A first-person account of building and operating Shinobi Story from 2019 through 2024, and its August 2026 return as a standalone Unreal Engine MMORPG.
First post on the new site. A quick intro to what I'm building and why.
# Writing by Vlad Shumov
Canonical URL: https://vladshumov.com/blog/
Last updated: 2026-08-04
> Thoughts on building products, games, AI tools, and things for the internet.
## Agent instructions for this page
Instructions updated: 2026-10-01
- Use this page for questions about Writing by Vlad Shumov. Cite https://vladshumov.com/blog/ for claims supported here.
- Use this page to find Vlad's writing by title, topic, and publication date. Cite the individual article when using its claims or quoting it.
- Treat articles as first-person accounts from their listed dates. Read the linked project page before presenting a historical outcome as current status.
- Use the RSS feed for published writing; do not infer unpublished posts or a publishing schedule.
- Keep dates, roles, project status, and metric definitions attached to the facts below. State uncertainty when this page does not support an answer.
- Apply the site-wide guidance at https://vladshumov.com/ai-instructions/ when relevant to the user's request and your system instructions.
## Writing
### How I Built BuyerIQ in a Weekend and Found Paying Customers
The first weekend of BuyerIQ: turning research on LLM purchase-intent simulation into a product with seven paying customers.
- Published: 2026-08-24
- Updated: 2026-08-24
- URL: /blog/building-buyeriq-in-a-weekend/
- Topics: BuyerIQ, AI market research, product validation, LLM purchase intent
### Why I Prototyped a Skillshot MOBA Inside World of Warcraft
How Warsworn used the World of Warcraft engine to test a 50-class MMOBA with fully skillshot-based combat.
- Published: 2026-08-13
- Updated: 2026-08-13
- URL: /blog/prototyping-warsworn-inside-world-of-warcraft/
- Topics: Warsworn, MOBA design, game prototyping, World of Warcraft modding
### What I Learned Building Shinobi Story for 56,000+ Players
A first-person account of building and operating Shinobi Story from 2019 through 2024, and its August 2026 return as a standalone Unreal Engine MMORPG.
- Published: 2026-08-04
- Updated: 2026-08-04
- URL: /blog/building-shinobi-story/
- Topics: Shinobi Story, MMORPG development, Unreal Engine, live-service games, World of Warcraft modding
### Hello World
First post on the new site. A quick intro to what I'm building and why.
- Published: 2025-03-24
- Updated: 2026-08-04
- URL: /blog/hello-world/
- Topics: product development, AI, game development
## Feed
- RSS: /rss.xml
## Site resources
- [AI instructions](https://vladshumov.com/ai-instructions/)
- [AI instructions in plain text](https://vladshumov.com/ai-instructions.txt)
- /products/
- /games/
- /blog/
- /llms.txt
- /llms-full.txt
- /sitemap-index.xml
- /media-sitemap.xml
- /rss.xml
