This year I began my own 12 products in 12 months challenge. For me this challenge is to gain more rounded skills when building products and distributing them online. For my first month I’ve released Nanpure. Nanpure is a Sudoku mobile game people can play while they commute or are bored for 5 minutes and don’t want to confront their thoughts. Nanpure took about two weeks for me to develop and a lot longer to get approved by Apple unfortunately, but I’ll get into that later on.
Why Sudoku
I love playing Sudoku on my phone, so when trying to find my first idea it felt pretty natural to try and build my own because…
- It seemed like a pretty simple game to produce within my short timeframe
- Large audience with lots of people who understand Sudoku
- I love Sudoku
My mission was to create a Sudoku app similar to Sudoku - Brain Puzzle Games by Oakever Games on the App Store since that’s the version I’ve played the most
Unexpected setbacks
Development was very smooth for the most part. I finished the first version of the app within just 2 weeks of spare time after work each day. I then tested on my iPhone and submitted it to App Store Connect. I was expecting the app to get rejected at least once (which it did) as there’s usually something slightly wrong with store page images or something.
Unfortunately for me after my 3rd rejection I got hit with the dreaded 4.1 guideline violation. This guideline is basically telling you your app is too similar to another on their store. When they sent me this message all they said was my app looked like Sudoku which of course it did because it’s a Sudoku Game!
They never specified which app it looked like which caused me to make the drastic decision to completely overhaul the whole apps UI.
Whole new game
While all the core features were complete I now needed to rewrite the whole UI of the app to look completely different from other Sudoku app on the App Store. This was around the time I was about to begin my project for February which was stressing me out a bit because of timeline concerns.
But honestly? This ended up being the best thing that could have happened. Being forced to differentiate pushed me to actually build something with a touch of personality instead of shipping another yet another generic Sudoku clone.
I started by finding a new name to replace Sudoku Pop, the old name, and eventually came across the fact that the modern version of the puzzle was popularized in Japan under the name Nanpure (short for “Nanbaa Pureesu” — Number Place). That felt perfect. It gave the app a real identity and a story behind the name.
From there the rebrand felt like a natural evolution of what I’ve already built. I designed a mascot, Nan the Fox, to give the app a character that players could connect with. The whole UI came together around this new direction with a look that actually felt like mine instead of a copy of what was already on the store.
Looking back, Apple’s rejection forced me to do what I should have done from the start: make something unique, something that stands out.
Finish line
Finally to finish the product I promoted the product on Reddit, X and launched the product on a couple different product distribution platforms and now waiting to see who uses it!
All things considered, I’m thrilled I got my first product over the finish line. If I had to do it again, I would’ve strayed far away from a mobile app for month one, navigating App Store reviews takes up a massive chunk of a 30 day timeline compared to shipping a web app! But I leveled up my UI skills, learned how to handle Apple’s strict guidelines, and shipped a real game. On to the next product!!
Additional info
Tech Stack
| Tech | |
|---|---|
| Frontend (Expo) | React Native |
| Styling | Nativewind |
| Payment manager | Revenue Cat |