https://chapelsoftware.com Posts about indie game development and software projects en-us Mon, 16 Mar 2026 18:25:27 GMT Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/2026-02-14-the-vibe-check-a-game-development-challenge Here's what I want to do. I'm proposing a game development challenge called The Vibe Check. The rules will be pretty simple (subject to change for now): build a game using LLMs. In fact, I want to discourage you from any hand written code at all. AI art, AI code, AI architecture, AI sound effects are all fair game, but the catch is this: the final product has to be small and it has to be fast. AI is removing barriers to game development, and I think that's great. A solo developer can now prototype a game in hours People with no coding experience are creating really inventive stuff. The tools are quickly improving, and the ceiling for what can be built is rapidly rising. In the long term, I think this is going to be incredible for games. But all of these things are also compounding a very old... Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/2026-02-14-the-vibe-check-a-game-development-challenge https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/2026-01-28-scripture-cipher-on-the-app-store After a couple weeks of beta testing, Scripture Cipher is now available on the iPhone App Store. Android is still in the works. Google's 14-day closed beta requirement means it'll be a bit longer before that version is ready, but it's coming. Enjoy! Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/2026-01-28-scripture-cipher-on-the-app-store https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/2026-01-28-the-mobile-game-market I love games, board games, card games, even video games. I've been thinking a lot about mobile games recently, mostly because I made one, and it’s hard to describe how normal the corruption and evil in this entire genre has become. Here's how most “free” mobile games work: you download the game, and for the first hour or two, you're drowning in rewards. Coins! Gems! Power-ups! You reach a new level every thirty seconds. It feels great. Your brain is getting hit with dopamine bursts constantly, and you're left thinking "wow, this is awesome." Then, things slow down. The rewards get smaller. The levels take longer. The “coins” you were earning have disappeared (but you can buy more to keep playing! $99.99 for 10,000 is the best value!). You're already invested. What’s a few dollars when you’ve been having so much fun? Your brain remembers how good those early hits... Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/2026-01-28-the-mobile-game-market https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/2026-01-22-scripture-cipher-beta-testing-underway-2-0-feature Beta testing has begun on both iPhone and Android. Head over to the Scripture Cipher page if you'd like to sign up. I've done a lot of internal testing and don't foresee any breaking bugs, so after a week or two of testing (Google especially requires 14 days of closed beta testing) the app will be ready to launch. I do have a few ideas for 2.0: Tutorial walkthrough for first-time players Daily Puzzle (likely from Proverbs) Web Interface for uploading new Puzzle Packs Once those are in place, unless I have a great new idea I will consider the app finished. Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/2026-01-22-scripture-cipher-beta-testing-underway-2-0-feature https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/2026-01-20-scripture-cipher-beta-signups-and-google-play-stor The Google Play Store requirements for releasing an app are ridiculous. It requires you to run a closed beta which in itself isn't so outrageous until you realize that if your app is a paid app, as mine will be, that your beta testers have to buy the app to take part in the Beta. Apparently you can request promo codes to give it away for free or put it on a $0.00 sale during the Beta, but either way that's silly. In other news beta testing will be open soon for Scripture Cipher, so head over to the Scripture Cipher page and sign up if you'd like to take part. (No I won't make you pay lol) Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/2026-01-20-scripture-cipher-beta-signups-and-google-play-stor https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/2026-01-19-scripture-cipher-multiplatform-is-here Big news for Scripture Cipher is that after spending weeks trying to make the UI work the way I wanted in Swift the best solution was to rewrite the application in react which has allowed me to support Android and iOS. Currently waiting on App Store and Google Play store approval and as soon as that comes through I will be able to start the first round of betas for the multiplatform version of the app. Among other additions, the app now includes a puzzle store (though everything in it is free) that will allow me to easily add new puzzle packs to the app without require new versions to be uploaded to the store. Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/2026-01-19-scripture-cipher-multiplatform-is-here https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/new-site-and-other Today I'm launching the website and my studio name (Chapel Software). I'm planning to release all future projects under this name. If you're reading this post, you've found the site! I wrote this site using a node.js backend and manually designed the static site generator because I was so unhappy with all the ones available lol. I'm sure there will be future upgrades to the site as I improve my skill and figure out exactly what I need. For example, this blog page is going to need a paginator eventually, and probably a way to link to individual posts instead of having them all display on one page. Perhaps incorporate commenting (but probably not). The blog uses a markdown interpreter which makes writing the posts relatively easy. As far as other updates go, Scripture Cipher is in its second beta release right now. There are a couple of quality of... Wed, 18 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/new-site-and-other https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/scripture-cipher-update Currently working on some modification to how hard mode of Scripture Cipher plays. Instead of filling all matching letters on entry, the user will now have to enter each letter manually. This means that hard mode will have to reveal at least a few prefilled letters, but it will require the player to make sure they are checking the encrypted puzzle to see if more known letters are available based on the information they have. I may apply this to Medium difficulty as well, since it is more in line with classic cryptogram puzzles. We'll see. Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/scripture-cipher-update https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/scripture-cipher-on-testflight The first version of Scripture Cipher is now available on TestFlight for beta testers. Currently only available for iPhone, though in the future I may add an Android version, time permitting. Reach out to me to get access. Thu, 15 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://chapelsoftware.com/blog/scripture-cipher-on-testflight