Almost There: Goban3D Is Coming to the App Store
I can barely type these words without grinning. After two years of solo development — thousands of hours, hundreds of beta builds, and more late nights than I can count — Goban3D is almost ready for its first submission to the App Store.
This is really happening.
What's Launching
When Goban3D hits the App Store, it won't be a minimum viable product or an early preview. It will be a fully featured Go app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac — the most accessible Go app ever made, and I genuinely believe it will be one of the most beautiful too.
Here's what's shipping on day one:
Stunning 3D and 2D Boards
A gorgeous 3D board powered by RealityKit with physically-based materials that catch light like real wood and stone, running at a smooth 60 frames per second. Four board textures and eight stone textures are included free. Or switch instantly to a clean, fast 2D board drawn entirely in SwiftUI — perfect for battery saving, older devices, or simply preferring a flat board. No restart required.
100% Accessibility
This is the feature I'm most proud of. Goban3D has 100% accessibility coverage across every one of Apple's seven accessibility categories: VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, Voice Control, Reduce Motion, Reduce Transparency, Sufficient Contrast, and Differentiate Without Color. Every single feature has been tested — not just by me, but by visually impaired Go players in Japan who have been using the app daily and shaping it with their feedback.
No other Go app on the App Store declares any accessibility features. Not one. Goban3D will be the first — and it doesn't just tick a box, it goes all in. NHK-style move announcements, Go term callouts, grid-based board navigation, a dedicated high contrast mode for players with low vision, and haptic feedback for every placement and capture. Go belongs to everyone, and Goban3D means it.
Network Play
Play Go against another person on a different device — over the internet or on the same local network. Powered by Apple's Game Center, network play lets you invite a friend or match with another player, then play a full game in real time on your iPhone or iPad. This is the feature that the Japanese Association for Blind Go has been most excited about — for the first time, visually impaired players will be able to play each other digitally without needing Zoom calls and physical boards.
KataGo AI (Mac)
On Mac, Goban3D ships with KataGo — one of the strongest open-source Go engines in the world — running entirely on-device using Apple Silicon. No internet connection required. Choose from the strongest AI setting or select a human-like skill level from 20 kyu all the way up to 9 dan. Whether you're a complete beginner looking for a patient practice partner or a dan-level player who wants to be properly challenged, KataGo has you covered. And because it runs locally on your Mac's neural engine, it's fast, private, and always available.
12 Languages
Goban3D launches with full localisation in twelve languages — every menu, every label, every VoiceOver announcement, and every move callout, all fully translated:
- English
- Japanese (日本語)
- Korean (한국어)
- Simplified Chinese (简体中文)
- Traditional Chinese (繁體中文)
- Chinese — Hong Kong (香港中文)
- French (Français)
- German (Deutsch)
- Dutch (Nederlands)
- Russian (Русский)
- Romanian (Românã)
- Turkish (Türkçe)
The app automatically matches your device language. More languages are planned.
How Did We Get Here?
Two years ago, I was a self-taught developer with zero knowledge of Apple's platforms, zero funding, and zero team members. I didn't know Swift. I didn't know SwiftUI. I didn't know RealityKit. I had never published an app. What I did have was twenty years of love for Go, a stubborn refusal to accept that no Go app in the world offered accessibility support, and three Apple devices sitting on my desk.
I taught myself everything from Apple's official documentation and free WWDC sessions. I built a 3D rendering engine, a game state machine, an entity component system for animations, a full accessibility layer, a network multiplayer system, and an AI integration — all as a solo developer working from my flat in Exeter.
Along the way, something extraordinary happened. The Japanese Association for Blind Go found out about the project, and visually impaired players in Japan started testing the app and sending feedback. Their suggestions transformed Goban3D. Features like NHK-style move announcements, Go term callouts, and grid-based navigation exist because blind players told me what they needed — and those features make the app better for everyone.
The British Go Association shared Goban3D with their entire membership and across European Go Federation member countries. Beta testers from around the world have been playing, reporting bugs, suggesting features, and helping me shape this into something I'm incredibly proud of.
This Is Only the Beginning
I want to be completely clear about something: what's launching on the App Store is not the finished product. It's the foundation. Goban3D has years of development ahead of it, and I could not be more excited about what's coming.
There are features I've been dreaming about since day one that haven't been built yet. There are ideas that players have suggested during beta testing that I can't wait to tackle. There are entire areas of Go — teaching, analysis, problems, recorded games — that Goban3D will grow into over time.
I'm not going to make specific promises or announce a roadmap — I've learned that solo development is unpredictable and I'd rather deliver than over-promise. But I can tell you this: Goban3D is my life's work. I'm not moving on to the next project. I'm not going to let it gather dust. Every week, I'm writing code, fixing bugs, and building new things. This app is going to keep getting better, month after month, year after year.
The Go community deserves a truly great app — one that's beautiful, accessible, powerful, and built by someone who genuinely loves the game. That's what I'm building. That's what I'll keep building.
Try It Now
Can't wait for the App Store release? Goban3D is available right now through Apple's TestFlight beta programme. You can join the beta directly on TestFlight or visit the Join the Beta page for more information.
If you'd like to support an independent developer on this journey, you can buy me a coffee. Every contribution helps keep the lights on and development going.
Thank you to every beta tester, every player who sent feedback, every person who shared Goban3D with a friend. You helped build this. The App Store submission is coming very soon — and I cannot wait to share it with the world.