Update: v0.9.0 - Social Features & Community
Comments, user follows, notifications, and activity feeds transform Tuggy into a social platform.
5 min read
update release changelog
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Development Blog
Follow Tuggy's journey from concept to viral voting platform. Technical deep-dives, architecture decisions, and lessons learned attempting to build a real-time global game.
Update: v0.8.0 - Custom Images & Upload System
Users can now upload custom contestant images, with automatic optimization and community moderation.
4 min read
update release changelog
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Devlog 13: Testing With Playwright - Catching Bugs Before Users Do
I kept breaking things with every change. E2E tests saved me from shipping embarrassing bugs to production.
7 min read
testing quality ci-cd
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Update: v0.7.0 - Leaderboards & User Profiles
Competitive rankings, user profiles, achievements, and stats tracking for power voters.
4 min read
update release changelog
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Devlog 23: Building Viral Mechanics - Psychology of Shareability
How I designed Tuggy to naturally encourage sharing through FOMO, social proof, and low-friction viral loops.
7 min read
growth viral game-design
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Hotfix: v0.6.1 - Critical Bug Fixes
Emergency fixes for particle memory leak, Safari compatibility, and database connection issues.
2 min read
update hotfix bugfix
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Devlog 22: Performance Profiling - Finding and Fixing Bottlenecks
Using Chrome DevTools to identify performance issues, optimize renders, and keep Tuggy running at 60fps on budget phones.
7 min read
performance optimization profiling
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Update: v0.6.0 - Particle Effects & E2E Testing
Added PixiJS particle bursts, cubic Bezier trajectories, and comprehensive Playwright test suite.
4 min read
update release changelog
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Devlog 21: Mobile-First CSS - Building Responsive UI With Tailwind
How I structure CSS for mobile-first design, handle touch targets, and make Tuggy look great on any screen size.
6 min read
css mobile responsive
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Devlog 12: Making Clicks Feel Good With PixiJS Particles
Visual feedback makes or breaks a clicker game. Here's how I added particle bursts that run at 60fps even on old phones.
6 min read
ui ux animation
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Devlog 20: SEO for Viral Content - Making Matchups Discoverable
Optimizing Tuggy for search engines and social platforms with dynamic meta tags, structured data, and proper sitemaps.
6 min read
seo marketing discoverability
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Devlog 19: Svelte Stores - Reactive State Management That Just Works
How I use Svelte stores for global state, derived values, and keeping the UI in sync with minimal boilerplate.
6 min read
svelte state-management architecture
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Devlog 11: Going Live - Deploying to Fly.io With Wildcard Subdomains
Localhost is great but eventually you need real users. Here's how I deployed Tuggy globally with support for custom subdomains per matchup.
7 min read
deployment infrastructure scaling
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Update: v0.5.0 - Social Sharing & Analytics
Dynamic OG images for every matchup, privacy-focused analytics, and major performance improvements.
4 min read
update release changelog
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Devlog 18: Error Handling - Making Failures Graceful Instead of Catastrophic
Building resilience into Tuggy with retry logic, fallbacks, offline support, and user-friendly error messages.
6 min read
error-handling resilience ux
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Devlog 10: In-Memory Caching Cut My Database Load by 95%
The homepage was hammering Supabase with identical queries. A simple in-memory cache with TTL made everything faster and cheaper.
6 min read
performance backend optimization
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Devlog 17: Rate Limiting & Abuse Prevention Without Killing UX
Detecting vote spam, preventing device fingerprint spoofing, and implementing rate limits that stop bots but don't annoy real users.
7 min read
security abuse-prevention rate-limiting
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Devlog 9: Adding Analytics Without Being Creepy About It
I need to understand how people use Tuggy, but I don't want to be invasive. Here's how I set up Google Analytics with privacy in mind.
5 min read
analytics privacy business
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Devlog 16: Image Uploads - Letting Users Add Custom Contestant Photos
Building a safe, fast image upload system with Supabase Storage, client-side validation, and CDN delivery.
7 min read
storage uploads images
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Update: v0.4.0 - Anonymous Play & Auth
No signup required! Play immediately with device fingerprinting, optional account creation for leaderboards.
3 min read
update release changelog
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Devlog 8: Generating Social Preview Images on the Fly
Static OG images are boring. I built a system to generate custom social previews with live vote counts using Vercel's @vercel/og library.
6 min read
seo social viral
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Devlog 15: Building Real-Time Leaderboards That Update Live
Ranking thousands of voters in real-time with efficient SQL queries, handling ties, and displaying both anonymous and authenticated users.
6 min read
database real-time leaderboards
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Devlog 7: No Login Required - Device Fingerprinting for Anonymous Players
I hate when apps force you to sign up before trying them. Here's how I let people play immediately while still tracking their votes.
6 min read
authentication privacy ux
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Devlog 14: Database Schema for Anonymous + Authenticated Users
How I designed a dual attribution system where votes can belong to either a user_id OR device_id, with PostgreSQL constraints to keep data clean.
7 min read
database architecture postgres
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Update: v0.3.0 - Idle Mechanics & Upgrades
Added idle voting system with temporary power-ups, passive income, and an upgrade shop.
4 min read
update release changelog
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Devlog 6: Adding Idle Mechanics Without Ruining the Balance
I wanted to add idle game depth, but permanent upgrades would kill the accessibility. Here's how I made it work with temporary power-ups.
7 min read
game-design mechanics engagement
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Devlog 5: Organic Particle Motion With Cubic Bezier Curves
Linear particle paths look boring. Here's how I used cubic Bezier curves to make particles flow naturally toward the vote counter.
6 min read
animation math ux
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Update: v0.2.0 - Mobile Polish
Major mobile improvements: killed the 300ms delay, added smooth animations, and implemented haptic feedback.
3 min read
update release changelog
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Devlog 4: Fighting the 300ms Delay - Making Mobile Taps Feel Instant
Mobile browsers add a 300ms delay to clicks. For a clicker game, that's completely unacceptable. Here's how I killed it.
6 min read
mobile ux performance
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Devlog 3: Smooth Vote Animations - Interpolating Between Server Updates
Votes arrive in 1-second batches, but I wanted the counter to animate smoothly at 60fps. Here's how I faked continuous updates with cubic Bezier easing.
6 min read
animation ux performance
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Devlog 2: Vote Batching - How I Handle 1000+ Clicks Per Second Without Melting the Database
Turns out sending every single click to your database is a terrible idea. Here's how I fixed it with client-side batching and optimistic updates.
8 min read
architecture performance real-time
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Update: v0.1.0 - Alpha Launch
First public release of Tuggy with core voting mechanics, real-time sync, and basic matchup creation.
3 min read
update release changelog
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Devlog 1: Starting Tuggy - Building a Clicker Game That Scales
Kicking off a new project: a viral voting game where people can click thousands of times per second. Here's what I'm building and why.
5 min read
launch product architecture
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