John T. Bonaccorsi drops by to chat about FantasyBB, his seasonal (what) side project that affords him an unheard of 3 months of active users and 9 months of dev time to improve the product. He also chats about how he's expanding the site into TellyDraft, covering more than just Big Brother.

• (00:00) - Introduction to John Bonaccorsi
• (02:48) - The Rise of FantasyBB.com
• (05:44) - Understanding Big Brother: The Show
• (08:32) - The Concept Behind Fantasy Big Brother
• (11:12) - Building the FantasyBB Platform
• (14:04) - Technical Evolution of FantasyBB
• (16:49) - Scaling Challenges and User Feedback
• (19:33) - User Engagement and Community Feedback
• (22:18) - Favorite Features and Future Aspirations
• (22:45) - Understanding the Draft System
• (24:52) - The Complexity of Point Systems
• (26:07) - Navigating Time Zones in App Development
• (29:34) - Game Mechanics and Scoring in Big Brother
• (30:58) - Adapting to Changes in the Game Format
• (35:00) - Rebranding and Expanding the App
• (38:27) - User Experience and Account Management
• (39:08) - Monetization and Future Plans

Recorded live after PHP × NYC with Ben Holmen, John Drexler, Daniel Coulbourne, Chris Morrell, Ian Landsman, Dave Hicking, and Joe Tannenbaum.

We realized, hey, we're all podcasters, let's sit down and discuss the most important issues of the day: Trader Joe's in basements, Poker, Day 2 Soup, Chess.com, something called "The Pizza Belt", and much, much more.

https://mostlytechnical.com/
https://podcast.thunk.dev/
https://overengineered.fm/
https://cheeseandweather.com/

John Drexler drops by to chat about his online game Elephant in the Room, fat clients, and what makes a good game (spoiler, it's all just vibes).

• (00:00) - Introduction to Side Projects and Game Development
• (02:43) - The Journey of Game Creation
• (05:18) - Understanding 'Elephant in the Room'
• (07:57) - Game Design vs. Game Playing
• (10:46) - Evolution of Tech Stack
• (13:30) - Client-Side Logic and Game Responsiveness
• (16:16) - Reflections on Development Process
• (23:40) - Understanding Livewire and Client State Management
• (27:22) - Challenges in Game Implementation and Animation
• (30:57) - Bot Decision-Making and Difficulty Levels
• (36:30) - Designing Engaging Games: Key Principles
• (45:05) - Strategic vs. Tactical Gameplay in Game Design

https://sideprojectpodcast.com
https://bsky.app/profile/sideprojectpodcast.com

Aaron Francis hops on to go full galaxy brain on his interactive TUI Solo.

• (00:00) - Introduction to Side Projects and Aaron Francis
• (01:05) - Exploring the Laravel Package: Solo
• (03:58) - The Development Journey of Solo
• (07:38) - Understanding ANSI Codes and Terminal Manipulation
• (11:36) - The Challenges of Process Management
• (15:14) - Enhancements and Future Directions for Solo
• (22:26) - Customizing Development Environments
• (25:14) - Enhanced Logging and Command Hotkeys
• (28:30) - Flexibility in Command Customization
• (32:21) - Interactive Command Handling
• (37:26) - Deep Integration of Commands
• (41:24) - Project Overview and Future Directions

Ben Holmen stops by to chat about his Kilopixel project: a physical display that intentionally updates slowly and allows for collaborative pixel art creation.

• (00:00) - Introduction to Ben Holmen
• (02:48) - The Kilopixel Project
• (06:17) - Technical Challenges and Innovations
• (10:52) - Understanding G Code and CNC
• (13:23) - Web Application and Collaboration
• (17:47) - Pixel Prototyping and Material Challenges
• (21:51) - Innovative Pixel Mechanisms
• (26:14) - Exploring Location-Specific Pixels
• (28:14) - The Laborious Process of Pixel Art
• (33:41) - Bringing the Project to Life
• (39:14) - Connecting with the Online Community

https://sideprojectpodcast.com
https://bsky.app/profile/sideprojectpodcast.com

Leah Thompson drops by to talk about her math quiz app, being new to Laravel, and (yes) a pirate dating sim game.

• (00:00) - From Teacher to Developer: Leah's Journey
• (03:23) - The 100 Devs Program: A New Beginning
• (06:14) - Building the Math Quiz App: Concept and Challenges
• (09:08) - Multiplayer Mode: Competing in Math
• (12:06) - Learning Laravel: Overcoming Challenges
• (14:54) - The Future of the Math Quiz App: Expanding Features
• (20:28) - Reviving Old Projects
• (21:17) - The Pirate Dating Sim Game
• (24:23) - Challenges in Game Development
• (24:37) - Dynamic Problem Generation in Math App
• (28:06) - Grand Visions for the Math App
• (29:44) - Delights in Learning Laravel
• (32:01) - Graph Traversal Challenges
• (38:03) - Leveraging Math Knowledge in Development

Andy joins to chat about their LifeOS project, and they are ahead of most of us already: they have more than one user!

For all things Andy: https://techenby.com/

Follow Andy: https://bsky.app/profile/techenby.com

Chris Morrell hops on to chat about all things GraphQL, planning sprints with a custom Linear app, and why side projects are important.

For all things Chris: cmorrell.com

First episode dropping 2024-11-19