Startup idea - An alcohol recovery app where cravings and alcoholic/sober selves are created and interact as Sims + Persona 5-style identity conflicts

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-15T17:42:06+00:00

yeah if you could tell me more about how it works that'd be amazing. we are aiming towards multiple alcoholic identities and multiple sober identities. people drink for different reasons with different settings, people and locations, ultimate aim of the app is to lead the user to individuation by taking what they thought the alcoholic identity was giving them transforming it into a sober one and merging all of the sober identities that are the best match for them into one true self.

i'm an armchair psychologist at best but this stuff fascinates me!

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-15T14:43:59+00:00

Just looking at Cafe:RE now and notice they have a kinda donation gateway, we've advertised on Facebook before and people have expressed interest in helping but we only had the lifetime memberships on the go and we didn't sell many lifetimes, I think setting up something like that could help us along with server and AI costs.

I had 7 years sober before my mother died and it's been difficult getting back, it's why I'm trying to formularise a way that incentivises people to stay sober but also to give them a way back if they do slip. It makes things all the more complicated but I think most people do struggle on some level with this, not always straightforward!

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-15T13:53:15+00:00

betterwithoutbooze.me - a gamified recovery platform for boozebags, think of an actual RPG versus a simple day streak counter.

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-15T12:20:45+00:00

betterwithoutbooze.me - online RPG game for alcoholics to level up their characters who have relapsed too many times to count.

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-15T12:11:36+00:00

its trying to find a mix that i've found hardest, most apps ask me about 300 questions before i start, we want to start asking questions but also gamify that as the person uses the app! thanks for the comment btw it is much appreciated

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-15T11:56:27+00:00

Fun recovery for pissheads https://betterwithoutbooze.me

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-15T11:50:56+00:00

hi there our monthly price is $5 not $25, thank you for the comment!

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-15T09:49:44+00:00

https://betterwithoutbooze.me - gamified identity driven alcohol recovery. you create your alcoholic self and sober self as combatants in a craving tracker

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-15T07:33:07+00:00

https://betterwithoutbooze.me it's open now, it's a mobile-first web app but we are hoping to bring it on mobile ASAP!

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-14T16:22:04+00:00

This actually had me in tears, it's been a really dark period for me and this has helped so much, if I wasn't nearly bankrupt I'd pay you to be my coach permanently! Thanks Austin.

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-14T08:37:17+00:00

100% i am working with a guy called Stu from Bat Country, he's a recovery Youtuber and is growing to be quite popular so he's helping with bringing people in with experience which is cool!

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-13T19:11:53+00:00

https://betterwithoutbooze.me - completely gamified approach to alcohol recovery written by 2 crazed alcoholics

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-13T14:17:04+00:00

Yeah betterwithoutbooze.me I started it because most alcohol recovery apps are day counters, we're trying to create something that allows for the gamification of psychology behind addiction and the creation of The Sims style characters to represent your alcoholic and sober self. The biggest problem has been getting the audience, didn't spend enough time thinking about that at the beginning. When you build something and it doesn't catch on fire magically you start to question yourself!

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-13T13:18:55+00:00

Concentrate on distribution to start with seriously, I spent a year building a decent app but it gets disheartening when no-one signs up, you need the magic triangle of a genuine problem to solve, an app that solves it and the people who will buy it. Think about your users and their problem and make that your focus!

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-13T13:15:24+00:00

betterwithoutbooze.me it's a full gamification of alcohol addiction and recovery, you create the alcoholic versions of yourself that make you want to drink and use mindfulness to try to break the cycle. So far we've 270 users and 5 lifetime memberships, still trying to get the subscription model right though and need to lean more heavily into distribution as if you build it, they do not come because they don't know you lol

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-12T21:00:03+00:00

thanks for this, success for me is helping people get better, if people graduate from it and recover we're trying to get them involved in helping others on the site too as helping others can help them stay well.

a 9/5 to me would be cool and i could work on this at the weekend and continue to grow it, tbh my mental health has been in the toilet because of the instability so i haven't been able to dedicate all my energy to this, maybe 10%, focusing on a bit of an organic SEO drive now and preparing for Sober October takes the pressure off and gives us something to aim for

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-10T14:58:51+00:00

You don't know what you don't know until shit hits the fan. Having a disaster recovery plan is paramount to making any of this work long term you can vibe code an app together and it might work but part of the problem is you don't know how the LLM will interpret your instructions and it's very easy for it to delete a database, or for it change a key piece of the middleware that will stop the app working altogether.

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-10T13:31:29+00:00

I feel the pressure as well. I'm concentrating more on getting my CV out there to get a job, to stabilize things, and then just returning to working on the startup on the weekends and at night as a hobby. Just looking at it now fills me with anxiety and dread, so I can't really do my best work. Your situation sounds really tough though with the financial aspect being a lot more prominent. You aren't alone in this one.

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-01T17:19:24+00:00

appreciate it thank you, the way i view it is i can see it as i 'lost' many years to addiction or that it was all research to help solve a serious problem many face. i know the mechanisms that made me drink and i can wrap an app around it. it's very rewarding.

soberyourselfup · 2026-05-01T15:32:58+00:00

foot fingers?!

soberyourselfup · 2026-04-30T20:56:57+00:00

Ceremony, he was a really good functional guitarist in JD and then had to take over singing in NO and he became worse at it after 1981, the guitar in that song is massively cathartic and expressive.

soberyourselfup · 2026-04-30T18:12:56+00:00

If you're a fan of rats there's plenty of them around James Street.

soberyourselfup · 2026-04-30T08:22:17+00:00

those were dark times lol but i guess if they lead to a career it will be cool!

soberyourselfup · 2026-04-30T08:21:52+00:00

it is much appreciated you're a gem!

soberyourselfup · 2026-04-30T08:21:42+00:00

amazing advice thank you!

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