Spider Solitaire – The Development Hell

Well, my main problem is that I have ideas, but I can’t code to save my life. So, if I come up with an idea for a game or a service, I will need someone to write it for me.

One of my first obsessions was that I wanted to have my own Spider Solitaire game. Don’t ask why. I don’t know myself. Probably, because I did like to play it a lot. The development of this game turned into a saga that spanned across a few years. I made every mistake possible and learned a lot about the process.

When I came up with the vague plan to have such a game build for me, I had already discovered Upwork. I even had positive experience with a British guy named Liam, who modified another JavaScript card game for me and did a good job. So, naturally, I discussed the project with him, and he said that he is confident that he can build it. My first mistake was that our discussion took place outside of Upwork. He took the project and “started” working. The weeks were passing and it seemed that he was doing some work, because we were discussing some specific elements. However, at some pint the communication dried out, and I was not getting even a demo. He confessed that he has some more lucrative projects and this is way on the side. It became obvious that this would not be. Fortunately, no money were paid upfront.

I posted a job request on Upwork after Liam failed to deliver. They guy that looked promising was named Kristian. I picked him because he was a fellow countryman according to his details. We set the milestones and started the job. He delivered a working prototype of the game around the fist milestone, and I was too fast to approve it. The prototype was lacking most of the features that I wanted, but it was playable. After further reviewing the provided code, I realized that you need to be a coding machine to create such a game in such a short period. It was not that difficult to find (after I started looking) that Kristian presented the following game as his own:

https://github.com/fuzzley/fSpider

This discovery was pretty discouraging. However, the base game was OK and if the additional features were added as requested, then it would have been a product that I could accept. So, I decided to play along. It soon turned out that stealing someone else’s code is easy, but coding yourself is hard. Kristian started complaining that the negotiated amount is not enough for the task, he needs more time, etc. This was funny, because I was yet to see some code, written by the actual guy. Around that point I got tired of this BS and confronted Kristian about the original stolen game and the job fell apart. We decided to cancel it and have the money refunded in exchange for a non-negative review. I agreed to have the original amount refunded over PayPal (stupid, I know) and it came from a Chinese account, so I guess the guy was lying about his country of origin too.

Then I made my next mistake – I got in touch with Liam again. He reappeared for chat and after I told him about my experience with Kristian, he agreed to try again. This time I was confident that things had to be kept in Upwork. He started working, but the deadlines arrived and no code was provided. He had issues with his girlfriend, with his landlord, with his air conditioner, and with the summer heat. In the end, he bailed out, canceled the job, and I got refunds for the submitted milestone money, which were in escrow. It was all a perfect example of “Fool me once, shame on thee; fool me twice, shame on me.”

By that time I had already completed a few projects with other developers and had a really positive experience. For example, Aleksey Komyakov built a clone of an old clipboard management utility with a few new features, called Cliptorrent Redux. This guy is amazing and I have great respect for his coding abilities.

I also ran across Evgenia on Fiverr. She built BattleSolitaire.com for me, and I was very pleased with the final result. The whole communication with her was great and the overall development process was a very positive experience. So, naturally, I asked her if she can make the game from scratch. Evgenia agreed and took the job. At this point I started seeing real progress. She delivered a basic prototype of the game and started adding the requested features. I was really optimistic.

Then disaster struck. A terrible incident left a family member of hers severely injured, and she was just not fully available anymore. She was able to deliver a product, which was relatively there, but was still not ready for public use in my opinion.

A few months later, she did apply some changes to the code that I requested, but working on this project was related to too much trauma, that I did not feel right pushing her. My interests shifted to other projects and I abandoned the spider solitaire game for a while. Occasionally, I would remember it and hire a random developer to try to complete the game. However, they all bailed out with the excuse that it is too hard to work with someone else’s code.

I’m an obsessive and depressive person. If there is nothing to occupy my mind, it starts spinning around and heads in the wrong direction. The spider solitaire game was staying in the back of my mind as an unfinished business. In the beginning of the winter of 2020, I decided to give it one last try. A lady named Olha from the Ukraine responded to my Upwork post. Her profile looked quite promising with a few links to completed JavaScript games posted. So, we discussed my requirements and started the job. Everything looked fine, and she delivered a nice first milestone result. Then the warning signs started to pop up. Olha started complaining that the original code is too hard to work with. She wanted to use a different script as a base and even mentioned the Fuzzley one. In the end, she agreed to write the game from scratch. When the milestone date arrived, she delivered a nice version of the game, which was actually too good to be true. I was able to find the original game, which she had stolen, within 15 minutes. It was intentionally altered with icons and a splash screen to deceive me that it is a custom product. I’ve already had enough with unethical developers, filed a complaint with Upwork, and had the job canceled and the payments – refunded.

At this point I had either to start from scratch, or abandon the project for good. Anyway, I tried to get in touch with Evgenia one more time. A year later, she seemed to be in a better place and agreed to work on this project again. A few weeks into the project, her main laptop died, which delayed the delivery. However, in the end the game was ready and working as I wanted it. Three years after I purchased the SpiderSol.com domain name, I introduced my version of the Spider Solitaire game to the world.

This was a strange experience and along the way, I started to refer to this game as my Moby Dick, but fortunately, we are both alive in the end. There were some interesting lessons learned, though:

1. Always use a system, such as Upwork, if you plan to use freelancers. Despite the above hassle, I did not lose money, but only time. The money was safe under the Upwork escrow.
2. Most of the developers are OK, but there are some, who are not honest. I had the chance to meet some amazing developers, working on my other projects. Only this one attracted two con artists. As I followed their profiles, Upwork managed to quickly identify and cancel them.
3. There is some risk involved. The developer may be great, but they may still get hit by a car, leaving your project in limbo.
4. Take your time after you receive the code for each milestone. Check it thoroughly for plagiarism.
5. Jun 2022 edit: Pick a developer from a country where a war is not likely to happen…

Please feel free to check the browser-based Spider Solitaire game.