrospective" game has been a game-changer for us on our way back from any travel—it generates questions about our trip/day that actually get the kids talking to us (instead of staring at their iPads).

• Our "Go-to" game in most of the other cases (even driving to the school if we are unlucky and stuck in a traffic jam) is "Quiz". We try to guess the answer and have fun of ChatGPT TTS pronunciation.

• When it's only my wife and me, we often go for either "Retrospective" or "What Would I Say". Even after 17 years together, it helps to get to know each other even better

Check it out! I'd love your feedback.

Link: https://milesmile.app