2007–2008, while teaching salsa at On2: an automation and management system for art courses. It answered a real gap.
2008–2009, beside day jobs, it started to grow. In 2012 the function-based core hit a wall; I learned OOP and rewrote it, and it went into Git. November 2012 to August 2013 full-time — about five years, end to end.
One source: Mehmet Samli, PHP for Experts. One piece of advice, from Erdi Ata Bleda: "Why function design? Go object oriented."
It found no support and stayed unfinished. Last trace: v0.3.4 ALPHA, about 40,000 lines. Commit messages went from "Hope this fixes it…" to "Final touches… months later."
What it left behind went into the foundations of bg-core: the price of learning alone, and the need to not be alone and not be stuck.
What really happened in this project? Why did it never get finished? I'm digging out the details. It will be a journey back in time for me too…