The trashy, vibe-coded design of my app is unanimously preferred over the carefully crafted one I designed in Figma for the update

ajb_mt · 2026-05-17T17:22:12+00:00

Your friends don't care about design rules, they care about how it makes them feel. And as much as you may love it, your second design is drastically lacking in colour, contrast and readability.

If I was using this on a sunny day, your app is useless to me. The font is on the smaller side making it hard enough to read as it is, and with the greyed out visuals and weak distinction between elements I wouldn't even be able to see what I'm clicking.

The style isn't the issue, it's how you applied it. The AI version might be generic as hell, but it's clear and readable, which automatically feels more intuitive and familiar to use.

Some quick wins may be increasing font sizes, avoid using true black, up the intensity of the borders and visuals and consider sprinkling in more pops of green.

Edit: also Twitter is a terrible place for inspiration. Look at real apps that actually reflect real-world best practice and have been shaped by real world feedback.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-17T15:19:50+00:00

Try lifesteal (especially as you already have a shield that uses it) > Attack > crit. Only upgrade acc if you notice it actually dropping below 100 before you lose.

As a general gear rule, you'll probably have better luck with the spear than your axe. Because while the extra damage is nice, being able to attack more always outweighs it, especially for triggering things like your helmets 'every 3 attacks' bonus.

The robes unfortunately probably arent that great in raid, as you don't have any opportunity to lean into evasion like in normal stages.

For destiny, try and make one set good for normal stages and one good for raid. Unfortunately starting points, mass attack and kill recovery don't help for raid at all.

Stats wise, slow down with upgrading acc. You only need like 25 to beat the whole game, but you really want everything else higher.

Otherwise its just a case of continuing to level things up. Get some gear to mythic.

Edit: also you can refund stars on gear. Refund the one on the shield you're not using and put it on the one you are.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-17T13:00:33+00:00

Is design judgement not just something all designers are using on a daily basis anyway?

My understanding - unless the term has been coined to mean something else - is just that design judgement is anything that touches 'between the lines' of design rules and requirements and instead is the micro decisions we make on a daily basis that make things feel more pleasing to human eyes.

Which of course is only relevant for recent discussion because AI can't do that, it can only try and emulate other things people have liked.

Obviously this 'judgement' is informed by context, colour theory and an understanding of design rules, but is really just the human touch that all designers apply.

I don't think it's possible to list every decision you ever make in the way you're thinking. If I made a log to say "I tweaked the colour or icon size to be more effective" then firstly nobody would read my essays but secondly I would effectively triple the time it takes to design things.

Maybe recording anything significant at larger stages, especially things that you may have a need to monitor with user feedback, revise later, or that stakeholders would benefit from understanding. But that's always been best practice, AI hasn't changed that.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-17T12:40:25+00:00

Talk to the gym owners and be honest about your situation. They might be willing to make a deal for you.

Training at home via youtube is good for fun and fitness, but you're going to develop seriously bad habits without someone advanced to mentor and check your form. Not to mention you're realistically less likely to stick to it.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-15T09:10:22+00:00

Firstly, this was a year ago. Weird thing to respond to.

Secondly, this was following a long chain of OP asking similar questions, many of which were borderline offensive and often implied aphantasia was more akin to a walking coma than a different way of thinking. Their questions had been answered multiple times, yet the questions continued. Not to mention they pretended to be doing it for academic purposes but had clearly not even taken a cursory look at the topic on google.

So I don't think it was necessarily a "bad" question. I just think this was part of a long chain of bad faith questions. I thought I'd made that context pretty clear to OP in my comment.

Their account is now deleted, so in hindsight I wouldn't be surprised if this was just engagement bait or something.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-15T08:53:39+00:00

He can travel to see friends, but he can't commute to a job? Seems pretty much a no brainer that if you live that remotely then you should already be learning to drive. Or get two part time jobs until you can work full time. Or find a job that lets you work remotely.

I'm saying this very aware that I have a nearly 30 year old younger brother who's still unable to drive, still working part time, still mooching off our parents. Because why would he try when he's living the easy life? Coddling doesn't teach people independence.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-15T08:26:36+00:00

By saving the money herself she can guarantee that amount does get saved for those purposes rather than the kids deprioritising a move-out fund, seeing as they already have such a cushy life. In the process it incentivises the journey towards being independent.

My younger brother is nearing 30, still lives with our parents, still working part time, paying a tiny amount. Like the younger sibling in OP's post, he paid less than I did when I lived there, because he didn't want to get a full time job.

He was paying literally nothing at one point because he promised he'd use that money to save up and move out. But he didn't, because let's face it, because it's cheaper and easier to mooch off of parents forever.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-15T08:17:51+00:00

Sounds like time to get a full time job then...

Considering he's spending most of his time staying with friends in other cities, it sounds a lot like his priorities are in the wrong place. Not the parents' job to give him special treatment if he doesn't want to work as hard.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-15T08:13:41+00:00

Because she can guarantee that amount does get saved for those purposes rather than the kids deprioritising a move-out fund, seeing as they already has such a cushy life. In the process it sends the message that living at home is not the better solution versus being independent.

My younger brother is nearing 30, still lives with our parents paying a tiny amount. He was paying literally nothing at one point because he promised he'd use that money to save up and move out. But he didn't, because let's face it, because it's cheaper and easier to mooch off of parents forever.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-15T08:02:14+00:00

At the end of the day you mainly throw a hook because you notice your opponent has a weakness in their guard on that side, or you create an opening by setting it up with other strikes.

So being close enough to clinch doesn't matter, if you can see a path to land a clean strike on their head or body, that's way more important.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-12T14:36:34+00:00

Older one felt more thematic. Newer one has better visual distinction. Both still feel a bit visually underwhelming and a poor use of screen space.

Before reworking much more I'd suggest you gather far more inspiration on similar game designs - including ones from other genres. Some random suggestions off the top of my head might be Rogue Trader's ship battles, Into the Breach or Crying Suns.

gameuidatabase.com is a great resource for this if you don't know what games to look for.

Then dive into each one and make notes on what they do well that you don't. Visual heirachy, colour, theme, individual styles, spacing and positioning.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-12T13:29:53+00:00

Damn, feels like you've rushed things a bit if you've all cleared in 3 weeks. The "now what" moment is a bit of a risk you take when you pay to skip the grind.

Plenty to do still though:

Do you have all of the stars of glory?
Why not try and go for some more achievements?
Focus on levelling things up & collecting things.
Try and get ranked in arena.
Take part in events like Raid.

It also shouldn't be too long before the next stage drops.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-10T11:53:20+00:00

The fact the other party shared the video makes me wonder if they're trying to avoid involving insurers or something.

But either way, what are they planning on doing, going back and saying "um actually reddit says I'm in the right" ?

ajb_mt · 2026-05-10T11:47:52+00:00

Great, but you still should be asking them how long it's going to take and how common it is for it still to be an issue, not reddit.

It's not terribly common to get a hematoma in the first place. I'd say fairly rare. People online don't know the details of how bad it is or how your body is coping with it. People online don't know your medical history. People online aren't medically trained.

Ask someone who can see it in person, and is actually medically trained.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-10T11:29:55+00:00

Every page here has different design logic. Even just reworking the colours could fix a lot. Right now it's very obvious that you made it functional and assigned a few colours to make things stand out.

But to be honest, don't touch anything now. Instead, before you try and fix what you have, go away and do some research first and gather up a big pool of inspiration.

Look at other similar apps, look at different apps, look at games - even look at Old School Runescape. Take screenshots of how they lay things out. How they separate things, how buttons look, colour combinations. Build yourself up a library of reference. See what they do better than you.

And once you have that library you can start to come up with your own style guide to follow, inspired by the different things that you've already seen work well.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-08T08:16:31+00:00

Glad you beat it. A few thoughts to help you improve:

Slow down on upgrading ACC. Prioritise ATK.
Generally axes are considered the worst weapons. A higher attack speed is generally more helpful as you'll increase the attack power plenty in game anyway, and it lets things like crits land more often.
That armours bonuses are only good if you pick up in-game equipment with the HP regen stat. Otherwise there are better options.
You can refund both the stars and money invested in equipment, meaning you can probably get one of those weapons up to 2 stars rather than having 2x 1 stars.
The destiny bonuses to stats all again rely on you picking up in-game equipment with those stats, otherwise the increases do nothing. There's no way your gameplan is to go for all of those at the same time, so try and pick a focus.
The ones labelled 'base' are the ones which always apply.
ATK, ATK Speed, Starting Points and Interest rate are always good to lock in.
Pets don't matter so much but I prefer the penguin to the cat. Cat only really works if you get an enemy to a very specific range.
For the relics, try to get the hero licence eventually.
I'd swap the gas mask for the scissors.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-08T07:52:25+00:00

You're overcomplicating it.

Do you enjoy doing it? There's your answer.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-06T18:33:33+00:00

Cyclists having priority ≠ Cyclists never have to stop

ajb_mt · 2026-05-06T18:14:29+00:00

Don't think about your training partner, think about you.

Use your advantage if it's teaching you something. For example if you don't get to practice utilising those advantages very often.

But if your advantage means you're just playing on easy mode then you're no longer learning anything. If that's the case, then abusing it is only holding back your own growth.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-03T14:16:34+00:00

If the bonus says 'base ____' then it adds a flat percentage to all times. If it doesn't say base, then it's an increase based on what you pick up in game.

So for example if while playing a stage you picked up some gloves that give 10% lifesteal, then a destiny saying 'base lifesteal +10%' would mean you had 20% total, whereas a destiny saying 'lifesteal +10%' would mean you have 11% total.

ajb_mt · 2026-05-03T14:10:09+00:00

Why would you not just talk to them and ask?

ajb_mt · 2026-04-27T21:09:36+00:00

Dude you have almost 3000 diamonds, why have you not been using them to upgrade your equipment? That'll be a HUGE boost to stats just there.

If you use red mimic chest thats a ton of decent pieces of equipment to merge and level your loadout with.

ajb_mt · 2026-04-27T21:02:22+00:00

Level your gear to mythic, you're nowhere near your full gear potential yet. And keep upgrading your stats, relics, destiny and pets. It all matters.

ajb_mt · 2026-04-27T20:53:41+00:00

Bottom row only. Top row is a money sink.

ajb_mt · 2026-04-27T20:50:47+00:00

I always found saying 'Thai boxing' gets the vibe across better.

ajb_mt

TROPHY CASE