It's an app where your objective is to build your ideal future selves by mastering the habits needed to bring them into reality (in the present you). For now, it's an experiment to try and make habit-building more engaging and durable since changing personal habits are difficult to do in the long run.

Some blunt feedback: the premise is there, sure, but nothing about this gives me any inclination that there is something worth purchasing here. There's no explanation of how you "build your best future," what that entails, etc.

A few misc. thoughts:

--Future self sounds very "Matrix-y" and is overwhelming --The imagery is just too young --The "pay what you want to" model is interesting, but the foundation is providing excessive value. You have to make the case first that this is worth it... --There is a bug where if you scroll past the "add name" shot you can't go back. So, I got stuck there and am not sure what actually happens.

The self-help market is big and there is opportunity, but you need to clarify the message about your "system" or whatever it is that's going to work. This market is made by building a brand around your advice -- think about Atkins Diet, Tae Bo, 7 Habits -- and while the web component and "exploration" components are interesting, there's nothing that sticks or stands out, especially to an adult.

I plan on having a mobile version of the app too, but as I'm still only one person working on the web app full-time, it might be a while before that future mobile app comes out. In the meantime, I hope your current app works out for you!

As for the tools I used, it's currently hosted on Heroku and I built the app on the Meteor framework and MongoDB database. I chose them to let me focus primarily on the core app and design. That way, while I still had to know enough to use them, I didn't need to spend another couple months learning the deep ends of all the technology.

In so far as learning from scratch, I actually already had a basic foundation in the areas I needed to learn. In design, I grew up as an avid artist who enjoyed drawing, crafting, and doing some crappy graphic designs...at one point, I was even seriously considering becoming an architect. So picking up photoshop and building my graphic design skills weren't too bad for me.

In programming, I took an AP computer science course in high school and loved it. I unfortunately didn't continue programming afterward, so my ninja java skills are pretty non-existent by now. Nevertheless, it probably helped me see programming as something I could learn instead of this complete black box of mystery that truly non-technical people would see.

So I feel it would be unfair toward others who had none of these backgrounds to say that I truly learned everything from scratch. Beyond these basic skills though, yes, I had to start from all the itty-bitty basics of web development, such as the different languages available, figuring out what the heck is a library/plug-in/framework/jquery, using the console, how to deploy, and so many other first-time experiences that I can't list them all. I'm happy to say that these are second-nature to me by now though, so if I had to do it all again, I think I could probably build Habbit in half the time.

Our backgrounds are so similar (down to the 'considering becoming an architect' part) it's scary - you've given me confidence that I can pull this off on my own:)

As for future selves, I'm making the assumption that what you want to be at 30 is different from what you want to be at 60. So even if they're both in the future, they're in different stages of your future.

And in the short-term, I'm assuming that some might focus on improving a different aspect of themselves each year, like focusing on exercise and fitness for one year and master those habits, then move on the next year to focus on finance and career, and so on. From that perspective, you'll have slightly different selves and goals in each year.

Those are just my assumptions for now though. I'll probably observe and improve the use of future selves over time based on actual usage.

It's a gamified app for building your ideal future self with habits!

It was just launched yesterday on HN so, for the first day of my first startup, I'm happy with getting over 60 users signed up already. Not sure how to tell what's good traction or not though.

If all else fails though, I'm glad that I might have a career as a children's author! But really, thanks for your kind words about the illustrations and story-telling. They mean a lot to those countless drafts of redesigns and rewrites.

I especially like your idea of publishing a book version as a companion to the web. If the app grows big enough, I may very well do that!

Thanks also for your ideas, definitely considering some of them already!