CreepShield

AI bodyguard for your game freelance comms—flags creep, suggests paid upsells.

Score: 8.1/10ERMedium BuildReady to Spawn
Brand Colors

The Opportunity

Problem

Gaming freelancers endure scope creep from clients demanding extra work without compensation, causing unpaid overtime and burned-out portfolios.

Solution

CreepShield scans emails, Slack, Discord messages for scope creep signals using gaming-tuned AI, instantly notifying you and providing templated responses quoting extras. It logs everything for easy invoicing, turning risky requests into revenue. Protect your time without awkward client convos.

Target Audience

Freelance game developers, artists, and designers working on client projects in the gaming industry

Differentiator

Trained on 10k+ game dev-client threads for 95% creep detection accuracy in niche lingo like 'quick texture tweak'.

Brand Voice

edgy

Features

Message Scanner

must-have30h

Paste or forward comms; AI flags creep risks with confidence score.

Response Templates

must-have15h

One-click replies proposing paid change orders.

Creep Log

must-have12h

Central dashboard of all detected incidents with exportable invoices.

Integrations

must-have25h

Gmail/Slack/Discord webhooks for auto-scanning.

Pricing Suggester

must-have20h

AI estimates fair price for detected extras based on role/hourly.

Alert System

must-have10h

Real-time push/email notifications on high-risk messages.

Bulk Upload

nice-to-have8h

Scan historical emails to recover past unpaid work.

Team Sharing

nice-to-have7h

Share logs with collaborators.

Custom Rules

nice-to-have10h

User-defined creep triggers.

Reporting

future12h

Monthly creep stats and revenue opportunity reports.

Total Build Time: 149 hours

Database Schema

users

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
emailtextNo
hourly_rateintNo
roletextNo

Relationships:

  • one-to-many with scans

integrations

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
user_iduuidNo
typetextNo
credentialsjsonbNo

Relationships:

  • foreign key to users.id

scans

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
user_iduuidNo
message_texttextNo
creep_scoreintNo
suggested_priceintYes
resolvedboolNo

Relationships:

  • foreign key to users.id

API Endpoints

POST
/api/scan

Analyze message for creep

🔒 Auth Required
GET
/api/scans

List user scans

🔒 Auth Required
POST
/api/integrations

Connect new integration

🔒 Auth Required
POST
/api/templates/:id

Generate custom response

🔒 Auth Required
GET
/api/export/invoice

Download scan-based invoice

🔒 Auth Required

Tech Stack

Frontend
Next.js 14 + Tailwind + shadcn/ui + React Hook Form
Backend
Next.js API routes + Zod
Database
Supabase Postgres
Auth
Supabase Auth
Payments
Stripe
Hosting
Vercel
Additional Tools
Resend (emails)OpenAI API (scanning)

Build Timeline

Week 1: Auth, DB, basic scan

40h
  • User model
  • AI scan endpoint

Week 2: Scanner UI

45h
  • Paste/scan interface
  • Results display

Week 3: Integrations

50h
  • Gmail/Slack hooks

Week 4: Templates and alerts

45h
  • Response gen
  • Push notifications

Week 5: Logs and exports

35h
  • Dashboard
  • Invoice PDF

Week 6: Polish and deploy

30h
  • Custom rules beta
  • Landing

Week 7: Testing iterations

25h
  • Bug fixes
  • User feedback

Week 8: Launch prep

20h
  • SEO, analytics
Total Timeline: 8 weeks • 300 hours

Pricing Tiers

Free

$0/mo

No integrations

  • 50 scans/mo
  • Basic AI
  • Templates

Pro

$25/mo
  • Unlimited scans
  • Integrations
  • Alerts
  • Exports

Enterprise

$99/mo
  • All Pro + Custom AI
  • Team access
  • API

Revenue Projections

MonthUsersConversionMRRARR
Month 12001.5%$75$900
Month 61,5003.5%$1,313$15,750

Unit Economics

$30
CAC
$500
LTV
6%
Churn
88%
Margin
LTV:CAC Ratio: 16.7xExcellent!

Landing Page Copy

Creep No More—AI Shields Game Freelancers from Scope Bullies

Scan comms, get paid replies, reclaim your overtime instantly.

Feature Highlights

95% accurate game-dev AI
Slack/Email auto-scan
Smart pricing suggestions
Invoice-ready logs
Push alerts

Social Proof (Placeholders)

"'Caught $2k in hidden extras!' — Pixel Artist"
"'Game-changer for Discord clients.' — Freelance Dev"

First Three Customers

Run Twitter poll on #gamedev 'scope creep stories?' and offer free Pro to top responders. Post in Game Dev Discord 'beta testers wanted for creep detector'. Email outreach to freelancers from itch.io classifieds.

Launch Channels

Product Huntr/gamedevIndieHackersTwitter #indiedevHacker News

SEO Keywords

scope creep detector game freelanceAI email scanner game devprevent unpaid overtime game artistclient message creep guard

Competitive Analysis

$19/user/mo
Strength

Shared inbox

Weakness

No AI creep focus

Our Advantage

Gaming AI + freelance pricing automation

Clerk Chat

clerk.chat
$29/mo
Strength

Email analytics

Weakness

Generic, no templates

Our Advantage

Niche detection + response automation

🏰 Moat Strategy

Network effects from shared anonymized creep data improving AI for all users.

⏰ Why Now?

Explosion of remote freelance via Discords/Twitter amid Unity layoffs, increasing bad clients.

Risks & Mitigation

technicalmedium severity

Integration auth issues

Mitigation

Start with paste-only

marketlow severity

Privacy concerns

Mitigation

Client-side scan option

financiallow severity

OpenAI costs

Mitigation

Tiered limits

Validation Roadmap

pre-build5 days

Validate with 30 comms samples

Success: 85% manual agreement

mvp10 days

10 beta users scan 100 msgs

Success: Positive NPS >7

growth30 days

Integration usage >50%

Success: Repeat scans

Pivot Options

  • General AI email coach
  • Dev client CRM
  • Contract reminder bot

Quick Stats

Build Time
300h
Target MRR (6 mo)
$2,500
Market Size
$500.0M
Features
10
Database Tables
3
API Endpoints
5