I started playing Hero Wars Alliance in the summer of 2024 and spent real money on it willingly, for most of that time without regret. Then came the monetization ratchet, an abandoned game mode with a locked door that has never been explained, seasonal storylines that broke their own internal logic, and finally REALM — a full city-builder mode built from the same mechanics I had been tolerating as chores on the TapJoy offer wall. This is an accounting of how a game I respected made a series of decisions that, taken together, describe something I no longer recognize and no longer enjoy playing.

Transitioning between roles offers the perfect opportunity to refine your development workflow. In this follow-up to 'Building in Public', I explore how GitHub's project management features can transform your side project development experience. From roadmapping with Projects to tracking features with Issues, learn how these powerful tools can help maintain momentum, document decisions, and demonstrate professional-grade development practices that impress potential employers.

Career transitions offer a unique opportunity for hands-on technical exploration. After leaving my CTO role, I'm keeping skills sharp by building my Hero Wars Helper project in public. This post covers my strategies for maintaining momentum, prioritizing MVP over perfection, and using side projects to demonstrate ongoing technical relevance — all while navigating the job search process. For developers in transition, here's how to turn uncertainty into productive coding time.

While experimenting with ClaudeAI, I thought it would be interesting to have a conversation around how I should improve my teams in the game I have been playing.