I’m trying to make a pocket pet game, like the evolution of all the little calculator screened toys in the 90’s and 00’s. I don’t want it to be the whale hunting, spyware riddled garbage that most phone games are. I’d rather like to release it on F-Droid instead of Google if I release it at all. I have all of it worked out on paper, from the random tables to the creature stats, to the combat mechanics, you can play it as a pen and paper if you wanted to. Problem is, I’m a pen and paper guy, and I’m having an awful time trying to learn anything about code. Where do I go to get help with this?
When you hear “I’ve got this great app idea—it just needs someone to code it,” it may sound to you like you’re halfway there. But from a programmer’s point of view, that’s actually the least interesting and riskiest way to start. Here’s why:
1. There’s no roadmap—just “code this”
- Undefined scope: If all I have is a vague idea, I don’t know what “done” even looks like. Am I building a basic prototype? A polished product? What features must it have on day one, and what can wait until later?
- Endless scope creep: Without clear boundaries, every conversation becomes “Just one more little thing,” and suddenly what was supposed to be a weekend project balloons into months (or years).
2. You’re asking me to invent half the project
- UI/UX design: How should it look and feel? What screens go where? How do users navigate? That’s a specialized discipline all its own.
- Product strategy: Who exactly is this for? Why will they use it? How will you reach those users? If you can’t answer that, I can’t write code that solves a real problem.
- Testing & polish: Code needs testing, bug-fixing, documentation, deployment, maintenance… none of which you’ve accounted for.
3. No incentives, no commitment
- Why me? Great programmers want to work on problems they find meaningful, challenging, or fun—and ideally get compensated for their time. “Just code my idea” won’t light anyone’s fire.
- Who owns it? If I invest weekends or nights building your vision, what do I get? Equity? Pay? Recognition? Without a clear agreement, it’s a recipe for frustration and resentment.
- Long-term support: Apps need updates, server maintenance, user support. If you haven’t thought through who handles that, you’re building technical debt.
4. Real success stories are team sports
- Cross-functional collaboration: The best apps come from teams that include product thinkers, designers, data analysts, marketers—and yes, developers. You can’t outsource half the work and expect a hit.
- Iterate and learn: You start with sketches or clickable wireframes, show them to real people, iterate, then bring in developers to build a minimum viable product. That way, you’re coding something people actually want.
What you can do instead
- Write a one-page spec: Describe the core problem, your ideal user, key features, and success metrics.
- Mock it up: Even hand-drawn sketches of each screen help communicate your vision.
- Validate your idea: Talk to potential users. If they’re excited, you’ve got something to build.
- Find a partner: A developer who’s excited by your clear plan—and who sees a fair path to reward for their effort.
In short: coding is only about 20% of what it takes to launch a successful app. If you can’t show a programmer that you’ve thought through the other 80%, they’ll politely pass—because turning a half-baked idea into a working product is a lot more work (and risk) than it looks.
I got another suggestion, use the game development design to start. This will get all of the foundations of the games design that you just need to implement.
Edit: GDD(Game Design Document) search what it is and what’s the purpose and it will help the most.
I have even bigger aversions to anyone coming with “I have this fully specced Game Design Document”
Why? It’s literally proving that you did the 80%?
“Waterfall process” is a curseword in software development for a reason.
To me it proves the person is thinks that a game can be created without prototyping and iteration. In addition to only doing 10% of the work, they are under the illusion that they have done 80% and completing it is just a rote exercise. They have also overdesigned untested features and mechanics which makes any iteration harder. I’d have to break their thing down and iterate over the parts with them while also explaining this to them.
It’s just double worst.
To be fair tho this is what happens when you get involved with passionate but ignorant people? Where else would people go to get help if you just shut them down? This seems like gatekeeping but maybe there needs to be more context to game development in general? This is about someone who has an idea but no knowledge about implementation.
It doesn’t sound like gatekeeping to me.
Gatekeeping is trying to prevent someone from doing something. This sounds more like a lot of people just saying that it sounds like a nightmare for reasons non-devs might have trouble understanding and they wouldn’t want to touch it.
This response is sort of the issue I keep running into. I’ve already gotten this talk, learned from it, and moved forward. I now have nearly two notebooks detailing every mechanic, mock ups of ui design, animation ideas, sprites, complex dice roll mechanics to engage with tables for content generation, and even a roadmap for the first 15 major updates to assess timeline based on the time it takes to convert to a digital format. I’m not even looking to offload the work, database entries are like 90% of this.
I’m here asking because I don’t know how to do the next part where I find the other 20% of making this happen.
Some constructive criticism? This is info you should have put in OP, it would likely have made the thread more productive.
If you believe data entry is 80% of the work here, you do not in the slightest understand the other ”20%”. I can assure you that data entry is the least of your problem. If you have the data, a script to enter it into a DB will be the least of the worries here.
That’s also why you likely can pick someone up on Fiverr to do it for you for a couple of hundred bucks. Or do it yourself. Want someone to build your app, even without the data entry? You’re looking at thousands.
And that’s basically what you will need to do. Pay someone to do the work you can’t. Look at upwork or similar sites.
I get paid $150/h to write code at work (horrible pay compared to many parts of the world). Why would I spend months on your project for less?
What do you think the response would be if you asked on a remodelling forum, how you were to complete your new kitchen? You’ve bought the tools needed, the material. Drawings are made. It’s just the last ”20%” left. Where can I find someone to do it? Well, it’s not the last 20%. The job hasn’t even started yet. And you pay someone, or learn to do it yourself.
I get paid $150/h to write code at work (horrible pay compared to many parts of the world).
What?
The top level comment by user listless is the one that said coding is 20%
OP is just trying to explain that they aren’t trying to hand this idea to someone and then do nothing.
You could be more kind and encouraging
This is No Stupid Questions
And OP is just asking for help and getting a lot of unnecessary heat here
OP is NOT in software industry, dont get offended if they say some things based on what other people have told them
We should be helping and encouraging, not tearing people down here
Peace be with you
Scratch is a simple drag and drop app kids use to learn to code. I’ve seen kids create pretty elaborate games with it. Maybe you could play with that and figure out if your concept is in fact simple enough to create on your own.
Where do I go
You go to a bank, because you need money to pay your programmer.
If you want to open source it you can already open source your documents.
You can publish them and see if others like the idea and join you.
Maybe create a lemmy community to organize people who want to join.
I would be concerned about giving away their idea and having someone steal it
But I’m cynical that way
If you make it open source then they can steal it, too.
Why not look at it in positive light? If somebody steals it, they help you popularize the game and they show you another way to implement it.
Of course, first mover advantage, there is some truth to your worries. Still, should you quit because you don’t find a way to implement the game, consider giving it a last chance by opening up the process.
I meant if you give away the idea by open sourcing it, by the time you’re ready with your project the idea exists in dozens of forms already and you now look like a knock off.
Then it’s too late for you to have much success
First mover advantage, is this what you mean by first mover advantage?
This is course assumes you care about popularity/success of your product, if you only care about it existing and not performing on it then yes opening it up out of the gate makes a entirely too much sense… Even for my cynical ass
is this what you mean by first mover advantage?
Yes.
This might seem crazy but maybe try an AI editor like Cursor, Cline or Windsurt.
Even the free versions of Gemini, ChatGPT, Grok and DeepSeek aren’t bad.
Just tell them what you want, attach any drawings you have and make it a web app first.
This may be the easiest option. I’m not against ai for personal use, I’m just worried I may if I do release it people will judge negatively on that.
I would instantly distrust and never go near your app. I am a software engineer with more than two decades of IT experience.
Exactly, and for all we know this could be your dream app as well and you’ll never experience it because my wacky brain can’t seen to retain anything that can’t be copy/paste into a text doc.
because my wacky brain can’t seen to retain anything that can’t be copy/paste into a text doc.
That is not what I said. Vibe coding and using AIs tends to have security issues and not produce the best code.
If you want a professional developer to work on it, you need to put your sales hat on and sell them on the idea (or come up with enough cash to pay outright for someone to do it). It sounds like, based on your response to another poster, you do have a lot of the mechanics, UI/UX design, etc. so you should have a good point from which to pitch.
cant you use chatgpt?
You can use it to learn or to code most of it. …if coding was all that it took
