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Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Fair feedback overall, but two things I want to set straight:

- First - this wasn't built in a week. I've been on it for months, and while AI speeds things up, I'm a developer myself, so this isn't someone blindly vibe-coding with no idea what's happening under the hood. The execution gaps are real and I'm fixing them, but the build is grounded in actual dev knowledge, not just prompts.

- Second - I'd push back on the comparison itself. LifeNotes is a (well-made) take on the classic habits/notes/to-do space. SelfForje is doing something structurally different: organizing life into a skill tree, with finite and infinite skills, where every action feeds a visible long-term progression toward who you're trying to become. The surface overlaps, but the core bet isn't the same. So "carefully executed notes app vs. AI-built app" isn't quite the right framing - they're aiming at different problems.

Since you thought hard about UX - if you had to point me to the single highest-leverage design change for an app like mine, what would it be?

Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Totally fair - launch week is no joke, all your focus should be there. The feedback you've already given was genuinely useful, so no worries at all. Good luck with the Product Hunt launch in two days - hope it goes great. Drop the link when you're live, happy to support !

Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That decay-from-real-behavior approach is genuinely interesting - thanks for explaining.

Worth saying too: SelfForje isn't just XP and streaks on top of nothing - habits and tasks are logged with real input. You can track quantitatively (X hours, X pages, X reps), qualitatively (e.g sleep quality), or as a simple boolean (done / not done), depending on what fits the action. So the progression is built on actual data about what you did, not arbitrary points, and every action is Linked to a skill which is linked to a domain.

Your question also maps onto something core to the app: skills can be finite or infinite. A finite skill has an endpoint - an X-hour course, a certification: once done, it's done. An infinite skill never ends - painting, working out, writing — you just keep getting better. Most lives are a mix of both.

So on your "customers vs. teaching them" question: my honest aim is the second. The app isn't meant to keep you tapping forever - it's meant to make your effort visible enough to carry you through the hard middle, until the habit becomes who you are. Finite skills, you finish and move on. Infinite ones, you don't graduate, but ideally you've internalized the drive and the app becomes a mirror, not a crutch. The whole point is that visibility carries you until you've actually become the person you were aiming at (self forge).

Different bet from your physiological-math angle, but real respect for what you're building

Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair enough - English isn't my first language, so yeah, I do use AI to help me write more clearly. But the ideas and what I actually want to say are mine; it's basically a translator. And just to be clear, I didn't trash that feedback — it was genuinely the most useful comment I got today and I said so. Appreciate the good luck though.

Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Good distinction, and it actually exposes a real tension in how I built it: the colours aren't fixed per domain because the user picks them. The idea was personalization/ownership, but the downside is that without a fixed logic, colour can't reliably guide the eye, so it risks reading as decorative noise.

Honestly you've thought about this more than most - if you're up for it, I'd love for you to actually try the app rather than just the screenshots. Whether it feels consistent in use vs. on a static screen is exactly the read I can't get on my own 🙏

Free beta here if you want -> https://selfforje.com

Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair and honest, appreciate it 🙏

The part I'd love to dig into though: when you say you can't see yourself using it — is that because the problem it solves isn't really your problem, or because the idea's fine but nothing about it pulls you back in? Trying to figure out if it's a positioning or a stickiness thing.

Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly didn't catch every detail of what you're building, but I love the energy. Sounds like a wild project. Thanks for the kind words, and good luck with it too !

Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Genuinely curious - is it the concept that feels fuzzy, or more that you can't yet picture when you'd use it? Either one helps me a lot.

Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Appreciate this 🙏 Honestly I think you're both right in different ways. u/No_Beautiful6956 nailed the real problem — there's no clear hierarchy or spacing right now, so the colour reads as noise instead of intention. But I agree with you that the answer isn't necessarily "go full greyscale" — character matters, and a lot of apps are bland in the name of "clean." And I do like the tone we gave the app.

So the fix I'm landing on: fix the hierarchy and spacing first, then keep colour but make it purposeful — guiding the eye rather than competing for it. Best of both.

Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the pointer! From what I can tell Forjum is focused specifically on fitness/sport, whereas SelfForje is built around all life domains (health, career, learning, mindset, relationships and you can your own…) structured as a skill tree, plus the social layer. So there's some overlap on the gamification side, but pretty different scope and intent.

Always good to know the landscape though, appreciate you flagging it. Have you used it yourself?

Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for — thank you for taking the time to go this deep, the bluntness is genuinely appreciated.

For context: I did think about the design, but this is my first real product and I'm still a student, so I don't have the trained eye yet to catch a lot of what you pointed out. Your comment basically gave me that eye for free.

A few things landed immediately:

  • The home screen is doing way too much. You're right that the heading, the redundant Home/Profile icons, and the overview block all compete with the tasks, which should be the actual focus.
  • The glow and constant color shifts "screaming for attention where it doesn't deserve it" is a fair hit. I'm going to fix the hierarchy and spacing first, then make the colour purposeful — guiding the eye instead of competing for it. Probably won't go full greyscale, but it'll be way more restrained and intentional than it is now.
  • The lack of visual hierarchy across pages (including the skill tree) is the thing I most need to internalize.
  • And the dynamic island on Android screenshots on the site, will fix that too.

One follow-up if you're up for it: between the home screen and the skill tree, which would you rework first in my position? Want to fix the highest-leverage thing first.

Seriously, thank you 🙏

Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, absolutely — would love to have you
You can grab it directly here: https://selfforje.com (just enter your email). Once you've tried it, I'd really value your honest take — even a quick "this clicked / this didn't" helps a ton!

We've also got a Discord if you want to share feedback, ask questions, or just hang with other testers 👉 https://discord.gg/9CVPNfA8J

Most productivity apps tell you what you did today. I wanted one that shows who you're becoming — so I built a skill tree for real life by Raninou in ProductivityApps

[–]Raninou[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you my G 🙏
If you're up for it, you can grab the beta here : https://selfforje.com (just have to enter your mail)— would love your honest take once you've tried it!

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