Started with a niche and launched it: VersionAlert for Unity (https://versionalert.com/unity)

Working on the bigger product still. Existing solutions I've found in this space seemed lacking. On my website, I want people to quickly find the software they want to be kept up to date about (with a smart search bar that does the heavy lifting for them) and easily sign up for notifications for new versions. Hope to make a Show HN for it soon!

For a couple of years now, I’ve wanted to build a service that lets you subscribe to new version notifications for any kind of software—desktop apps, drivers, packages, and more. As a Unity developer and consultant myself, I’ve always wanted to know the moment a new version becomes available. I value being at the bleeding edge, especially since a large part of the value I bring as a consultant comes from both the breadth and depth of my knowledge of the Unity engine.

That’s why I’m currently working on a niche version of the broader VersionAlert idea specifically for Unity, which is why the domain currently redirects to https://versionalert.com/unity .

The only other service I’ve found that really addresses this need is https://newreleases.io . I actually spoke with the very nice husband-and-wife team behind it and even offered to buy the whole project, but their asking price was about 10× higher than what I was offering—which I understand, no hard feelings. I still wish them the best of luck.

If anyone is aware of other projects or services in this space, I'd be happy to learn about them and chat.

We are Anil and Yilmaz from the team behind Notifier.

Notifier is a macOS menu bar app that keeps track of your favorite packages and notifies you whenever a new version is available.

You can currently track packages from npm, pub.dev, packagist, OpenUPM and the Unity asset store. We plan to add more package repositories very soon.

Notifier can also watch your dependency manifest files to make it simple to keep track of the packages you use in your projects.

We have many new features planned such as tracking software and SDK versions.

We want to offer HN an early look at Notifier in hopes that you can help us test the application before we launch it fully.

We're grateful for any feedback you might have for us.

Website: https://notifier.dev/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35372845

Points: 5

# Comments: 0

MobileUO is a Unity-port of ClassicUO, which is an open-source C# client for Ultima Online. My hope was to get support from community on Patreon to keep developing it but the financial support didn't really materialize. But it's ok because close to a thousand people seem to be using MobileUO daily to play UO on their mobile devices and are happy with it as it is.

Sandbox City is a really mini-tiny-not-even GTA style game for mobile where the player gets to run around in a city, driving cars, and running over pedestrians and zombies. I'm working on adding more content into the game but it already gives me decent passive income from ads and IAPs. I also have it published on CrazyGames (html5/webgl online game platform) and it is also played a lot there and bring in additional income.

I'd be interested in joining your Discord. My email is in my profile.

I'm a game developer with a web/mobile business idea and very little time on his hands due to being a single parent. I'm looking the solution that requires the least effort to creating an MVP of this project.

Summary: "Send push notification when a new software/package version is available".

Parts needed (as far as I can imagine): - Simple website for accounts/signups and managing of preferences (for which software/packages to receive notifications for). - Backend for checking RSS feeds, json files, or scraping simple websites to check software/packages' latest versions. - Payment/billing system. - Mobile app for users to receive push notifications - Push notification service

I've played around with IFTTT and Zapier to create some simple prototypes but to glue all the parts together seems like a daunting task, especially considering how little time I have.

I've also looked around on Upwork to find the right 1-2 developers to develop this for me but haven't found anyone I can feel that I can trust.

Looking forward to any advice/feedback. Thanks!

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33684797

Points: 12

# Comments: 5

Brings in around 400 euros a month from ads and in-app purchase revenue.

I ported Ultima Online to Android and iOS devices. It's a really old MMO at this point but still has a niche following. New community shards are still popping up and some of them (such as UO Outlands) have high populations.

I opened up a Patreon for the project in hopes that the community and the shard owners would support me enough to keep working on it but I never got past 100 euros per month in pledges. The app does have a stable userbase of around 1000 users though.

Even though it wasn't a financial success by any measure, I'm really proud to have brought my childhood favourite game to new platforms.

You can sign up for a 30 minute free consulting session over here: http://unityoracle.com/#fucf

Cheers.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9078424

Points: 2

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Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4609711

Points: 1

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Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3823992

Points: 7

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