Sunetos, Inc.

Last fall, I was invigorated and enthused by 360iDev in Denver, so I was excited to register for 360iDev in San Jose.

The short version is that I had high expectations, and they were exceeded.

I learned so much and met so many helpful and smart developers in those four days. By the time it was over on Wednesday, my mind was so full of ideas and enthusiasm that I had to spend several hours on Thursday and Friday just capturing my thoughts for future apps! My only regret is that I can’t dive into several of those ideas all at once.

I split my session time between sessions that helped improve my understanding and skills and some sessions that stretched me beyond what I was currently doing. 360iDev has an excellent balance between user experience, design and development discussions. It also covered a great mix of technical and business issues. There were so many times where I was able to just sit back and soak in knowledge, but also plenty of times for me to participate in discussions, both planned and informal.

I look forward to the videos of sessions that I missed — there were several times where it was very difficult to choose between two sessions. In almost every time slot, there was at least one session that interested me deeply.

The GameJam was great fun again, but also a great motivator for me. One skill I need to develop better is timeboxing a particular effort — constraints really help me focus, and the GameJam did that for me. My goal was to use Cocos2D, Box2D, and GameKit to build a game using an iPhone and an iPad where the game play was asymmetrical — I came close, but once again was trying too many new things (Box2D and GameKit) during the short (10 hour) time span. I was able to use what I had learned that night in my iPadDevCamp app, and now I have several variations of the basic gameplay to experiment with.

One of my personal goals was to completely set aside my client work at home, both physically and mentally, and immerse myself in new ideas and learning. So, I decided to also hang around San Jose for the iPadDevCamp held the following weekend. I was able to spend 8 days in a row without interruption really growing as an iPhone designer and developer. iPadDevCamp has a different style than 360iDev, it reminded me very much of a weekend long version of the 360iDev GameJam. iPadDevCamp was good and I had more stimulating discussions with more great designers and developers. But, I think without the earlier focused, intense time at 360iDev, I would not have benefitted nearly as much.

I would love to do a 360iDev and a DevCamp together again in the future, but if I had to choose only one event to attend, it would be 360iDev. I look forward to the next one!

On Monday afternoon at 360iDev I sat in on Rod Strougo’s Cocos2D session, and then watched the prototype master Owen Goss develop a game prototype with input from the crowd live in roughly 60 minutes (very brave, very cool, very fast).

Since I wanted to spend some time getting comfortable with Cocos2D before the 360iDev Game Jam Tuesday night, I decided to see how quickly I could reproduce Owen’s end result, “BaconFarmer”, using Cocos2D.

I finished the first (and probably *only*) version this morning, and you can now download a zip file with the full Xcode project.

I didn’t finish in 60 minutes, nor was my accomplishment anything like Owen’s, but it was fun.

I took about 4 hours, roughly broken down like this:

• Graphics — 15 minutes
• Setting up and acquainting myself with Cocos2D project — 30 minutes
• Getting bacon to show up on screen (Cocos2D sprites) — 60 minutes
• Added game play, changing state, touches, etc. — 60 minutes
• Add scoring — 30 minutes

I borrowed a couple of files from Rod’s sample project for background and scoring (Thanks Rod).

Overall, Cocos2D was very easy to get started with — I don’t know it’s long term potential, both Rod and Owen spoke highly of it, so I will probably be using it in the Game Jam tonight.

Many

The official conference sessions have not yet begun, but I am already invigorated by 360iDev in San Jose. It is good to see friends and acquaintances I met in Denver last fall, and to meet new developers as well. I spent the morning in Kendall Gelner’s Advanced Debugging session and gained some useful new tools for app development. I split the rest of the day between the beginning stages working through some iPad app ideas and getting to know other developers a little better.

The energy level certainly picked up at the welcome reception this evening, and will probably continue long into the night without me. I’m lousy at Rock Band, but had a good time trying anyway, and it was fun watching other groups pretending to be musicians tonight!

I am looking forward to a very full three days of learning cool new stuff, meeting great people, and building on relationships already begun.

I can’t type on it very well, but…

• I’m a touch typist, and nothing short of physical edges and full size keys will satisfy me enough to use anything for lots of typing
• I think I will end up being as proficient on it’s keyboard as on the iPhone using the two index finger method
• I bought a bluetooth keyboard that works well, so I’m satisfied

Typing conclusion: I’d rather have the full touch surface like it is, than squeeze in some dinky physical keyboard.

I don’t know if it’s a game-changer, but…

• I can’t set it down without someone else in the house snarfing it up thus requiring me to pry it out of their hands when I need it
• It won’t replace my MacBook Pro or my iPhone, but after only a few days, I think it’s a keeper
• It is highly likely that I will be purchasing a second unit for *my* exclusive use in app development plans

Game changer conclusion: No one really knows, but I think it might be.

I have never owned a Kindle, but…

• I copied over all my PragProd ebooks, and I think I like it better than the paper version here at my desk
• If I’m on the beach reading a book, I’m pretty sure I want a throwaway paperback book anyway…too much sand and salt
• I think it will work on my hammock 🙂

Reading conclusion: It’s a winner for me.

I’m not a hard core gamer, nor a consistent casual gamer, but…

• Games on the iPad seem more fun for me, perhaps it’s just the newness
• Interacting directly with the game on a reasonable size screen really draws me in (fat fingers and bad eyes here 🙂 )

Gaming: I might end up playing more games on the iPad than I ever did on my pc, mac, iPhone, XBox360, or Wii.

My original 90 day project plan has faded without completely failing or succeeding. I don’t know if I will do any more 90days posts before 360iDev or not, but I know I will be able to spend more time each day between now and the conference focusing on iPhone development.

Since I set my own goals, I get to define success — so I’m declaring success for my 90 day project, regardless of the details. 🙂

My general goal was to spend steady and regular time working on my skill set, knowledge, and comfort level with the tools.

• I am very comfortable with the tool set, and most sessions I get into the “flow” fairly quickly.
• I am pleased with my knowledge and understanding of key APIs, and look forward to expanding that over the coming weeks.
• I wish I could have spent more time on app development, but I am reasonably happy with what I was able to do.
• I am definitely learning what it takes to carve out time regardless of other projects.

I am disappointed that I do not have an app ready for the app store. A combination of things kept me from getting close on my initial idea, and the app I am pursuing now languished for almost two weeks with no activity. I have been working to get ahead of the game on other commitments so I could focus more time on iPhone work in general and my app in particular.

I am very pleased that I lined up some contract work for iPhone development this past week. Some of my non-iPhone work commitments are coming to a close, so I can be more aggressive in pursing iPhone contract work in the coming weeks.

I am really getting fired up about the 360iDev conference, only 10 days away!

• I don’t know how well I will “perform” at this year’s GameJam, but I have high hopes.
• I am completely immersing myself in iPhone/iPad development by spending the following weekend at iPadDevCamp, I hope to be able to pass some new threshold of comfort and flow with the tools and APIs before it’s over.
• My lofty goal is to have the solid core of an app working after the 9 day trip.

I do know I will be renewing old friendships, making new ones, and exploring new opportunities while in San Jose.

T-10!

Over the last several days while visiting my daughter and son-in-law, I have done some reading and playing with alternative ideas and decided to put my game idea on hold for the time being. Even though I won’t be using OpenGL or very much of the code I’ve developed recently, I know I am more proficient in Xcode, GHUnit, and other frameworks and tools because of the time I’ve spent on my game — so I view it as time well spent.

I am pursuing an idea from a friend, and I will be working with him to develop the idea and app further. It is an entertainment/information app, and uses frameworks and patterns that I am much more comfortable with. I know I can execute better and faster on this idea than my game idea and I believe I will be able have an app ready much sooner.

Also, like most every iPhone or mac developer I follow on twitter or whose blogs I read, I too pre-ordered my 64GB (no 3g) iPad Friday morning, along with a wireless keyboard, docking station, and holder. When I’m not using it for development, my wife will be trying it out as a replacement computer. If she takes to it, I will probably be ordering a second one for myself.

Day T-32 to T-28 Accomplishments (Wednesday-Sunday, March 10-14, 2010)

• Evaluating my current level in various iPhone related frameworks and skills
• Brainstorming and sketching ideas and UI elements for app
• Pre-ordered an iPad!

I had a conversation today with a friend that I work with regularly in my day job. We had talked a couple of months ago about an iPhone app idea that we both believed had merit. After our conversation today, I am beginning to think it is the right time to at least build a prototype.

My thought process has been something like this:

• By continuing with my idea, I will keep my focus and steady progress will eventually produce a product I am pleased with. But even with overly optimistic estimates of available time, I will not have something ready for the app store in the next month
• Some of my game ideas could benefit from a few weeks of gestation
• I still have much to learn about OpenGL game development, and what I learn at 360iDev in San Jose will be good leverage in further development
• I am much more comfortable with UIKit development (non-OpenGL), and could produce a workable prototype for the joint idea much more quickly
• My game (so far) is a solo endeavor, the other app would be a joint effort which should help keep me on track
• The scope of the joint idea is narrow enough that we can have something in the app store much sooner than I could on my own

I haven’t lost interest or hope in my game idea, but tonight I will spend my development time playing around with the other idea.

Day T-33 Accomplishments (Tuesday, March 9, 2010)

• Consider options for how to spend my limited iPhone development time

I got fixated on a particular calculation Monday evening, and ended up spending too much time figuring out something that I most likely will not use. By the end of my session on Monday it was working, but I should have bypassed the issue until I was sure I needed to finish it.

Day T-35 to T-34 Accomplishments (Sunday-Monday, March 7-8, 2010)

• Finished a task that probably did not need to be finished

The first week of March was spring break for my college son, so we spent time at family in Florida, then Alabama (both were a little cooler than normal.) He had been hard at work sketching and thinking about his game idea during the break, and during the last part of the week, I got to help by building a prototype for him to try various combinations of game gestures and timings. It was fun working together on it, and well worth the diversion of my iphone dev time.

Day T-38 to T-36 Accomplishments (Thursday-Saturday, March 4-6, 2010)

• Spent time with my son on his game idea
• Developed a simple prototype to test gestures for his idea

I narrowed down my memory problem to an extra release of a custom property, but it took me too long to find it. It is a little frustrating that my Objective-C debugging skills feel so far behind those I have in the Java world.

I tried several different methods of tracking down the extra release, but the simplest method proved effective–double checking every possible reference to the property by visual inspection. I need to find better methods for this sort of thing, but for now I am back on track.

Day T-39 Accomplishments (Wednesday, March 3, 2010)

• Found the double release error causing me grief