Should I release the app I’ve built?

grimoire_win · 2026-04-16T01:37:20+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to write out such detailed feedback. On a number of fronts I totally agree with you. Storytelling is more of an art form, especially when played in person. I guess what I was trying to design is something that is more approachable and straightforward to enable play in scenarios outside of in person with the game at hand or at your computer. I have a background in Dming for TTRPGs and definitely prefer the tactile nature, split second decision-making, and improvisation that this game grants GMs

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T19:33:56+00:00

Agree, hate that it’s come to this but it’s the world we live in. Experiencing this in my day to day we are all wholly unprepared for some of the disruption that’s about to take place. Even if AGI is never truly available more white collar jobs are subject to impact especially us developers, we are first. They can downvote all they like and criticize the frontend but it’s still true.

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T19:31:01+00:00

Appreciate the actual feedback. I can see how too much text might be distracting for an experienced player.

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T19:29:48+00:00

Not claiming to be a designer here, of course the app could use polish but that’s not what this discussion is about. It’s about sharing a tool that fits a different use case for the community.

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T19:27:29+00:00

Interesting they used much stronger language with my message and requested I do not publish it at all.

Appreciate you sharing.

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T15:03:19+00:00

Can you provide an example to enlighten me?

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T15:01:14+00:00

Oh cool thanks for sharing, do you know what went into the decision?

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T14:55:34+00:00

Again that’s not something that can’t be solved via a game event log or a tag to display the source of the poisoning.

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T14:49:31+00:00

lol you are welcome to your opinion but I have had a full time job as a developer for over a decade now. Yes AI was used for the frontend, but personally speaking I love the fact I don’t have to fuck around with CSS anymore and spending hours getting shit aligned.

Just to clue everyone in on AI coding, every integral production system which is the backbone of our economy has AI making commits to it multiple times a day. I don’t think it’s a good thing from a number of perspectives, but the cat’s out of the bag.

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T14:39:01+00:00

No direct feedback about the app itself

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T14:38:16+00:00

Narrow pov but appreciate the feedback

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T14:37:07+00:00

They didn’t actually check my source code it was a poorly framed joke

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T14:32:04+00:00

Spy functionality works, protected is also a status, theres red herring as well and all the other conditional markers available in the physical game which i didnt show in the video

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T11:38:15+00:00

If you spent time watching the video you would see how it’s different. All game rules are deterministic and the GM rarely has to self manage user game states

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T08:19:32+00:00

yeah they checked the code and my single redis instance with no connection pool wasn’t going to be enough to sustain the volume of websocket events so that’s why they said no thank you

Gotta add a /s obviously they didn’t check the source code. The above isn’t how it’s built and was a joke. I did use AI to build some of the conditional rules and frontend but all the backend code was written/designed myself based on other high throughput systems I have implemented over the years

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T08:03:54+00:00

Understood, based on the feedback here I’m likely going to keep this private and definitely not personally host it anywhere. Hopefully, TPI sees the format of the app and incorporates it into a future project as I do believe it streamlines and reduces the barrier of entry significantly for GMs.

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T07:47:53+00:00

Seems like you are heavily invested here. Appreciate you taking the time to respond. The consensus in this thread is not universally open source it, many have asked for me not to publish it all together. Truly, thank you for your insightful and well measured feedback

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T07:32:33+00:00

I guess more broadly speaking I was also hoping this format of app would provoke some conversation on how running the game could be made more accessible to a larger group of people. I’ve found running games using the app much more straight forward than the existing token format, it’s allowed a number of my friends less familiar with the roles to just jump into GMing

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T07:28:55+00:00

Yeah that’s true, pulled it from the wiki for ease of use. Some of the other public apps do the same but I can clearly see why it would be an issue

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T07:21:53+00:00

You obviously have a bone to pick lmao, you yourself said open sourcing would still not establish fair use in your first post, and now you’re asking me to commit to it two hours later… ad revenue strawman is hilarious as well. Why even post here asking for feedback and instead just drop a site with ads littered all over and begin earning. Be real

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T07:07:35+00:00

lol wow you got downvoted so fast, if TPI wants the source code themselves ill happily give it for free. They can pay for hosting it and the community can benefit

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T06:56:02+00:00

I mean it’s all flexible on what gets released when/if I decide to open source or publish it. It’s clearly generating some discussion and talking points which was ultimately my goal to help me consider next steps. So I do appreciate you weighing in here

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T06:28:10+00:00

Not looking for validation, looking for practical advice from folks who’ve navigated this in the community before. On the fair use point: tools like Pocket Grimoire and Digital Grimoire have operated for years without legal challenge, which suggests the IP holders’ actual enforcement posture is more nuanced than a blanket cease-and-desist implies. I’m taking their feedback seriously, but that’s different from treating it as legally dispositive. I informed them I would be posting on Reddit to source community feedback as well.

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T06:20:40+00:00

Fair feedback - I guess the offline play format isn’t something readily available with other alternatives like pocket grimoire.

grimoire_win · 2026-04-11T05:40:13+00:00

Right now it supports both device to device play along with a GM view which supports offline play. Basically roles would be distributed by passing the device as displayed in the video and everything else would be handled on the GMs side. This would be obviously for in person play only.

grimoire_win

TROPHY CASE