PimPoPom

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Inspiration

I've finished gamification course from Penn Uni on coursera back in 2012 and had an idea of a mobile game since then. I never had a chance to build it because my tech skills were limited, I had come PHP programming experience and completed all entry courses for PHP/JS/Python/HTML/CSS on codecademy, but it was enough only for some e-commerce modules customization and basic website building.

What it does

Entertains and awards you with achievements, new themes and pets.

How we built it

Not a single line of code written, graphics drawn or music and sound written. Just a detailed specs and instructions. I used the most recent 5.6 Sol Ultra model and burned 5 weekly limits within a weeks using resets. The project started from "let's see what it can" and a web-based PoC and finished with a full-blown iOS app, including sophisticated gameplay implementation, Sign in with Apple/Google, in-app purchases and Ads and Ad removal. Codex also guided me through the AppStore Connect registration steps, TestFlight configuration and Google SSO and AdMob configuration.

Challenges we ran into

Pet sprites and animation required few runs to finalize. Design consistency required few rework runs. Sound system cracking issues especially on web. Ads configuration and trouble-shooting. Hardware resources utilization issue, we had to make agent aware of local disk space constraints and hosting limitations.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

A full blown game from the idea described to a production ready app in 10 days. Web and PHP backend work perfectly coordinated with iOS development effort. Huge effectiveness of Vercel and Hostinger MCP compared to computer use/browser automation.

What we learned

5.6 Sol Ultra is sometimes too much for the code writing tasks and overcomplicates security and design when it's not necessary. Switching To Terra or Sol Medium helps in some cases. Still feels like a bit of a guess game.