I Gave Up Codeforces to Build an Ecosystem

Hi everyone! Around two years ago, I wrote my first blog, "Motivated Coder." At that time, I shared how Codeforces helped me stay motivated, practice problem-solving, and continue coding even when my personal projects were not making any money.

Today, I am still coding.

But I spend much less time on Codeforces now.

So... where did I go?

First, who am I?

Honestly, I am not really sure how to answer that question.

• A Mobile Developer?
• A Game Developer?
• An Expert coder on Codeforces?
• A chess player with around 2200 Elo?
• A 9 kyu Go player who started learning only two months ago and quickly discovered that Go is really hard?
• A guitar player?

Maybe I am a little bit of everything.

But I think all of these things have one similarity.

They train the mind.

I love thinking.

I love solving problems.

I love the feeling of looking at something I do not understand, trying different ideas, failing many times, and finally finding a solution.

That is probably why I enjoyed Codeforces so much.

I still remember my first Accepted.

And of course, I also remember all the WA, TLE, MLE, compile errors, and moments when I thought:

"How is this solution still wrong?!"

I even managed to keep a HEART STREAK for a while:

From programming to chess, from Go to puzzles, I realised that I simply enjoy exercising my mind.

Second, if we love something, why keep waiting for someone else to create it?

After spending years solving programming problems, playing chess, and recently trying to understand Go, I started looking for more games that could give me the same feeling.

Games that make me think.

Games that make me remember.

Games that make me solve something.

Games where getting better actually feels meaningful.

And honestly...

It was difficult to find exactly what I wanted.

Sometimes I opened a puzzle game and found advertisements everywhere.

Sometimes the puzzle was so easy that I did not even need to think.

Sometimes I had an idea for a game and searched for it...

but could not find it anywhere.

Then I started asking myself:

"If I keep waiting for someone else to create the game I want to play... how long will I be waiting?"

Maybe forever.

And I think this is something many developers understand.

Sometimes you see a problem and think:

"Why doesn't this exist yet?"

Maybe the answer is simple.

Nobody has built it yet.

So eventually, I stopped waiting.

Third, I did not want to spend my life solving only Problem A

After graduating from university, I received job offers and started working as a Mobile Developer.

The jobs paid well, and everything looked fine.

But sometimes I felt like I was solving Problem A again and again.

There is nothing wrong with Problem A. We all need it sometimes.

But if life is a contest, I do not want to spend all of my time solving only the easiest problem.

I wanted to try something harder.

Something where I could fail.

Something where I did not already know the answer.

Because time is probably the most valuable resource we have.

And I did not want to spend mine wondering:

"What would have happened if I had tried?"

So I left my job and returned to my old dream.

Making games.

Fourth, one game slowly became something much bigger

At first, I only wanted to make a game that I personally wanted to play.

Then I made another one.

Then I realised something.

Every new project required more than just making a game.

Accounts.

Leaderboards.

Web services.

Downloads.

Patch notes.

Announcements.

A website.

A forum.

And eventually, browser mini-games.

So instead of continuing to build everything separately, I decided to connect them together.

That is where a lot of my Codeforces time went.

I did not stop solving problems.

I just found a much bigger one.

Now I am building PromTGames — an ecosystem where my mobile games, web games, leaderboards, stories, updates, and future projects can live together.

You can visit it here:

promtgames.win

I recently started adding some small browser games too.

If you enjoy math and programming, maybe try:

Math Recall

And if you are both a coder and a chess player, I have another small challenge for you:

How Knights Move!

Finally, I have not really given up Codeforces

The title is a little dramatic.

I still love Codeforces.

I still love solving problems.

But right now, instead of solving another problem from a contest, I am spending more time solving problems that do not have an editorial.

Some of them take days.

Some take months.

Some of them have absolutely no idea what the correct solution looks like.

But in the end, the process is still familiar.

You see a problem.

You do not know the answer.

You try.

You fail.

You think.

You try again.

And hopefully...

Accepted.

I think that is the reason Codeforces will always be part of my story.

It taught me much more than algorithms.

It taught me that when a problem looks impossible, you can still sit down, think about it, try something, and slowly move forward.

So I guess I did not really give up Codeforces.

I just submitted a different problem.

And I have no idea whether my solution will pass.

Thank you for reading!

If you are interested in the story behind the projects, I have also started writing about the journey on my website:

The Story Behind PromTGames

And if there is something you have always wanted to exist but cannot find anywhere...

Maybe stop waiting for someone else to build it.

Maybe it is your problem to solve.