THE BALLCAM JOURNAL

Help me decide what's next for BallCam

marlburrow ·

Three rocket cars gather around a football on the pitch at sunset.

BallCam works, the EAC cleanup is done, the news section is up. But traffic is low. Before I commit more weekends to new features, I want to know what you'd actually use, and whether to keep pushing.

TL;DR

BallCam works. The EAC cleanup is done, the news section is live, the site is stable. But honestly? The user base is small. Before I sink more weekends into new features, I want to know: does this project still matter to you? Tell me what you'd want, and I'll know whether to keep pushing or settle into maintenance mode.

Where we are

BallCam started as a tool I wanted for myself: a clean, web-based 3D viewer for Rocket League replays with collab sessions, clip sharing and cheater detection. Over time it grew bigger than originally planned, with the upload API, deduplication, stats and now a fully refreshed site post-EAC.

But I'll be honest: the daily traffic is modest. Every feature I ship costs a weekend, and I'm asking myself a real question — am I building something people want, or just building for the joy of it? Both answers are fine, but they lead to very different roadmaps.

What I need from you

If you use BallCam, even occasionally, I'd love to hear from you. Drop a comment below, on the Discord, or via the feedback form. Specifically:

1. Do you actually use it?

  • How often? Daily, weekly, never?
  • For what? Analyzing your own games, sharing with friends, coaching, just curiosity?

2. What's missing?

  • A feature you wish existed and would actually bring you back?
  • Something on other sites that you wish was here?
  • A workflow that's currently painful?

3. What's broken or annoying?

  • UI problems, slow pages, missing stats, anything that makes you bounce.

4. Would you tell others about it?

  • If yes, what's the one-line pitch you'd use?
  • If no, why not?

Some directions I've been considering

Not commitments, just brainstorming. Your votes and counter-ideas are welcome:

  • Tournament / event mode — group replays into tournaments with brackets and aggregated stats
  • Better player profiles — career stats, peak performances, head-to-head history
  • Replay comparison — diff two replays side-by-side
  • Public coaching workspace — annotated replays others can browse and learn from
  • Mobile-friendly viewer — the current 3D viewer is desktop-first
  • Discord bot integration — post your replays directly to your server
  • Smarter cheater detection — custom heuristics on replay data, beyond Whosbotting
  • Community-funded features — if a feature gets enough interest, fast-track it

If nobody speaks up

Totally fair. BallCam will keep running as-is: the infrastructure is stable, replays will keep being parsed, EAC monitoring stays in place, and existing features won't break. But active development slows to maintenance only, and the project becomes a clean, modest replay viewer rather than a growing platform. That's a respectable outcome too. I just want to make the call with data.

How to reach out

  • Comment below — quickest, public, lets others +1 your ideas
  • Discord — the #suggestions channel works great
  • Feedback form — for longer or more structured input

Thanks for reading. Whether you've uploaded one replay or a hundred, your honest take is the most useful thing you can give me right now. 🙏

— MarlBurroW

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