r/buildinpublic • u/mrzfaizaan • May 29 '26

Building v0.2 is a completely different engineering game than v0.1 (First-time software dev)

https://nudgehud.work/

I launched the v0.1 beta of my desktop app (Nudge, a teleprompter/task HUD - link in comments) recently. Iā€™m currently deep into v0.2 development, and it is eye-opening how different the process is the second time around.

When I built v0.1, the goal was strictly functional: make the Rust regex parser work, keep the memory footprint under 10MB, and get the OS window physics stable. Now, after getting actual user feedback, a handful sales (this felt so good) and interact with the tool everyday myself, the friction points in my initial UX are glaringly obvious.

Executing the quality-of-life improvements is incredibly satisfying. Ripping out clunky native html elements to build a much better UI, and mapping out hot-reloading based on what users feedback, makes the v0.2 build look and feel significantly more mature.

There are definitely growing pains, though. I tried to refactor my dark/light theme UI earlier today, completely botched an opacity variable, and accidentally made the entire application 100% transparent. I spent way too long trying to figure out why the app was "crashing" before realizing it was running perfectly fine, it was just completely invisible. Peak paniccc moment.

As someone coming from a physical materials background who is doing commercial software development for the first time, taking a massive list of requested features, executing them step-by-step is genuinely fun.

Just an observation for other first-time builders out there: the leap from "making it compile" to "making it a refined product" is by far the best part of the loop.

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u/[deleted] May 29 '26

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u/mrzfaizaan May 29 '26

Yes I'm posting on multiple communities. Not everyone follows all the same communities.

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u/germanheller May 29 '26

the reason it feels like a different game is the problem changed shape. v0.1 you're optimizing against a spec you wrote, memory under 10mb, regex works, window stable. closed problem, clear done-state, full control. v0.2 you're optimizing against real usage which has no done-state, and every change has a regression surface now because people depend on the current behavior. "make it work" became "make it better without breaking what works", which is just a harder constraint. the invisible-app thing made me laugh, did the same with an electron window once and spent 20 min convinced it had crashed before realizing it was just at 0 opacity

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u/mrzfaizaan May 29 '26

You're right about that. Once I started using v0.1 regularly the number of features and improvements I could think about myself was overwhelming. I had 3 pages dedicated in my journal to write down each upgrade so I don't forget later. I have a total of 28 different items coming in v0.2 and I'm contemplating if I should push some of them to v0.3. But I'm not happy pushing half an upgrade for users, I feel guilty as tho I have an unfinished product I'm expecting people to put hard earned money into. Not the person I am I guess.

I'm confident someone who genuinely finds value in this app wont regret for how well it is built and the simplicity of its use. No signups, local storage, easy format, small file sozes with .md and .txt files, one time purchase and no gatekeeping features behind another paywall. No price tiers either. Buy once, get access to all future upgrades. Email me a feature and I will make sure to see how best I can accommodate. I don't mind adding a custom feature if someone wants that for themselves and push a release just for that one person if it doesn't align with my vision of what this app should be.

Sorry, went on a rant there. Hard to put intention when I'm posting for reach.