I just upgraded Xcode to v4.6 (yah yah it took me long enough, we have been VERY busy all over the place.) BUT I am not ready to update all my devices to the latest iOS version (6.1 at the time of this entry) I always forget that I need to go get the previous SDK's. By far the easiest method is to simply use xcode to install them.

 

From the menu choose Xcode->Preferences and the Downloads tab. I just installed everything since we support all the way back to v4.3, actually we have v3.2 support in most of our games. I think that will change this time around. With Apple's mandate to support, among many things, iOS 6 and the new iPhone screen size (to include updates...) we can't update our older titles with adverts for our new stuff... its a 1st world dev problem... The writing was on the wall last year for a lot of this. We really slacked off on updating. I promise you we will get to it! According to analytics this will screw a couple people who play with older devices... Typically less than three in a month... I hope they forgive us! (I am sorry!!! I really am!!! Apple made me do it! Tongue out )

 

For now I wait to test the Doodle Army client against my recent server changes...


On our quest to conquer every platform there is and to satisfy our tablet craving that is only to be satiated by Surface I quote the following:

 

"Congratulations! CodeWorx Studios, LLC is now a member of the Microsoft BizSpark program!"

 

SOOOooo now the real work begins. My day job has me already using and training up on windows 8 development, now it looks like I will be doing a little more of that in my free time.


I saw XOXO announced a while ago, but before I was ready, and I want to participate someday, but I never got my stuff ready in time to pitch in (will it ever be ready ready?!) My issues aside the event looks really interesting! Especially the popup indie game arcade. The downside of announcing this now I believe the conference portion is completely sold out, but the fringe bits and the market look open to the public. Maybe there is still more to experience and not be officially part of it.
 
Well now the event itself is on your radar.
 
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XOXO
PORTLAND, OR · SEPTEMBER 13–16, 2012
XOXO is an arts and technology festival celebrating disruptive creativity. We’re bringing independent artists who use the Internet to make a living doing what they love together with the technologists building the tools that make it possible.

Software is never really done. It is just stuck in an infinite loop of improvement iterations with varying degrees of usefulness...

 

So given that. All that a release or project abandonment really represents is a blocking call in the overall effort of the loop in question...

That is all... I hope you were not expecting more!!! I think this needs accreditation in parts, I have heard this in parts from others, my hope is I have made it my own enough to claim that it is from my own mind...


I recently replied to a post made on a 'Independent Game Dev' LinkedIn group I am member of. Essentially giving my opinion of what has been working for monetization (i.e., making a living making games.)

My opinion boiled down to this:

Make at least the full paid version first (even if you never release that start there.) You can think about monetization as you go! Maybe even put a placeholder in, but don't get hung up on the details because who knows what the market will be like when you finally get there. You can always plan on rolling out a free 'monetized' version at the same time or even after (e.g., Flip the Bird has a free version coming out for iOS soon. You heard it here first...). I think it is ok to separate the free and full versions. Let the user buy into the full game.

Make a game you want to play (and play them!) I have been playing Flip the Bird off and on for a year now. The latest iteration of updates has got me interested in it again. I want to grow this bird into something bigger, but my players are coming in slow and my efforts are being spent on the apps that are producing monetary results (not Flip), its not a bad game, the endless game play is fun, but we have so much more in store: levels, challenges, even the stalled tutorial development (you wound not believe how many folks do not see the "Tap to Flap" message flashing on launch, and even launch suffers from what I call angry-bird-itus... You tap to launch, not pull and release! We know this part sucks and we will address it in the free cycles because we want everyone of our apps to be great.) but I digress...

Monetize naturally. Always play the games you make, and look for natural breaks and placement to insert revenue generation on the free version (e.g., Doodle Army 2 has an ad in the lobby, that free and users who have paid for the access to the full set of in game weapons. 'pro pack'.) We are toying with adding a subscribe option to allow users to buy them away and tell us "make sure the servers stay up" with the power of their wallet. Your app might have load screens. Remind the user the game is not the full version and show them an add for a bit. Don't forget to cross promote your own apps if you have more than one too!

Once you are live make small changes (i.e., the balancing act.) As you murder the last great idea with the newest great idea, try to do so without losing your customers... Reminds me of the game Smuggle Truck sometimes as I try to make sure every change I make does not throw customers in such a way I can not recover them when they settle back down and realize I am not trying to screw them or don't care (I will look for a good example of this occurrence regarding monetization, but the only one that comes to mind is not monetization related, but related to using too much memory on Flip to allow the game to run on older devices. We figured out a way/hack to keep em supported, but wow what a lot of work... I can not wait for my users to upgrade!)

Use some form of analytics to keep track of user behavior. If your taking this seriously I don't see why you should object to exploring this in some form (staunch privacy advocates just started hissing at me.) And if you offer a free game track the user actions, that is part of the price of free. yes I just promoted the player's privacy be a monetized incentive. If you find it distasteful or invasive make your full game not have a lick of it and rely on more traditional methods of gathering feedback. The idea there is that you already have money from that person, so its all about making sure their gameplay is as pure as it can be. But it behooves you, the developer, to understand the players of your game. And I think a lot of players, paid users, would not mind letting you know how they play for the express purposes of making your game more interesting. Give it an 'opt in' option and state your intent to do no intentional evil with it but make a better game for those playing. But seriously think about it. I am personally tired of being dead wrong with some choices I have made. If I really knew how my players ticked better I would not have as chosen so poorly (it is varied in topic and degree to illustrate my bad choices, suffice to say it may be an interesting post for another time when looking at the reflection pool...)

I am sure there is more, I will end with this opinion:

Making games is a lot less fun when money starts to matter!

That is an excerpt from "The Tao of Fun and Profit", the working title of my next book.


There is a tight coupling between the user experience (UX) and the user interface (UI). They are often synonymous, I think they are nearly interchangeable in many aspects.

I think it is safe to say when you block the UI thread with some long running process you are *blocking* the UX from being as good as it could be. Maybe when multiple processors were not really prevalent I could accept it. Now I can not. I know better and now so do you (or at least you have my word of caution.) Short of citing examples and writing tutorials to show you I know better you know better from reading this PSA. You have an entry point to discovery. Go do it! NOW! The next time I see an app run and go get data and block the UX and create an unresponsive app I will bring out the gauntlet of shame and slap you with it! Since no one really reads my rants the world is pretty safe ... For the moment. Soon to follow is my PSA on creating threads all 'willy nilly'. There is a time and place for it... A good rule of thumb, never spin up another thread. And then only do so when a queued/scheduled task will not suffice. Do everything on one thread AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, but be smart and don't tank your UX (I know I know, its not easy, this is tough love time.)

There is one exception to my tolerance, Dwarf Fortress, although since having gone to OpenGL (did I date my playing time?) I rarely encounter anything less than 45-60FPS except when my fortress is collapsing and/or filling with lava and water... (physics/fluid dynamics baby! the simulation demands it! the simulation must have its synchronous way with you! I have a very unhealthy love of Dwarf Fortress... I know this...)


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