iPhone/Web 2.0

Today, I’m proud to have John Wilker and Tom Ortega with me about the 360|iDev conference taking place in San Jose on Mar 2-4. They boast it to be the largest iPhone conference in the world, so I thought I had to investigate a bit more and I ended up being accepted as a speaker. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

What gave you the idea to start 360|iDev?

John: We want to do conferences we’d attend, that’s what lead us to 360|Flex for Adobe Flex developers, and now both of us are dabbling (hoping to one day have a conference tool) in iPhone Dev, so we had a light bulb moment that there wasn’t really an event for iPhone devs. Apple’s conference is HUGE and across all their tools and platforms, why not offer iPhone devs their own community?

Tom: I really want to be one of the cool kids and program on this wonderful new device. Seriously though, we started 360|Flex, our other show, so there could be a better place to learn how to program in Flex. We saw the same need for iPhone development and thus here we are, planning a new conference.

Why attend iDev instead of WWDC?

Tom: 2 huge reasons:

Cost – If you buy a ticket to our show early, it’s only $200 USD. Even if you wait til the end, the price caps at $499 USD. That price includes most if not all your food for the 3 days of the conference. That and we have a group hotel rate of $129 a night near the conference center.

Content – If all you care about is the iPhone/iPod Touch, then this is the show for you. It is 100% about that and nothing else. It won’t be a matter of “Is there anything of interest for me today?” but rather more of “There’s too much goodness for me today. Which one do I go for?”

John: WWDC is Apple’s main stage, and a great event (I presume, having never attended), but all main stage events, focus on all products and platforms. An iPhone developer may have little interest in other technologies, yet they’re there, as are those people who use them. An attendee at our Flex Conference pointed out that Adobe MAX (similar to WWDC) is 4000+ people, but the guy next to you at lunch, might be an Illustrator designer, or a PDF person, or who knows what, but at 360|Flex, the whole table will be peers in Flex development. That’s the goal with 360|iDev, to give the iPhone developer community a place to come together, swap stories, tricks, lessons learned, etc.

What is your target audience? Is your conference geared more toward developers or businessmen?

John: Developers. We say that our events are by developers, for developers. That’s not to say there won’t be business folks, they’re a large part of any developer community really. They pay the bills usually, they’re clients, owners, idea folks, etc. We hope to bring both groups together in a way that has benefit to both, indie devs can find clients or full time work. Business people can find developers.

Tom: Traditionally, we do get more developers. Most of the sessions are technical in nature. However, we do have a business side of iPhone App development. That is aimed 100% at the businessmen, so there will be topics for both crowds.

On that note, if someone is interested in speaking, which track needs the most contributions? Is there any particular topic that you’re surprised no one has taken up yet?

John: Game dev. For as much noise as Apple has been making about the games on the iPhone, I thought there’d be a lot of people interested in sharing what they’ve learned about developing games for the iPhone.

Tom: Currently, the gambit is wide open. The topic I was most interested
in learning about was Open GL ES. I was suprised no one had offered to speak on that, but just today we got a submission on that topic.

Great, I’ve been struggling lately with learning OpenGL ES, so I’ll definitely attend that talk! So, besides the conference, what else does San Jose have to offer that might attract people to attend?

John: The Winchester Mystery House is a fun time. It’s about an hour or less from San Francisco, so that’s always a huge plus! Plus all the startups in the area, you can’t get in but you can drive by. Heck Apple is there!

Tom: It’s Silicon Valley! If you love the iPhone and are trying to develop for it, you’re probably a nerd. The headquarters of Apple, Intel, nVidia, AMD, Google, Yahoo, and, of course, eBay are all here. For me, there’s something cool about being able to see all those companies. Take a gander at where the magic happens. I’ve been known to serve as a tour guide late at night, during a In-N-Out burger run. If you’ve never had an In-N-Out double-double cheeseburger, that’s reason enough to come.

Ah yes, I’ve heard about the famous In-N-Out burgers, but being an east coast boy, I never had the chance to try them out for myself. So enough about food… for those of us flying in, will 360|iDev be in the middle of nowhere or are there public transportation options available?

John: We hate the middle of nowhere! We aim for hub cities or at least one along a major travel path. From San Jose airport, there’s a shuttle bus that drops off across the street from the hotel, and from the hotel to the conference, there’s light rail. The Hotel is half a mile (Editor’s note for non-Americans: that would be a kilometer) or one stop from the conference.

Tom: That same light rail will take you to downtown. The conference is at eBay’s HQ, which is in an office park area. However, downtown is only a few miles away.

Besides iDev, what are some other conferences you run?

John: We’ve been doing 360|Flex for 2 years now, 7 events in all, including Europe. We really try to focus on making the event a big success with our attendees before even thinking about splitting our attention. Each event is very different as we work to refine what worked and what didn’t, etc. If anyone is curious about our reputation, etc do a google search for 360|Flex (or 360flex, flex 360, we seem to have an easily confused name, LOL) to see what our attendees are saying.

Thank you very much for the interview and I look forward to seeing you there!

John: For sure! Can’t wait to see everyone in San Jose!

Tom: Thanks for the interview. It’s been really fun!

Today I am with Jonas Witt from Metaquark, the company behind Berlin Trip Planner (German: Fahr-Info Berlin), an iPhone app which recently had to remove their maps, because the BVG (Berlin transport company) complained they were under copyright. Thus, while the app is still incredibly useful and much more useful than BVG’s own mobile site, it has now become much less useful without the maps.

Why did you decide to make the Berlin Trip Planner?

I was pretty clueless what to do with my iPhone developer privileges up until about two weeks before the App Store launch back in July. The idea to write a trip planner application was inspired by Johannes Plunien, author of the brilliant MVV Dashboard Widget (which covers Munich public transport), when we exchanged some AppFresh-related support mails just about at that time. I rushed to get the application accepted in time for the App Store launch, and that worked out pretty well. You can read more about the whole process on my blog entry, The App Store Experience.

Why did you decide to make it free?

I decided to make the application free since I wanted people just to use it and enjoy it, and nobody had the slightest idea how App Store pricing would be perceived and I thought it wouldn’t generate a lot of revenue anyway, given that it’s intended for a very limited audience. The zero price tag lead to a lot of impulse “buys” which gave me a good reputation, since most people loved the application. The small amount of time I invested in that application has more than paid for itself since.

Can you elaborate on what exactly the BVG complained about? Were they just complaining about the copyright of the maps or did they want you to remove the maps altogether?

The copyright notice on their website bvg.de (where the PDF map is from) states that you are allowed to use the website’s content for personal and non-commercial use only. Shipping the PDF with my application is no personal use, and I didn’t ask for permission to do so, so they made me remove the maps from the application.

I have also read that the BVG is trying to remove your app from the App Store altogether. Is this true or just a rumor?

That’s a rumor. [Editor's note: I later discovered this was an English mistranslation/overexaggeration of a heise.de article and has since been corrected (heise is basically the German equivalent of slashdot).]

I read recently that they are working on their own application that would work across all platforms. Do you think they are going to develop their own iPhone app or not do anything with the iPhone altogether?

I can only guess here, but that “will work on all platforms” bit makes me think it will be a Java application, which couldn’t run on the iPhone since it doesn’t support Java. I’m not sure if they’re gonna make a separate iPhone application, but I don’t expect either application to become available soon.

What are your future iPhone plans?

I’m currently doing contract work on several iPhone applications, there are Mac projects that need to be continued (AppFresh), and university demands my attention from time to time, so there aren’t any concrete plans right now. It’s definitely a fun platform to write applications on, though, so Fahr-Info won’t be my last.

Thank you for the interview and I hope the BVG soon comes to their senses!

I was quite shocked today to pull out the most useful app I own, Fahr-Info Berlin … and find that it no longer has an integrated S-Bahn map! It was always a great feeling of comfort to know that wherever I was in Berlin, I can always look at the S-Bahn map on my iPhone to easily get around.

Today I just noticed on its App Store description: “Aufgrund einer Beschwerde der BVG mussten sowohl der Übersichtsnetzplan als auch die Detailpläne entfernt werden. Sorry dafür!” (Because of a complaint from the BVG [Berlin's transport company] we had to remove the overview map as well as the detailed maps. Sorry about that!) I find this completely unacceptable from the BVG. If they can’t provide their own iPhone app, then they should be very happy that another organization has decided to do it for them, and done it incredibly well, I must add.

I’ve travelled much more often since I’ve had this iPhone app, because I never have to wonder about where I am and how to get home. I’ll often find myself with a group of people and we’ll have walked for a while to the point where I’m not entirely sure where I am and I’d like to be able to see a map without having to carry around a paper one in my pocket. I haven’t used the detailed maps yet, but I know I’m often in foreign cities and have to switch to a bus or tram and really have to search hard to find it. Such maps would be incredibly useful in such situations, especially for those just visiting Berlin, not so much for those living here. In fact, I’m much more likely to take taxis more often, because the BVG upsets me so much from their complaint.

I am about to write the BVG to make my own complaint and if you are upset about this as well, I’d ask you to write as well. Their general contact page can be found at http://www.bvg.de/index.php/de/Kontakt/ (just click Allgemeine Anfrage). Hopefully with full Berlin community support, we can get the maps back into this app! Thank you for your support.

Related articles

- Berlin’s public transport company forbids free iPhone app by The Local
- BVG stößt Kunden mit iPhone vor den Kopf by TAZ, a popular German newspaper

I am honored to continue my developer interview series with Erica Sadun who is probably best known among iPhone developers for her much needed article against the NDA. She is also the author of The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook: Building Applications with the iPhone SDK (Developer’s Library) which was published in book form in the USA on Oct 23 and will be released in Germany on Nov 28.

What was your inspiration for writing this book? What sets it apart from other iPhone books?

I always try to write the book that I would have wanted to read. I’m a huge fan of re-usable code snippets that really show how one single concept can be executed. And that’s what I hope I brought to this book, things to make developers more productive right away.

When did you start learning the iPhone SDK? Were you also part of the jailbroken developer community?

I was involved in the Jailbreak development arena, from the first days of NightWatch’s ARM compiler. My first apps “do Shell” and “tapp” allows users to run command-line utilities from the iPhone GUI.

Interesting, so you’ve really been in there from the start! How did you see the official release of the iPhone SDK change the dynamics of iPhone development?

The official SDK did a lot to formalize the libraries and get them into a form that was ready for a wider audience of developers; earlier firmware was still very raw. I’m a big SDK fan, and yet at the same time I get frustrated by the limitations Apple has chosen to set on what devs can and cannot do.

What was your most successful iPhone app? How have you seen your apps have an effect on your personal branding?

There have been a lot (and I mean a lot! dozens!) of apps. It’s hard to put my finger on just one.

Well, I personally think Converter Pro (20-Dec-2009, editor’s note: no longer available) is the most useful, although Moo can be quite fun. I also notice that all of your apps are free. What role do you see free apps playing in the App Store?

For now, free apps relieve me of at least some of the bother of dealing with unhappy customers. I’m seriously not trying to make a statement here. I just don’t have time to build a proper business and give people the support they deserve. With free software, when someone complains you can just suggest that they demand a full refund.

Nice answer. Personally, I’ve only had one refund and it was nice because Apple dealt with it and I wasn’t even involved in the process. So, besides giving away software, what else can we expect to see from you soon relating to the iPhone?

I’m writing over at Ars Technica now as well as my ongoing O’Reilly Inside iPhone commitment.

Thank you very much for your time and interesting interview. I can’t wait to get a copy of your book when it arrives in Germany!

Go Player

I must say that I really enjoy using GoPlayer on my iPhone. That probably doesn’t come as too much of a surprise though considering I’m its developer. I’m a rather random person, so my app has a collection of over a thousand games and it randomly picks one out to show. This way you can watch professional Go games anywhere on the go. So, for less than the cost of a round-trip subway ride to your local Go club, you can have 1,000 Go games on your iPhone. Also much cheaper and more useful than having the same data in book form. [2,99 €, App Store]

Downloading apps and games on your iPhone is great for those times when you have the urge to play some games. So, whether you are on a long journey and you fancy playing Stones on the Go app, or if you don’t want to wait for your computer to load up and want to read poker.de online right away, there is something for everyone to enjoy. Having apps, pre-downloaded games and Internet bookmarks, makes everything so much faster and more user-friendly. This way, you can start reading and playing games instantly.

Stones

My second favorite Go app is Stones. You don’t carry a Go board around with you, do you? Well, now you can just pull out your iPhone and play with your friend by passing the phone back and forth. It offers 9×9, 13×13, 19×19 and handicap options for each game. At the end, just mark the captured groups, and it scores it for you as well. It has two Go bowls at the bottom which you drag stones from to place on the board, and I must say it feels very intuitive and precise. [Free, 20-Dec-2009, Editor's Note: No longer available]

Tetsuki

Tetsuki is a Go term which means “The way a stone was physically played. Usually paired with an adjective as in: light tetsuki, strong tetsuki, etc. [Definition from Sensei's Library] Play Go over the Internet on your iPhone. I haven’t actually tried playing there with it, but I’ve noticed that I can watch games with ease. I can load it up and watch people playing Go online in real time on the Internet Go Server (IGS). My favorite Go server is Kiseido Go Server (KGS), but I know they require you to use their Java program, so that no one has an advantage just because of the platform they’re using to play. In any case, Tetsuki seems like a really cool way to play or watch live games anywhere. [Free, App Store]

As a continuation of my interview series with leading iPhone developers, I have with me Christina, the developer of Fuzzle from Candy Cane Apps in Estonia.

I’ve played a lot of puzzle games, but have never quite seen anything like Fuzzle before. What other puzzle-type games have you regularly played and which were your inspirations for Fuzzle?

I’m glad you like it . The concept of moving colored balls to get five in a row isn’t actually new, just not too well known. I came up with the idea of adding rainbow balls and bombs, and also added the levels + timer to try to make the game exciting, so that it starts easy (at least on easy difficulty) but gets slowly harder and thus doesn’t go on forever. I think a lot of players want a quick game for iPhone, which they can for example play on the tube/bus. So we tried to cater for them, as well as people looking for a longer, slower game by adding the different modes.

I like most of these kind of puzzle games that come mostly from Japan, such as some games by the Japanese company that invented SuDoku. I’m working on another game now that’s based on one of these. I also tend to prefer multi-player games, as gaming can otherwise tend to be somewhat anti-social. I even have some ideas about adding a two-player mode to Fuzzle, but I can’t promise anything there yet.

Why did you decide to develop it for iPhone? Have you developed on other platforms before? If so, how does developing for the iPhone compare to what you’ve developed before?

The iPhone for me represents the first platform where I can make a simple game and be provided a platform to be exposed to potentially millions of customers, and thus can sell it cheap and hopefully still make a bit of money out of it. I think its a revolution for small game developers. And it is the perfect platform for these kind of puzzle games like Fuzzle.

I previously only developed on Windows. Apple has a nice setup for iPhone development so it wasn’t hard to adjust. We faced some challenges, but on the whole it was a good experience. I find the touch screen the most interesting thing – it provides challenges for some games, but also provides an opportunity for new game ideas and possibilities.

In the latest Touch Arcade article mentioning Fuzzle, they note that “Mikael Suvi” was formerly listed as the seller and some therefore speculate that you were simply the girlfriend of the developer used for the Fuzzle YouTube video. However, my girlfriend is also a programmer, thus I know it is possible to be a good programmer and attractive. In any case, we were wondering, what is Mikael’s role in Candy Cane Apps?

Yeah, Mikael owns the company and he’s a Mac expert. So I designed the gameplay and programmed it in C++, while he dealt with most of the Mac/iPhone issues and wrote the Objective-C code. We tried to keep most of it in C++ though so it should be easier to port to other platforms in the future. We also have another guy who designed the cute graphics.

Being a female iPhone developer isn’t unusual, as we all know of Erica Sadun (author of The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook) and Eliza Block (developer of 2across, which made $2000 per day for the first month). What is the state of women computer programmers in Estonia? Also, do you know many other female iPhone developers?

In Estonia computer programmers are highly sought after – we have a very small population and some big tech companies like Skype are employing many programmers, so it’s an attractive career path for many people, thus I think you’ll find more women computer programmers here than in most countries. I don’t know any other female iPhone developers – the iPhone only just officially arrived in this country a month ago actually.

My girlfriend regularly plays Galcon, Spore and Wurdle on my iPhone. What is your impression of the female iPhone gaming market?

Well, we have had a lot of feedback from women and even some reviews like this one – … so there seems to be a few of us out there.

As we all know, the freedom to change prices is making the App Store an interesting “experiment” in the free market. What was your reason for making Fuzzle free for a limited time? Does this strategy appear to work well?

Well, the reason we made Fuzzle for free for a limited time was to generate publicity and get a lot of users playing and talking about it – if we hadn’t done this, Fuzzle might never have been noticed among the 1000′s of applications in the App Store. I think it did quite well in this regard – we had over 100,000 downloads in just three days, and a lot of reviews in blogs etc. And now we have recently released a Fuzzle Lite version which hopefully also gives a lot of users a taste of the game.

One thing that happened when we switched to paid is that Fuzzle jumped to the number one selling paid app, until Apple removed it from the top a couple of hours later. I think there’s still some things Apple needs to sort out here, because a lot of applications have done this switch, and while ours was removed from the top almost instantly, some others – both prior to, and after, our switch – were allowed to remain at the top for days. So it’s a bit like a lottery. The apps that make the front page – the top apps, the what’s hot and what’s new etc – can receive 10-100x as many purchases as the rest, and the current system for putting apps on the front of the App Store is untransparent, and largely up to Apple’s whims.

So we’re talking to Apple to try and clarify this issue – we felt that what happened with Fuzzle was quite arbitrary and unfair of Apple initially, but now we’re just focusing on our next release, which we hope you will enjoy as much as Fuzzle.

Thank you for your time. Now that I’ve finished posting this interview, I can get back to playing Fuzzle some more!

My app Random Chess is now available on the App Store for only 0,79 € ($0.99)! It randomizes the opening chess position according to rules such as the bishops must be on separate squares and the king must be between the two rooks. For more details, see my page on Random Chess.

So, this time you can interview me. What questions do you have? I’ll either reply within the comments or in a future blog entry.

Today in my series of interviews with iPhone developers, I have with me Phil Hassey of the acclaimed Galcon for iPhone. At first I was skeptical when I read that Galcon is “an awesome high-paced multi-player galactic … arcade action Risk with planets!” When I read that it now has a colorblind mode, that was enough to push me over the edge to purchase it. But actually, it does live up to the hype! In fact, it’s the only game I’ve ever got for my iPhone which I actually can’t stop playing. It’s that addicting. Oh, and my girlfriend is addicted too, even though she told me yesterday “it’s not my type of game”. So, it’s a pleasure to have you for an interview.

I see on your homepage you mention that your inspiration comes from Risk. Did any other games inspire you?

Well, actually, I’ve never played Risk. Many folks have compared it to Risk Galcon is a remake of the game “Galactic Conquest” which was a MS-DOS based game put out in 1987.

I see that you also have desktop versions out for Linux, Windows and Mac. I must say that I was surprised to find the interface and gameplay better on the iPhone! But, now I’m curious, did you write the game for each OS independently? Did you already have Galcon written in Objective-C? How difficult was it to port to the iPhone? What were the specific challenges in developing for the iPhone in contrast with desktop game development?

The desktop versions of Galcon are written mostly in python and partly in C. The iPhone edition is a C port of the desktop version of Galcon. I only used Objective-C for a few of the iPhone related things (such as reading the accelerometer data). I suppose the largest challenge in porting it to the iPhone is that the developer documentation doesn’t have a “Search” box as far as I can tell. So sometimes it took me a while to find what I was looking for.

What has been the general reaction from people who already have the desktop version of Galcon to the iPhone version?

They like it Now they have one more way to play Galcon all the time!

I noticed that there’s always people online for multiplayer play. To my knowledge that’s not true for any other iPhone game that I know. Most new games have the problem that people aren’t patient enough to wait for others to come online. How were you able to get enough people to play online to keep it going?

I think people play on-line because the game works so well as a multi-player game. The MP experience gives you so much more than just the single player. I haven’t really done anything but make the game, to be honest.

I would guess the average iPhone gamer has heard of Galcon, but not the average iPhone owner. What have you done to promote Galcon and what response have you received?

Yeah, uh, nothing. But the response has been great I posted a couple youtube videos. I’m going to try to do some more marketing type activities over time. I probably need to ask my marketing friends for some tips.

What are your future plans for improving Galcon on the iPhone?

My primary goal is to increase the MP user base so that around 100+ people are playing all the time. At that size, I can add better user match-up features so players can compete against folks with similar skill levels.

I see that you have another game called Watermelons which is, according to the description, “the ultimate fruit rescue mission game.” Could you tell us how you came up with that idea? Also, do you have more games in the works?

I was chatting with some friends and we thought it would just be a funny idea. It’s actually available as a flash game as well … I just ported it to the iPhone for fun.

I haven’t started on any new games yet, but I’m thinking about it. I’ll probably start later this week or next week on my next game.

Thanks for the interesting interview. I wish you the best with Galcon and hopefully my girlfriend and I can stop playing it and get back to work sometime soon!

Thanks!

iPhone Galcon reviews:

• Tilt Gamer
• Slide to Play
• All About the Games

I’m starting a series of interviews with iPhone developers of the most interesting apps on the iPhone. You can also read my interview with the developer of Metasquares. I strive to cover the most worthy apps that aren’t getting coverage from other sources. If you’re an iPhone developer and have an interesting application, let me know and if I like it, I’d be happy to give you an interview.

Today I’m interviewing BoB from Terminal Core Games about his new game BloXoR which I feel has a “Sokoban meets accelerometer” feel to it, but with a fresh twist. I bought this a few days ago and have been quite happy with it. I’m currently only up to level 16, but I’m getting there…

How did you get the idea for the game and what was your inspiration?

Well, I don’t think I’ve ever played the actual game of “Sokoban,” but I’ve played many “block pushing” puzzle games and other tile-based puzzles going all the way back to The Adventures of Lolo series on the NES. One of my more recent favorites has been Vexed for the Palm, which is also out now on the iPhone. (Although, I wish they would give us the classic block graphic set; I don’t care for the circles.) I’ve played Vexed for years on my palm smartphone.

When the iPhone 3G and the iPhone SDK was announced, and I decided to try and create a game for it, Vexed was the first thing to come to mind. Now, I’m not the kind of person to just re-implement something, I want to create my own things. So I started thinking about a new, unique puzzle block game. One choice was easy—the new iPhone had an accelerometer. New interfaces mean new game mechanics. But, sliding a block or two around a box sounds an awful lot like Labyrinth, and I knew there would already be people out there creating Labyrinth clones. Plus, I wanted something new. So, some how or another that lead to the idea of sliding around multiple blocks at the same time. The idea of bringing together specific blocks and the name BloXoR kind of came to me at the same time—the three blocks (or Blox) would be an [o], [X], and [o]—a BloXoR! From there it was just a matter of coding up the sliding physics, and trying out some levels. With all my past puzzle experience, it was a no-brainer that there would have to be many types of Blox for variety. Holes, breakable walls, bombs to blow them up, bridges to cross holes—It’s important to have a balance of hazards and helpers.

Funny that you didn’t call the name BlOXOr then, but I guess that looks even stranger. In any case, I’m really glad you took the time to make something original. Seeing all the copycats in the App Store leaves something to be desired. Unfortunately though, I see you have relatively few reviews, although the majority are 5 stars. How are you marketing your game to compete against the other 700 games in the App Store? Do you find it difficult and does it seem like the larger game companies have an unfair advantage in this regard?

First, I do have relatively few reviews, and it’s kind of a bummer, because it really gives the impression of disinterest in BloXoR. There’s really nothing I can do about it but hope that more people who downloaded the game and liked it put in a review.

As for marketing and exposure, I’ll be honest; I’ve found it somewhat difficult. I’ve had a couple reviews of BloXoR posted: one at Pocket Gaming and another at Finger Gaming. The one from Pocket Gamer was most exciting, because it was completely a surprise. I found it through google (I google BloXoR about 20 times a day!). And it was a glowing review, to boot! I immediately updated my App description to point it out. Matt’s review on FingerGaming is a little less stellar, but he made a video of my game play [mp4] which is really cool, thanks Matt!

Beyond that, I’ve had a very hard time getting exposure. Of the other half dozen sites I’ve contacted about reviewing BloXoR, none have come through. In fact, two of them asked for demo copies that I sent them money for, and still no reviews up from either of them. And sadly, I’ve had no exposure on any sort of big game site like IGN or Joystiq. I think this is where the “App Store open to all Devs” thing may really fall down. Big sites are just going to write about the same companies and games they already do—like for Super Monkey Ball or Spore Origins. Not that those games don’t deserve coverage.

Of course, this is assuming the reason isn’t just that my game isn’t worth reviewing. But my gut and the feedback I have gotten is that BloXoR is a good game. I also think that honestly part of the problem is that BloXoR is unique. So, people have to discover it, and not just go, “Hey have you tried the port of Pac-Man?” Or, “Have you tried the Texas Hold’em game, yet?”

The other thing that has bummed me out is the App Store itself. Your app gets pushed to the bottom of the list so fast that only the most dedicated iTunes store shopper is going to make it to page 100 to see BloXoR. Case in point, my biggest spike in sales was when I made a small update to BloXoR. When App updates go through, the App is bumped back to the top of the list on iTunes. It’s really a flawed system because it promotes devs putting in meaningless updates to bump their apps to the top of the list. It’s hard to blame them, though. If Apple doesn’t improve the system, I can’t imagine how bad it will be, say, a year from now when there will be literally 1000s of games on there.

Well, actually I do know what it will be like; an App will have to get ALL of its exposure from outside of iTunes. It kind of starts to bring into question the validity of Apples 30% cut of all profits when they really aren’t doing much more than hosting your app.

It probably sounds like I’m bashing Apple a lot here. Bottom line is, I got a game “published” that is being delivered to the masses, and people all over the world, literally, are playing it—that’s pretty cool. Thanks Apple.

Yeah, I think pretty much all iPhone developers have a love-hate relationship with Apple right now. While it’s great that we can have a worldwide platform for distribution, don’t have to worry about payment processing, etc., it would be nice if Apple were more open. Also, you have fiascos like Apple rejecting a podcast catching app, because it “duplicates functionality in iTunes” and we all know about the F***ing NDA, but I digress. So, back to BloXoR, how do you see it evolving in the future? With most games I could see updates being welcome, but with puzzle games, how much can you really improve besides adding more levels?

I have multiple plans laid out for BloXoR. BloXoR 2 is a given. I have plenty of more ideas for new levels (I have a lot of fun making the levels), as well as ideas for new types of Blox.

Also, I’m considering developing a BloXoR level creator and releasing it for free. It would come with a few sample levels, so it would also work as a free demo to the real game. I’m also kicking around the idea of putting in functionality to submit the user-created levels. The plan would be to release a BloXoR with all user generated levels. I would probably make it into a contest—something along the lines of the best 30 levels get put into the game, and the submitting users would get their name on the level of course, but also something like a $10 iTunes gift certificate. What do you think?

I think it’s a great idea! However, if I were you, I would try to get a lite version out quickly for free, so people can play, say the first 5-10 levels to get a desire for more. I think the problem with original games on the App Store is that people are too afraid of spending money on junk without being able to try it out. Later I would just build the level generator into the paid version, so it would give paying customers the ability to create new levels. But enough about BloXoR, what about other original games?

I also have plans for many other games. I’m actually coming close to finishing and submitting one, now.

Great! When you have a new game, let me know and the least I can do is tweet about it. What have you developed for other platforms before? Why did you decide to switch to iPhone development?

Well, I’m a software guy by trade and by hobby. I’ve been coding since I was 10 (I’m 33) and have been writing games the whole time. I have silly little dice games and Pac-man like games that I wrote on the Atari 800, back when Atari was the dominant hardware maker, and not just a washed-up software house. (They’re really not Atari in anything more than name, now.) More recently, I’ve dabbled in creating Flash games. The problem was how do I get them out there to people? How do I make (any) money off of them? Not that I make games to make money. But, man, that’s the goal, right? Doing what you love for a living, not just in the couple hours a week that you eek out. Anyway, the App Store with all its faults provided the most important thing—it gave a clear path to publishing and selling a game. So, I took the plunge. It’s already paid off—people around the world are playing and (most, hopefully) enjoying a game that I created.

I agree that it’s very exciting to see where this platform is going. I’ll be looking to find the gems among all the copycats and clones out there. Thank you very much for your time!

It was my pleasure. Happy gaming!

Applications not loading? Probably because too much RAM has been used up by programs you’ve already ran. The solution is very simple. Do a hard reboot. Hold down home and the power button for 10 seconds. Yes, you will even have to hold them down while it asks if you want to turn the power off normally. After the hard reset, everything should work again. No need to reinstall the OS!

I discovered this by reading the description of Billy Frontier which says, “Technical note: if this game (or any other iPhone app) exhibits crashing, simply reboot your iPhone (hold down power + home button for 10 seconds) to fix it.” Nice game btw. Now I can play Blue Skies and Asphalt 4 Elite Racing again. Unbelieveable games, I’d like to add…

To keep your iPhone more stable, I’d also recommend having no more than three pages of apps. The Apple Logo of Death comes because when you install a new program, the OS has to do something called application remapping. There’s a watchdog process that shuts down any process that takes longer than 2 minutes. Thus, if this application remapping takes more than 2 minutes, it’ll reboot. Then on boot, it will do the application remapping, longer than 2 minutes, reboot ad infinitum. Found on iphonefreakz.

It’s been rumored that iTunes 8 will be released on Sep 9 and I hope iPhone OS 2.1 will be as well, so I can start using the full power of my iPhone and stop having to handle it with baby gloves.