Catzumi: A Month-Long Journey from Concept to Launch

Introduction

Catzumi is more than just a game, it’s a digital companion that encourages you to step outside and explore the world. With every step you take, you help feed and care for your virtual cat friend. I built this app for the RevenueCat Ship-a-ton challenge, which provided the catalyst to transform my long-held idea into reality. The ultimate goal? To harness the power of technology to inspire people to embrace a more active lifestyle.

In this article, I share my exhilarating month-long journey, the ups, downs, and everything in between of bringing Catzumi to life.

August 10, 2024

The Birth of an Idea

As a developer, I’ve always been hesitant to share my app development process publicly. The challenge of deciding what aspects to highlight, be it UI/UX, codebase intricacies, or project statistics, often held me back. However, with Catzumi, I decided to take a leap of faith and document my journey from day one.

I kicked off the project with a playful twist, creating a GIF animation of the app’s initial name, “Catch Me!” to grab attention on social media. Looking back, I realize I should have provided a clearer explanation of the app’s core concept from the start. Lesson learned: always lead with your value proposition!

To keep the momentum going, I shared my initial code snippets and design inspirations. I even tried to establish a tradition of ending each day’s update with resources and a cute kitten picture. While well-intentioned, this approach may have distracted from the main narrative.

August 11–12, 2024

Laying the Foundations

With the project now officially underway, I dove headfirst into designing the main view and crafting an engaging onboarding experience. Drawing inspiration from Pokémon Diamond, I carefully curated dialog lines to create a nostalgic yet fresh feel.

In a bold move, I decided to document my progress through vlogs—a first for me. While the production quality left much to be desired (hello, MacBook camera!), it was an exciting experiment in transparent development. Unfortunately, the time investment didn’t yield the expected engagement, leading me to refocus on other aspects of the project.

August 14–15, 2024

Monetization and Mechanics

Implementing RevenueCat was a crucial step, given the competition’s requirements. As someone who has struggled with monetization in the past, I opted for in-app purchases of virtual currency to unlock cat and interface skins. In hindsight, the initial pricing may have been too ambitious given the nascent demand.

Simultaneously, I began work on the mini-game—the original spark for the entire project. Surprisingly, SwiftUI proved more than capable of handling the game’s requirements, allowing me to create a mini game engine in just 300 lines of code!

August 20–24, 2024

The Art of Pixelation

This period was all about bringing Catzumi’s visual identity to life. Inspired by Pokémon, I designed 10 unique interface skins, including a limited edition to celebrate the app’s launch. I then painstakingly created pixelated versions of every icon, replacing Apple’s SF Symbols with custom assets that better fit the game’s aesthetic.

The crown jewel of this phase was the creation of 180 different cat sprites, 18 age variations for each of the 10 cat skins. This attention to detail ensures that each virtual pet feels unique and grows visibly over time.

August 25–29, 2024

Polishing the Experience

With the core elements in place, I turned my attention to refining the user experience. This included crafting custom UI elements like segmented controls, implementing engaging onboarding flows, and even preparing for the inevitable end of a pet’s life cycle.

I also took this time to reconsider the app’s name. After brainstorming and consulting with AI, “Catzumi” emerged as the winner, a name that not only stands out but also carries a subtle nod to the concept of care in Japanese.

August 30–September 10, 2024

The Final Push

As launch day approached, I focused on adding the finishing touches that would elevate Catzumi from good to great. This included:

• Integrating a custom soundtrack by up-and-coming Lebanese artist YaakArkad.
• Implementing carefully chosen sound effects and haptic feedback.
• Creating marketing assets and copywriting for various platforms.
• Preparing the App Store submission, including screenshots and keywords.
• Setting up beta testing to catch last-minute bugs.
• Developing a marketing schedule and preparing for a ProductHunt launch.

Conclusion

Bringing Catzumi to life in just one month was an exhilarating, challenging, and ultimately rewarding experience.

As Catzumi makes its debut, I invite you to download it or join the beta and provide your valuable feedback. Together, we can refine this digital companion and motivate more people to step outside, stay active, and have fun in the process.

And as always, we don’t stand still!