Release 0.5 and Site Updates

Greetings, welcome back to the newly updated Devlog.

I was thinking about writing another site update, but with the newly added weekly blogposts, I thought that a blog like that would clutter the overview there a little bit.
So I decided to split the blog into categories, and behold, we're now on a separate 'Devlog' section. Isn't that cool?

The reason I wanted to write a little update is because we have officially made it into 'Release 0.5', and with that come a lot of new updates to the website, both publically and behind-the-curtains. The main feature of which being the implementation of user accounts! I'll go over some relevant updates to share and also touch on some future plans. So without further ado, let's get into it.

Boundless Domain

Yes, you might have already noticed, but Boundless Sagas is currently off of the Vercel allocated domain, as we have officially gotten our own domain name now. Currently, we are live under 'boundlesssagas.com'.
I initially wanted to wait for a little while longer until I had reached my intended 'Release 1.0', but then I thought to myself "why not?" and here we are.

Standings Regarding the Previously Mentioned Roadmap

Before touching on the accounts part of this update, I want to quickly revisit the roadmap I mentioned last post, since a couple of things have been reorganised here.
It is currently week 41, meaning I had my 'Release 0.5' scheduled for this week. And even though I managed to reach this 'Release 0.5', the definition of what exactly it entails is a bit different. Below a quick summary of what my previous and current 'Release 0.5' entail

Previous:

• Implemented a page for all the 'under construction' tabs
• Getting my first 'Create Your Own Story' done

Current:

• Implemented a stable, technical system for accounts and authentication
• Added dummy content for account-related pages

As you can see, these are totally different. Originally, I was planning on focussing more on the writing aspect for this release. However, that 'accounts' section on my whiteboard just looked so appealing, I couldn't wait any longer. So I decided to shift this release into one more oriented towards technical progress over writing progress. I still kept up with my weekly blogposts and my biweekly Boundless Saga episodes, but instead spent less time writing new content for the website.

Plans for the future & Release 1.0

Obviously, I still want to get the writing content done before I can call it 'Release 1.0'. I'm thinking that meanwhile, I'll be able to make both technical and writing progress, all working towards that final product. I have a couple of intended features linked to accounts in mind for my 'Release 1.0', but I'll let those wait until we are actually there. As for the website content, you can expect to see a 'Create Your Own Story' released with 'Release 1.0', as well as a start to both the 'Seasonal Stories' and the 'Newsletter Saga'

Accounts

As you might have seen on the website, it is now possible to log in and sign up to BoundlessSagas. This is a huge step, which was always intended for the website.
In the past, I have worked on a product where our team had to implement our own database and our own schema's. I personally didn't have much to do with that part, and next to that, I also have very little experience working with databases or authentication in general. This meant I chose an easier path for this project: 'Supabase'
Supabase is a database tool that allows you to make use of secure Postgres databases for your website. I decided to give it a go as manually making my own database was tricky and time intensive, but on top of that, it all had to be secure as well. Plus, it needed to be hosted somewhere, etc. etc. In short: Lots of headaches.
The setup with this tool was a bit of a learning curve. I had to find out what everything was used for, but most importantly how I can utilise Supabase in my code. Luckily, they provided a start guide, which allowed me to quickly setup some tools and files in my project.
Ultimately, it was just a matter of utilising these files, along with designing a couple of pages for signing in and logging in, that led to a complete integration for authentication on the website. I finished off with designing some emails for password reset and email verification, and that was pretty much it!

Although it take a little while for me to get familiar with this tool, I think it still went much quicker than expected. I found that it's often also just a matter of getting yourself familiar with the options and everything that comes with it, but once you know what you're doing, you actually see how easy they already made it for you.

Currently, the account implementation we're talking about means that you can create an account and login. That's basically it. There is a short page where you can see your own username, but it's nothing exciting yet. There is in fact not really a reason to make an account in the first place, but you could do it if you want to.
Over the next couple of updates, I will see about bringing more features to the account system, but until then, this is all you've got.

On that note, I would like to close off this devlog. I hope you're excited, I know I am. And stay tuned for all the amazing features coming your way soon!

Cya!