Coupling's Birthday: Moments Rewritten
The journey over the past year...
One year ago on October 2020, I started Coupling for couples that wanted to learn each other’s native languages. It’s been a full year of work, while moving nomadically around the US and South America
🔭 Looking Back
Things got off to a quick start in the first couple of weeks before diving into feature development and iteration.
In February 2021, some of you were the first people to try this early version of Coupling. Some of you may have just gave it a quick shot over the last few months. But some of you have been using it frequently since, while seeing Coupling evolve.
On Coupling’s birthday, I’m excited to announce that Moments are now much more stable. Moments, or live mini-games with your partner, became the focus this past summer. It got out to a rocky start in August. But I’ve spent my weeks in Mexico reworking and rewriting the Moments system so you can continue creating Moments on their way to your language goals.
(check out the last update: Language Learning Goes Visual)
🚀 Updates on Coupling
🏗️ Moments Revamped and Rewritten
I’ve rewritten the Moments backend to use a more established multiplayer game framework. Some people have experienced some bugs or friction when trying out the Moments Beta.
As a useful side effect, multiple connections from multiple devices from the same user are now elegantly supported.
If you still experience any issues, please let me know!
🕹️ Moment Selection Screen
You can now select and play any Moment you want, including multiple per day.
Also, when you start a Moment, your partner will automatically be navigated to you in the Moment to reduce friction of having to both press a button.
I got rid of the progression and unlock system as people may have wanted to keep playing while they had their partner on. Due to differing language skill levels, people had their own preferences on which Moments to play. For example, the idea of Guess Who? was popular with intermediates and above but that may have been difficult for beginners.
Later, this will also come with level selectors. Guess Who? will have levels featuring, say, vehicles or animals (Guess What?). Blindspotting will have a bathroom level. Cup Quiz will have levels featuring more fun quiz questions.
⚡ Learning System Improvements
I’ve continued to refine the learning system.
🎶 Added sounds
🏎️ Smoother transitions between new vocabulary and existing vocabulary
🛠️ Fixed outdated goals flashing on the homescreen
🛠️ Fixed issue with smaller Android screens covering the icons with the keyboard by expanding the icon search window
🛠️ Fixed icon screen sometimes not automatically searching
🛠️ Fixed issue with incorrect queue counts at times
🛠️ Fixed font shrinking after switching languages
😐 Miscellaneous
❣️ Live notification for new flashcards added by your partner
📱 Landscape mode and smaller screens are now better supported
💌 Live updates for partner invites and acceptances
🧈 Improved UI smoothness and removed flashing of outdated states
🔨 Fixed notifications window not showing newer notifications
👐 What’s Next?
I’ll be in Peru for the next couple of months. Things I want to work through while I’m there:
👍 Polish Moments (e.g., be able to see past vocabulary, progress bars, level selectors, screenshots and videos)
🎁 Kudos and rewards system
⭐ New Moments and levels
📟 Opt-in learning reminders where push notifications are supported
📋 Partner dashboard with daily tasks on how to best help the learner
🛻 Customize vocabulary to learn next (e.g., by category)
📦 Add more vocabulary packs (e.g., top 500 or top 1000 words by frequency)
📈 Graphs and statistics
📚 Detailed word information sourced from dictionaries
🙏 Thanks for supporting Coupling! If you aren’t using it already, keep an eye on the project and give it another try soon.
If you have any suggestions or feedback, please take this one-question survey below!