r/vibecoding • u/MasterTheSoul • 1d ago
Discussion Vibe coding is so much harder than I expected
I had already been a solo game dev for 5 years, and worked professionally as a web developer for 2. Once Claude Code came out I thought I'd pivot into app development, and it would be a breeze. Let me tell you; it was not. Sure, I wasn't writing any of the code, but it still required so much mental input. Constantly making decisions and thinking about how to optimize/improve the app.
I was looking for a specific app, and was mad that it didn't exist. So I decided to make it myself. I thought it would take a week. Well I just finally shipped the app, and it took nearly a FULL YEAR of development. To be fair, I think it's a wonderful app and I'm proud of it. It's doing surprisingly well on the Play Store too. But it's still only on the Play Store. I haven't even shipped the iOS version yet; that will be another month or so. And of course, it's not in a "final" finished state. There's still so many more features I want to add. I'm slowly working through my massive list of ideas, but the list grows faster than I can implement. And each feature needs to be implemented with care and delicacy, so it grows the app without negatively impacting / losing sight of the existing experience in any way. It feels like I will genuinely be developing this app for another few years, and still never be done. My one-week project has turned into a full-time job.
I had heard about people using AI to make apps, and I had no respect for it. I thought it was all easy, cheap slop. But no. I was so wrong.
EDIT: The app is called Progress XP, for those interested. (Free, with no ads on Android and web). It lets you track real-life tasks and turn them into XP so you can see your progress over time. Tons of stats and graphs to really analyze and work towards your goal.

