New Work In Progress - Million Words: Multiplayer Crossword Game for Parents and Kids that Grades on a Curve

Although I do iOS Contracting to pay my bills (at least to date), I hope one day to earn a living from my own apps, and, although it’s not ready for release, the time has come to unveil my new project.

Million Words is a turn-based crossword game where you’re scored not by what letters you managed to get into your word, but by the grade level of your word, relative to your age. This way my six-year-old daughter could play “HELLO” and I could play “HELICOPTER” and we would get the same number of points (more or less).

Color Mixing with Multitouch

OK, It’s more fun and more challenging now, although I’m not sure anyone would buy it, even if I polished it. It was way too easy, so I took a cue from @ OwenGoss’s Dapple and put in a color mixing element. So now there are 6 colors of spaceships and 6 colors of shields but still only 3 buttons: So if you want to block the green aliens, you have to hit the Blue and Yellow buttons at the same time while the green spacecraft enters the atmosphere.

It's a Game! (Not sure if it's any fun, yet, though)

Movie code starts ! Movie code ends ! So it actually kind of looks like a game now. I need scoring, I guess, and some consequences, but the idea is there. From The List: Get a cocos2d hello world screen showing the big blue ball royalty-free NASA supplied image Get a quick sprite to be the bad guy on the screen. Cover the world in an opaque block when screen is touched and restore it when touches end

My plan for world (and self) deprecation

While I’m waiting of my wife and 4 year old to meet me for dinner, thought I’d jot down a quick list (it doesn’t count as starting until I open XCode, right)? Get a cocos2d hello world screen showing the big blue ball royalty-free NASA supplied image Get a quick sprite to be the bad guy on the screen. Cover the world in an opaque block when screen is touched and restore it when touches end

Quick concept art

Threw this together in DrawIt (scaled down to save bandwidth):

Status Update: Primary-Colored World

Movie code starts ! Movie code ends ! Really remedial, but something is actually happening. Only took 4 and a half hours to get colors to show up. But, as for my list: Get a cocos2d hello world screen showing the big blue ball royalty-free NASA supplied image Get a quick sprite to be the bad guy on the screen. Cover the world in an opaque block when screen is touched and restore it when touches end

Talking to Myself

I’m going to keep writing updates to RapidWeaver locally - Although I have no idea when I’ll have enough bandwidth to actually publish them. Kinda takes the fun out of it. In any case, I have the ship moving (until it hits the bottom of the screen). It’s at least looking more like a game now. Next up: Conveyor Belt

The Sky is falling!

Movie code starts ! Movie code ends ! Or at least the aliens are. Get a cocos2d hello world screen showing the big blue ball royalty-free NASA supplied image Get a quick sprite to be the bad guy on the screen. Cover the world in an opaque block when screen is touched and restore it when touches end Make the alien move. Make the alien able to collide with the block.

Confessions of an Inept Game Designer: 360iDev Game Jam Post 1

I’ve written one game my entire life, and I think I was 11 at the time, and it involved PRINT@ statements on the TRS-80 Model 1, so I don’t exactly consider myself a game designer. That said, I’m attending the 360iDev conference, and they have an all-night game-design session they call the Game Jam, and it sounds like too educational an opportunity to pass up. And if I’m going to remember much after staying up all night, I’m going to have to write it down, and I figure there are worse places than my blog, so here goes:

What Makes for an Uncivilized iPhone Game - One Gamer’s Opinion

With the imminent release of Civilization V, I thought I would wax nostalgic about one of my favorite games ever, and why it’s unlikely to ever be that fun again. When I got my iPhone (3G), I loved it, and one of the things I loved about it was the ability to play games on it. There were a few games I enjoyed, but I really longed for the inevitable influx of classic games ported to the new platform.

Halo Reach - This Is the Halo Game I've Been Waiting For (very minor spoilers)

I completed Halo: Reach (on normal). For once, it didn’t disappoint. No giant monkey hammer reverse Donkey Kong boss battle this time. A real, satisfying ending that wasn’t just a rehash of the now-iconinc race to get away from the self destruct from thehe first Halo.I only remember two escort missions, but they were very short. One wasn’t so much an escort mission as a “kill the big boss to allow someone to get away from it” and the single “follow this NPC and protect him” mission involved my favorite thing about Halo: ODST, so I was grinning instead of cursing during that brief section.

Sometimes it's good to be wrong. I'm really enjoying Halo: Reach

I had said that I wasn’t going to buy it, but, after being disappointed with the game I expected to be playing now, and being stressed out recently, and since my wife and daughter are out of town, I decided I needed something to do for fun. So I caved in and bought Halo: Reach. I’m really enjoying it. I’ve gotten through Mission 6 at this point, and I’ve enjoyed it so far.

Hence the Name - Escort Missions: the Bane of my Gaming Existence

Fasten your seat belts. After all, I wouldn’t want you to get a boo-boo - ‘cause then I’d have to start the whole rant over from the beginning (or at least my last save point). The first Escort Mission I remember was, I think, X-Wing circa 1993. At least that’s the first time I ever remember failing to make progress in a game because some stupid computer-controlled moron paying no attention to the obvious fact that he was in a combat zone that I had no influence over had done something idiotic and gotten his dipshit Freighter-flying ass blown to tiny little bloody pieces, sparkling forever as the drifted through the cold vacuum of space.

Halo: Reach - Are we going here again?

I loved the first Halo game. It quickly became my favorite first person shooter at the time (a title that had previously been held by the first Half-Life). I’ve played all the way through it by myself at least six times, and in co-op at least three (I do have to admit, though, the Library, solo, on Legendary is the one level I’ve never been able to beat. Damn grenade chain reactions…Grrr…).