When you hear “I’ve got this great app idea—it just needs someone to code it,” it may sound to you like you’re halfway there. But from a programmer’s point of view, that’s actually the least interesting and riskiest way to start. Here’s why:

1. There’s no roadmap—just “code this”

• Undefined scope: If all I have is a vague idea, I don’t know what “done” even looks like. Am I building a basic prototype? A polished product? What features must it have on day one, and what can wait until later?
• Endless scope creep: Without clear boundaries, every conversation becomes “Just one more little thing,” and suddenly what was supposed to be a weekend project balloons into months (or years).

2. You’re asking me to invent half the project

• UI/UX design: How should it look and feel? What screens go where? How do users navigate? That’s a specialized discipline all its own.
• Product strategy: Who exactly is this for? Why will they use it? How will you reach those users? If you can’t answer that, I can’t write code that solves a real problem.
• Testing & polish: Code needs testing, bug-fixing, documentation, deployment, maintenance… none of which you’ve accounted for.

3. No incentives, no commitment

• Why me? Great programmers want to work on problems they find meaningful, challenging, or fun—and ideally get compensated for their time. “Just code my idea” won’t light anyone’s fire.
• Who owns it? If I invest weekends or nights building your vision, what do I get? Equity? Pay? Recognition? Without a clear agreement, it’s a recipe for frustration and resentment.
• Long-term support: Apps need updates, server maintenance, user support. If you haven’t thought through who handles that, you’re building technical debt.

4. Real success stories are team sports

• Cross-functional collaboration: The best apps come from teams that include product thinkers, designers, data analysts, marketers—and yes, developers. You can’t outsource half the work and expect a hit.
• Iterate and learn: You start with sketches or clickable wireframes, show them to real people, iterate, then bring in developers to build a minimum viable product. That way, you’re coding something people actually want.

What you can do instead

1. Write a one-page spec: Describe the core problem, your ideal user, key features, and success metrics.
2. Mock it up: Even hand-drawn sketches of each screen help communicate your vision.
3. Validate your idea: Talk to potential users. If they’re excited, you’ve got something to build.
4. Find a partner: A developer who’s excited by your clear plan—and who sees a fair path to reward for their effort.

In short: coding is only about 20% of what it takes to launch a successful app. If you can’t show a programmer that you’ve thought through the other 80%, they’ll politely pass—because turning a half-baked idea into a working product is a lot more work (and risk) than it looks.

Code isn't that hard to learn, it just looks intimidating trust me.

Gamemaker and unity are free. Anyone can make a game.

Just make it on your own.

Scratch is a simple drag and drop app kids use to learn to code. I've seen kids create pretty elaborate games with it. Maybe you could play with that and figure out if your concept is in fact simple enough to create on your own.

If you want to open source it you can already open source your documents.

You can publish them and see if others like the idea and join you.

Maybe create a lemmy community to organize people who want to join.

You could try hiring someone on Fiverr. There are plenty of freelancers looking to take on work, and they should give you some level of customer service, and set your expectations for what actually needs to be done.

This might seem crazy but maybe try an AI editor like Cursor, Cline or Windsurt.

Even the free versions of Gemini, ChatGPT, Grok and DeepSeek aren’t bad.

Just tell them what you want, attach any drawings you have and make it a web app first.

cant you use chatgpt?

You can use it to learn or to code most of it. ...if coding was all that it took