Indie Quest

A gamified productivity app that turns daily tasks into an epic adventure for indie hackers, software developers, product designers. Combining personal growth with fun, accountability, and community

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My Hackathon Story , The Birth of IndieQuest

It all started on March 17, when I spontaneously joined VibeJam 2025, a game jam organized by the one and only @levelsio. I had no clear expectations,just a bit of curiosity and the desire to break my routine. I ended up building a small browser game called FallDevs, which was chaotic, fun, and completely different from what I usually do. To my surprise, during that short window of creation, my productivity and motivation surged. I felt energized. It wasn’t just about building something,it was about playing, experimenting, and doing it with the help of AI, which made everything feel like magic. I had a purpose again, and it felt great.

But like most short bursts of inspiration, it didn’t last. A couple of weeks after the jam ended, I fell into a familiar slump. My productivity dropped drastically. I found myself waking up without a clear drive, unable to focus, drifting across half-finished projects. That’s when I came across Vibe Combinator,a project by Stefan (@StefanBuilds) and a small, passionate community of builders. They weren’t offering productivity hacks or tools,they were offering accountability. You’d join a batch, build a product in two weeks, and present it live on X.com. It was just the kind of structured chaos I needed.

Within two batches, I built two MVPs. It was intense but fulfilling. I was in motion again. During the third batch, the community collectively decided to take on the Bolt.new Hackathon. Suddenly, the challenge got real. There was a deadline. There were prizes. And once again, I had a reason to wake up every day and build.

That was the seed that grew into IndieQuest,a tool born from the exact problem I was going through: the constant battle with procrastination, the lack of long-term motivation, and the overwhelming feeling of managing multiple side projects without clarity or purpose. I didn’t want to build just another productivity tool. I wanted to make something that felt like an adventure,a journey where progress wasn’t measured only by tasks completed, but by how motivated and engaged you felt throughout.

IndieQuest is at its core a task management system. But wrapped around it is a world of gamification. You don’t just check off tasks,you complete quests. You earn XP. You see your personal journey take shape. And unlike generic systems, quests in IndieQuest are tailored to specific roles. Whether you’re a software developer, a product designer, or an indie hacker, you’re not just managing work,you’re playing the role that matches who you are. That role system is what makes IndieQuest different,and hopefully, more fun and human than a traditional to-do list.

For the build itself, I went with a stack that could support rapid prototyping and future scalability. I used Bolt.new as a base, with React Native + Expo for a cross-platform approach, though I focused on web for this first version due to time and complexity. Supabase handled my backend needs,auth, database, and policies. And for payments, I integrated Stripe so I could offer a premium version to early supporters.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. The moment I tried to make Bolt.new + React Native work in harmony for a project of this size, the real battle began. Styling was inconsistent, and the AI-generated styles kept duplicating across pages. I had to manually clean and refactor styles constantly. Bolt.new was amazing in getting me started fast, but the deeper I went, the more I felt its limits. At one point, the project literally became too big for Bolt to handle. I had to stop building and start optimizing,refactoring chunks of code just to get it to run again.

Through all of this, I learned more than I expected,especially about React Native, which I hadn’t used seriously before. I got comfortable tweaking Supabase tables and policies, and I got better at managing project scope when working with AI-assisted platforms. I didn’t finish everything, but I got far enough. IndieQuest is now 95% ready as an early-access product, and I'm looking forward to growing it with the feedback of early users.

More than anything, I’m grateful for the experience. For the chance to build. For Stefan and the Vibe Combinator community, whose energy and support made the difference. And, honestly, for Bolt.new, which surprised me with how fast I could get something real off the ground. It was kind of funny how quickly I ran into its limits,but also satisfying to know that it only happened because I pushed it so far.

This project started as a personal experiment and turned into something I truly want to share with others. I hope IndieQuest helps more people like me rediscover their focus, reclaim their motivation, and enjoy the journey,not just the outcome.

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