iPhone Dev Blog #40

iPhone App Game Development Blog #40

It's been a little while, folks! Without further adieu, let's jump right into it!

A CALL TO ARMS! Okay friends, it's time for us to ask a favor of our audience. As some of you may know, our long-time-in-coming update to our iPhone game 180 has finally released on the appstore very recently. I've not been too mysterious about the fact that there'll be a final promotional push happening sometime after that occasion. As that phase creeps ever closer, we need to make sure to get a healthy level of reviews in place for the game. This will make the game a lot easier to promote! Even if you have already rated/reviewed the previous version of the game, the new one has "wiped the slate clean" and all who grab the update are free to give a new review in iTunes (LINK) I ask that you do us a solid and write one, say whatever you like of course (be honest!) but please write something in there. This is a huge help to us, everyone counts, I cannot stress it enough. If you've got friends who have the game as well, please encourage them to do the same, ASAP.  

180 Notes - the update is out at last, the new icon is being well-received, and the little changes to the code make for a nicer end-product. What next for 180? Well, the game has been out for a very long time now, and it's time to move onto something else. The programmer is still adding a couple of follow-up features to the game (save state/resume, a new casual play mode) and I suspect those might release sometime early into 2011. Adding a visual upgrade as well as Game Center support are other thoughts, although they are low on the totem pole for the time being. As the final promotion comes, we'll necessarily use the outcome of that to determine what (if anything) else will be done with the game. I'd love to make a full-on sequel, as mentioned several times in this journal, but that's still merely a glint in my eye for many reasons.

Bizdev - 2010 has been a long and interesting year for Headcase Games and the overall iPhone app development scene in general. I will write a cohesive round-up of all things micro and macro in the coming month.. suffice it to say some things went well (our game released!) and others, not so much (no other games got made!) All the while, I am still doing plenty of behind-the-scenes work, trying to drum up business opportunities where I can, and when they make sense. There's always a couple of interesting things brewing here and there. I have my hand in several things that are at various stages of development, although it doesn't look like anything will be bearing fruit anytime in the near future. An interesting exception to this is that we've started to look into Windows Phone 7 development here at Headcase, and it's a very interesting time for that platform/market. We are trying some very different things in that area, it's way too early to know where things will go but right now we are already coding and developing assets, with eyes toward releasing something (small) shortly. As for how that all affects the future of everything, well.. stay tuned!

What Else is Going On - hmm, Thanksgiving is merely days away, usually that's a really happy time (probably my favorite holiday) but this season it's just exhausting and stressful! I am trying to balance many things professionally right now in a way that will make sense (for the record, this is what any game developer will tell you, no matter what is up!) and it is a lot of wear-and-tear on the ol' Central Nervous System. What used to be my happiest time of the year for gaming has become my most crowded time of the year for business! Looking out at the bigger picture (trends in mobile gaming and console gaming), it becomes more and more clear that a huge shake-up is looming in the distance, and everything will undergo some serious changes, in good ways and bad. I have been doing my best to lay down some establishment these last couple of years in preparation for that, as several of the smaller guys will have a chance to surf that wave into something bigger and better! In the meantime, the Game Industry as a whole hobbles along, spitting out a lot of garbage, a strong showing of decent-to-excellent work, a lot of exhaustion and heartache on the production side, and a general sense of wariness about "who is gonna catch that wave."

Thanks for reading, and supporting us! Again, it's very important to get iTunes reviews for 180, so take one minute of your day to pitch in! And watch this space in the coming weeks, as things heat up around here :)

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