The MileStone Reveal moment

The MileStone reveal is one of my favorite moments in Opal.

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I like it because it's a good example of how we balance our obsession over details with the need to ship fast. Ever since choosing the name "Opal" (a fun story for another time), we've dreamed up countless ideas to bring it to life in delightful ways. We thought the reveal moment was especially meaningful. We were inspired by the process of mining real opal gems (for a geeky deep dive, check out "Outback Opal Hunters" on YouTube), and we imagined our app's gem evolving alongside your journey—growing brighter, more vibrant, and more intricate as your focus improves.

We faced significant creative constraints: one was technical, Apple's Screen Time API privacy rules required our home screen gem to exist within a sandboxed extension which didn't allow for animations or fancy animations. The second was time/investment: no more than 5 weeks from start to finish, as a 20% time project for 1 engineer.

‍Antoine kicked things off with initial prototypes while searching worldwide for a talented 3D animator, especially someone with experience in precious stones. After reviewing hundreds of portfolios, he found Remi, whose skills matched our vision perfectly. Together, they quickly started crafting stunning 3D animations.

‍Matt, who loves to build incredible iOS interaction and has a sharp product intuition, Anton and I worked closely to refine every detail through multiple rapid feedback sessions. We paid careful attention to nuances—like ensuring bits of dirt flew off the screen just right and perfecting the reward sounds. Matt also experimented with temporary files and meticulously fine-tuned haptic feedback while Anton took care of product design, polishing screens, crafting clear, inviting copy, and making navigation feel intuitive and seamless.

Today, the MileStone reveal is a special moment in Opal that beautifully captures our careful blend of creativity, teamwork, and thoughtful attention to detail, without compromising on speed. Over 2 Million people have revealed a MileStone so far.