Small tools, experiments, and ongoing projects.
This is a growing collection of web applications I’ve built or that are under active development.
“The true object of all human life is play.” — G. K. Chesterton
Some are finished. Some are evolving. Many looking like ruins in the desert.
They range from practical tools to reflective experiments. They often start as a question, a frustration, or a curiosity. Some are public, some are prototypes, and some are unfinished (deliberately or not).
“This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realise it is play.” — Alan Watts
They are best seen as art or play. No real end. But learning with each one. Thinking through doing.
Aeldkin – Caveman Game
Trying to simulate and play 6 million years of evolution
I had an idea to build a game to understand the experience of deep time. 6 million years ago to about 6000 years ago. This is the result. It’s teaching me about game dynamics and refactoring design choices.
Build: Lovable – 20-60 mins + GitHub CoPilot – 1-2 days.
Status: Live but work in progress – not really ready yet.
Avon Game (River Simulator)
Can we “gamify” being a local river?
Thinking of ways to get people to engage with the Bristol Avon ecosystem. Ended up being a cross between SimCity and Game of Life. Processed accurate river data to build the tile map. Added towns and cities – Bristol, Keynsham, Bath, Bradford-upon-Avon, Melksham and Chippenham.
Build: Lovable – 20-60 mins + GitHub CoPilot – 1-2 days.
Status: Live but work in progress – not really ready yet.
Mnemora – Journal Comics
Can I make a comic out of my life and writing?
This is a cool project. I journal using www.750words.com. I was hearing about the abilities of the Gemini 3 Image model (“Nano Banana Pro”). So I wondered the above question. This was the answer.
Build: Google AI Studio – 20-60 mins + GitHub CoPilot – 2-4 days.
Status: Live – roughly ready?
Future work: longer form stories with character consistency – can I make a whole comic book with themes and arcs and stuff?
Twenty Three Zero – Goals and Life Tracking
https://www.twenty-three-zero.com/
Can we build something to help us live better lives?
This is an older project, started over a year ago before modern faster “vibe-coding” approaches. The idea was to have something that complemented the journalling to help me live “better”. Things like noting worries and challenges, together with wins and goals. Recently I updated with some automated review of my journal entries – to auto add the notes using LLMs from raw text. Also has a probabilistic “death” calculator.
From a tech perspective, experiments with deploying to Azure and building an app with separate front-end (React) and back-end (Python).
Build: Hand + later AI assistance.
Status: Live – needs some work and TLC.
Veggie Hero – Menu Planning
Can I build a weekly meal plan from my veg-box email and my Lidl receipt?
Trying to work out if I could do a quick build to give me something useful.
Build: Google AI Studio – 20-60 mins.
Status: Live.
Middle-Aged Man Tamagotchi
Keep a 4x-year-old West Country man functional, fulfilled, and vaguely sane
Built as a fun exercise to test going from journal entries to a game with 80s and 90s vibes.
Build: Lovable – 20-60 mins.
Status: Live.
Emotional Awareness
Using LLMs to Explore Embodied Feelings
I was reading books on getting people more connected with their body and feeling. Via phones and technology we are often distant and not aware of what we are feeling.
Build: Lovable – 20 mins.
Status: Live.
Poetry Studio
Can LLMs write poems?
I like the thought of writing poems based on random snippets of ideas. This plays with that and also explores Lovable’s abilities. It also experiments with track changes LLM revisions.
Build: Lovable – 20 mins.
Status: Live.
Just Do Something – One Small Action
What if the hardest part of doing something is just picking what to do?
Overthinking is a trap. You sit there with a hundred things you could do and end up doing none of them. This is a deliberately tiny app. It picks one small, concrete action for you — “delete one app notification you don’t need”, “fill up your water bottle”, “message someone you haven’t spoken to in a while” — and asks you to just do it. That’s the whole thing.
You tell it whether you’re at work or home, it gives you a suggestion, and you either do it or skip to another. There’s a quiet counter to track what you’ve done today, but no streaks, no guilt, no gamification beyond a gentle “you’re doing great” when you tick one off. It works offline. It’s a PWA so you can stick it on your home screen.
Built it in an hour on a Friday afternoon with about 5 Lovable credits. The idea came from noticing how often I stall — not because I don’t have things to do, but because choosing feels harder than doing.
Build: Lovable – 20 mins.
Status: Live.
Between Us – Conversation Cards
What if the hardest part of a good conversation is starting one?
Built for when you run out of things to say or things to do.
A shared-device app where you sit together, pick a mood and the AI guides you through five questions. You take turns answering, and the AI adapts. At the end you get a short reflection on what you shared together.
It works for couples, families with kids, or friends. You can add up to 8 people with families or friends. Names are optional if you’d rather stay anonymous. The closing summary is downloadable.
Build: Lovable – 30 mins.
Status: Live.
Future work: voice input option, saved session history, themed question packs (e.g. “first date”, “family road trip”, “annual check-in”).
There are also a load of older things on GitHub I need to add here:
- Talking Text
- Talking Legislation
- Personal Rag
- Kindle Clip Visualisations
Old Machine Learning Projects from years ago – benhoyle.github.io
Robotic Ape 