Updates
Learn more about the journey as we re-build SoSa from the ground up!
27th September 2020
Sprint 19 – Slowly fast
Hey! how’re you? My full time job is chaotic at the moment, so whilst I have worked on SoSa this sprint, i’ve not had nearly as much time as I would have liked and decided against doing a release this sprint just to make sure i’m delivering something of value! I’ve still make great progress...
27th September 2020
Game night - Golf with your friends
Sunday 18th October 1900-2100 GMT / 1200-1400 PT / 1500-1700 ET It’s been months since we played golf with friends so I thought it would be a nice change! Don’t have it? Don’t worry! ...
14th September 2020
Sprint 18 – We’re on fire!
It’s been another two weeks since your last update and aside from being crashed into at the start of the sprint it’s been a great two weeks! Lot’s done! another release out in the wild and ready to start a new sprint! This happened So this person responded to two emails, one from 2015 and ...
14th September 2020
Alpha Release 1.0.8
I’ve started making videos each release, I might get fancier with them next update but for now I thought I’d keep it simple – the write up below gives much more information! Welcome Screen This one’s been a long time coming, when you sign up to SoSa, it’s important you get a...
14th September 2020
Game night - Witch It
Sunday 4th October 1900-2100 GMT / 1200-1400 PT / 1500-1700 ET It’s time once again for Boob and belly physics and we delve into the world of WitchIt! The game recently had an update and we had so much fun...
1st September 2020
Sprint 17 – Coffee’s back on the menu!
Gather round! gather round! Girls! Boys! Troglodytes! Every one lean in close, we have another important set of updates for you. This one is a bit later than usually because in the UK we had what we call a “Bank Holiday” and what this basically means is everyone who works for the bank goes on...
1st September 2020
Alpha Release 1.0.7
Here’s the line up for Alpha Release 1.0.7! We’re picking up a bit more speed again now and I hope each release will show case more and more features 🙂 Google Login! Last of the logins, this one was a bit more complicated because we don’t get a username from Google! For now,...
1st September 2020
Game night - Worms W.M.D
Sunday 20th September 1900-2100 GMT / 1200-1400 PT / 1500-1700 ET Thought we’d go for a bit of a classic this time with Worms W.M.D, it’s also free at the moment if you have Xbox game pass! ...
16th August 2020
Sprint 16 – Warm Up
Well well well, look who it is! That’s right… it’s you! You beautiful bastard! How are you? Oh! you want me to tell you about SoSa? Well why didn’t you say so! You may remember my last update was a little melodramatic, well don’t worry I feel much better this sprint, I have managed to...
16th August 2020
Alpha Release 1.0.6
After a short break, i’m back to creating releases every sprint, this first one is a little small but we’ll pick up momentum with each sprint again 🙂 New Stuff Facebook Login Alpha team should now be able to login to the app with Facebook, to avoid privacy issues we’re not...
16th August 2020
Game night - Among Us
Sunday 6th September 1900-2100 GMT / 1200-1400 PT / 1500-1700 ET Work together as you attempt to prepare your spaceship for departure, but beware as one or more random players among the Crew are Impostors bent on killing everyone! ...
2nd August 2020
Sprint 15 – Wearing My Heart On My Sleeve
The funny thing about the startup world is that we only ever see the success stories, the plucky entrepreneurs that save the day by creating some world changing software, or that appear one day with an amazing, addictive game that everyone wants to play. It’s rare people talk about the failures,...
2nd August 2020
Game night - Teeworlds
Sunday 23rd August 1900-2100 GMT / 1200-1400 PT / 1500-1700 ET Play together with your friends and have a fun time! In Teeworlds you can play in three gamemodes (Deathmatch, Team-Deathmatch and Capture The Flag) and tons more of...
20th July 2020
Sprint 14 – Just James Things
So today is the last day of my fortnight off and It’s been an interesting two weeks. I’ve played a lot of games, saw some friends, did my full time job and started to exercise again. I figured i’d do a mix of an update and how i’ve spent my 2 weeks this update. Let’s ...
20th July 2020
Alpha Release 1.0.5
This is a smaller release, I spent a lot of time refactoring and cleaning up the code to support some new features so not a huge amount of changes but still some! A lot of this was done during the previous sprint to make sure i had something to release this sprint. Character Restrictions Ok...
5th July 2020
Sprint 13 – I Need a Break
It’s not me, it’s you… just joking! OR AM I? At the start of the last sprint, I was starting to feel burnout on the horizon, so to keep momentum I did one big push the last two weeks and got two lots of “releases” ready, one for this update and one for the next. ...
5th July 2020
Alpha Release 1.0.4
New Features Tagging Have you ever been in a chat room full of bots all creatively named and thought to yourself “How do I tag Bot10”? Well, if you’ve followed previous releases, you would know you could press their face. Or, even press them in the user list but sometimes – that’s a...
Sprint 11 – Motion In The Ocean
7th June 2020
Wow! What a sprint! Genuinely one of my most productive in the last few months, I’ve gotten so much done that I’m not at the point I feel I can start blogging a mix between what’s been released and what i’m working on.
Before I get started with this week’s update, I wanted to do a quick shout out to Sebastian, Rhod, Tom, Samantha, Dan and Jake!
Among Us
7th June 2020
Next one is Sunday 14th June 1900-2100 GMT / 1200-1400 PT / 1500-1700 ET and we will be Among Us
Grab a free ticket on eventbrite to let us know you're coming.
Sprint 10 – Refinement
May 25th June 2020
I have literally no idea where the last two weeks have gone. If it weren’t for Jira, I honestly wouldn’t know I’d achieved so much this sprint!
Everything is blending into a single, really long, coffee fueled day and it’s weird. Stop it.
Game Night - Jackbox Party
May 25th May 2020
Next one is Sunday 14th June 1900-2100 GMT / 1200-1400 PT / 1500-1700 ET and we will be playing Jackbox Party
Grab a free ticket on eventbrite to let us know you're coming.
Video - Jackbox Party Part 1
24th May 2020
Starting to get into a rhythm with these now! I’ve finished Part 1 of the Jackbox Party 6 video from our game night in February.
This one was a little bit more difficult to make interesting, so please be gentle and of course like and subscribe! 🙂
You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/h6V4p21wjWs on YouTube!
Sprint 9 – Now In Technicolor
11th May 2020
Hello girls and boys! It’s me! yo friendly neighbourhood James!
We’re going to do things a little differently this update. It felt a bit weird that everyone on the BETA were getting the updates a week after I share it everywhere else on Social media.
Game Night - Team Fortress 2
4th May 2020
Next one is Sunday 17th May 1900-2100 GMT / 1200-1400 PT / 1500-1700 ET and we will be playing Team Fortress 2
Grab a free ticket on eventbrite to let us know you're coming.
Video - WitchIt Part 1
4th May 2020
Part 1 of our WitchIt game night is now live!
Follow us as delve into a world of wonder and play hide and seek as Hunter and Witch with realistic belly and boob physics!
Enjoy the wonder that are chickens as hunting devices, belly flops that weed out the enemy and @TheSire praising himself constantly.
You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4WPut6kU-w on YouTube!
Sprint 8 – Adventure Time!
26th April 2020
Hello, it’s me again! James!
You’re probably wondering what i’ve been working on the last two weeks. Well take my hand and we will delve into a world of imagination!
Game Night - Jackbox Party
27th April 2020
Next one is Sunday 3rd May 1900-2100 GMT / 1200-1400 PT / 1500-1700 ET and we will be playing Jackbox Party 3, 4, 5 and 6!
Grab a free ticket on eventbrite to let us know you're coming.
Sprint 7 – Corona Stole My Title
13th April 2020
Thank you to everyone who sent me well wishes after my last update. Thankfully I feel much better now, I’m sleeping and the headaches have gone 🙂 which means I managed to get a fair amount done this sprint! 🥳
If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear from you! Let me know how you’re getting on with the current crisis 😊
Game Night - Trouble in Terrorist Town
6th April 2020
Next one is Sunday 19th April 1900-2100 BST / 1100-1300 PT / 1400-1600 ET and we'll be playing Trouble In Terrorist Town (Garry's Mod)
Grab a free ticket on eventbrite to let us know you're coming.
Sprint 6 – That’s a Weird Looking Patronus
29th March 2020
Ok… so I should preface this with a few caveats…
- I wasn’t expecting a global pandemic to completely change the way we have to work overnight
- I haven’t slept very well at all for the last 2 weeks leaving me only just enough brain power to do my day job properly
- I definitely underestimated how much free time I would have.
This Is Not the Sprint You’re Looking For
15th March 2020
This sprint hasn’t really been a sprint, more of a really long refinement and retrospective.
When I came back from Prague, Corona was starting to get more media attention with speculation of a recession so I decided it was time to start looking for work.
I spent some time getting my CV together and tying up some loose ends, like end of year accounts, paper work, my tax return etc.
Remarkably, I actually secured a contract very quickly and so today as you’re reading this, i’ve already started!
Game Night - Jackbox Party
9th March 2020
Next one is Sunday 22nd of March, 1900-2100 GMT and we'll be playing Jackbox Party 3/4/5/6!
All you need is a phone / web browser and way to watch the stream. There are limited spaces so if a lot of people sign up, we'll run separate games or take it in turns.
Grab a free ticket on eventbrite to let us know you're coming.
Sprint 5 - Robot Uprising
4th March 2020
First things first! We’re in the Alpha stores! 🥳🥳
Exciting right? But what does that actually mean?
So right now, the original Council team can install the app on their phones and break it to their heart’s content.
Game Night - Murder! (Garry's mod)
24th February 2020
Next SoSa game night we will be playing Murder (Garry's Mod)
Sunday 8th March 1900-2100 GMT / 1200-1400 PT / 1500-1700 ET
If you've not played Murder before, you run around a spooky house, going through trap doors, hiding and trying to work out which one of you is a Murder.
Grab a free ticket on eventbrite to let us know you're coming.
Sprint 4 - Now We’re Cooking With Gas!
17th February 2020
Well well well, look who we have here! I’ve been thinking about you… yes you… don’t be coy!
I want to tell you about my last two weeks, would that be ok? Great!
Game Night - Witch It!
10th February 2020
Next SoSa game night we will be playing Witch It
Sunday 23rd Feb 1900-2100 GMT / 1200-1400 PT / 1500-1700 ET
Witch It is a multiplayer hide & seek game. Brave hunters seek hidden witches in a humorous, magical world.
The Witch It world is jam-packed with humble villages, icy lakes, and ancient libraries for you to explore and hide within. Each map has its own stories and secrets for you to delve into and discover!
Grab a free ticket on eventbrite to let us know you're coming.
Sprint 3 - Cooking with Matches!
3rd February 2020
This sprint has been a little… fucky.
The winter has hit my mood hard and I struggled for the first week to focus. Stepping away, sleeping, working out – none of it worked. So it’s been a bit of a struggle.
I almost booked a trip to the canaries just to get some of that sun juice but the hassle of organising the trip was also apparently too much
Game Night - Jackbox Party!
29th January 2020
TheSire and I had a lot of fun in last nights game night thank you everyone who joined.
Next one is Sunday 9th of Feb, 1900-2100 GMT and we'll be playing Jackbox Party 3/4/5/6!
All you need is a phone / web browser and way to watch the stream. There are limited spaces so if a lot of people sign up, we'll run separate games or take it in turns.
Grab a free ticket on eventbrite to let us know you're coming.
Sprint 2 - Nerd Ramble
22nd January 2020
This is a technical post going into depth about the work i’ve done in the last sprint.
Tech stuff can be dry at times, so I’ll add pictures, colours, maybe some explosions – keep it interesting.
I will also over explain so non-techies can understand better, it’ll still be very technical but at-least if you’re interested in learning it won’t be completely off limits!
Read More...
Sprint 2 - The ummm Foundations?
20th January 2020
Last update, I got some feedback that people didn’t get the “tech stuff” so this time I’m going to try something new and exciting!
So this article will be an overview and then i’ll do a 2nd post with much more technical stuff that will go into more detail about the code i’ve built and why i’ve made some of the choices I have so I don’t look entirely insane!
Read More...
Game Night - Golf With Friends!
11th January 2020
Matt / TheSire and I met earlier in the week and have worked out the best way to run the game nights (for now)
They'll be run every 2 weeks on a Sunday and between 1900-2100 GMT
The first game night is Sunday 26th! We'll be playing Golf With Friends and you can grab a ticket on eventbrite.
Sprint 1 - Foundations
6th January 2020
If you’re an entrepreneur you’ll probably be in a similar boat to me. Trying to do a million jobs on a tiny budget.
Great for your startup, not so much for fortnightly updates! So I’ll try to keep these posts structured and a little ridiculous.
There will be a combination of tech stuff, marketing stuff and general nonsense.
Read More...
Sprint 0 - Precursor
4th January 2020
I want to lay the foundations for who I am and why i’m here, tell you a bit of my story.
On Monday 6th I’ll post what i’ve been working on the last 2 weeks and then you’ll see the same every 2 weeks from there 🙂... Read More
The Blog Is Live!
29th December 2019
I'm pleased to announce that the blog is live again! you can view it by visiting blog.sosa.net :)
We're Open Source
25th December 2019
I've always been passionate about is Open Source software and by building an open and honest community I feel we can make a really possitive impact on people's lives.
With the re-build of SoSa, I felt it was time to start making as much of our code Open Source as possible so with that, you can find us on GitHub where shortly repos will start appearing :)
New Domains
23rd December 2019
Along with our acquisition of SoSa.org in November, we have now purchased sosa.dev which will be used for all our developer documentation and sosa.help which will be used for all user guides and how-to's.
LonelyGiraffes.com also became available, because some imgurians might still use this it seemed sensible to buy it whilst it was cheap.
We own SoSa.org!
25th November 2019
We've purchased and secured sosa.org, although we won't be using this as our primary domain it is important to the future success of SoSa.
We may in the future use this for business specific groups and communities but for not it will redirect to sosa.net :)
Let's Get Started!
30th August 2019
Next week marks a year since I put SoSa on pause for health and financial reasons.
After almost 5 years it was one of the hardest decisions i have ever had to make.
I had to let several employees go, including Ena and in a way that should have never happened, I regret that and I know it upset a lot of the community.
At the time I felt I had no choice left, it should have never gotten to that point, but my health took priority and the community continued in a fashion on in Discord.
Since that night, I've had a lot of counselling, sorted out my debt and lost a considerable amount of weight.
Now, on to the good stuff!
After months of planning with veterans of the site, next month - I will be restarting development of a whole new SoSa.
Two completely new mobile apps, a desktop app and website. Built properly this time, planned properly and with features you've all been suggesting over the last year.
The aim is to relaunch next year with a beta program first to iron out any bugs.
I'm really looking forward to getting SoSa back online and providing somewhere online to build a great community.
Thank you to everyone that's encouraged me and supported the community over the last year. <3
Originally posted on our Facebook