Gustavo Duarte: Lucky to be a Programmer

Under the right conditions, writing software is so intensely pleasurable it should be illegal.

Many programmers relate to this, but others are taken aback when they hear it. I think it’s because institutions are so good at squeezing the fun out of everything. It’s appalling for example how schools can take the most vibrant topics and mangle them into formulaic, mediocre slog. And so it is for programming.”

(Via Duncan Campbell.)

Back in May of 2007, I announced that Bullfrog 2 development had begun. The game engine was to be entirely rewritten to accelerate graphics by using OpenGL and to add many of the game play features I always felt were missing from the original Bullfrog.

Then in September, I shared with you a short movie showing a very early version of the new game engine. This was all targeting the Mac, just like the original.

While I was very excited about the project, Marcus and I were quite busy with other projects and development was slow. But, just as our schedules began to open up a bit, Apple announced that they were allowing third party developers to write software for their new iPhone.

I guess timing is everything. Within hours of the announcement, we had decided to change directions and target the iPhone and attack the world of mobile gaming.

After more than a year since the original announcement and four months of intense development on a brand new and very exciting platform, the original vision was released.

Bullfrog Touch sports a fast graphics engine, accelerometer-based controls, beautiful scrolling maps, animated water, obstacles, and my personal favorite lily pads.

But, the most exciting part of this whole journey is the huge list of ideas we generated while working on this project. The iPhone and iPod Touch platform is an extremely powerful environment for all kinds of software. The ability to take your iPhone anywhere you go and have the full power of OS X under the hood is sure to lead to some great things.

Fraser Speirs comments on the first week of Apple’s new iPhone App Store.

Demographics Is Destiny:

If you haven’t got it already, it’s time to move your head to this place: iPhone OS is Apple’s mainstream platform for 2012 and beyond. It’s a bold prediction, but the numbers seem fairly clear.

…

Put this another way: my iPhone app, Exposure, has picked up on average 3,200 new users per day since the App Store opened. Exposure already has twice as many users as FlickrExport for Aperture.

These are crazy numbers.

App Store Review is broken:

If Apple can’t guarantee a maximum 24 hour review process, they should drop it. What would happen if I was trying to correct a data loss or security bug, and the update sits in App Store limbo for five or ten days? Fortunately I’m not facing that situation, but these are fixes for painful crashing bugs that are really affecting users of Exposure. All the while, users continue to comment negatively on these already-fixed-but-not-released bugs in Exposure’s reviews on iTunes. Without demos, those reviews are an app’s lifeblood.

I can understand Apple wanting to check new applications, but holding up bug fix releases for five days or more is both annoying to users and damaging to developers’ reputations.

As part of their Mac Gems series, MacWorld awards LicenseKeeper a rating of 4 mice.

If you’re like me, your system of storing and organizing software license data is to leave serial numbers, receipts, and other information strewn about your inbox and desktop so that only the most frantic, thorough searches can retrieve it. I’ve finally brought order to chaos, though, with the help of LicenseKeeper , an organizer from Outer Level that keeps all that license information in one convenient place and with more focused features than general organizers or record keepers.

Outer Level is pleased to introduce our first iPhone and iPod Touch game, Bullfrog Touch. Classic arcade action comes to your iPhone or iPod Touch, but with a twist.

Tilt, flick, and touch your way through 50 challenging levels to earn your spot atop the online global rankings. Race against the clock to eat six unique bugs on 13 beautiful maps featuring animated water, lily pads, plants, and other obstacles.

Game Play Features

• Addictive classic arcade action on your iPhone
• Tilt, flick, and touch controls
• 50 increasingly challenging levels
• 13 beautiful maps with animated water, lily pads, plants, and other obstacles
• Eat six bugs, each with its own unique behavior
• Race against the clock
• Bug radar helps you track down your prey
• Track high scores with global rankings
• Pause and restore game play at any time
• Family and child safe gaming

You can find more screen shots and information on the Bullfrog Touch product page.

Bullfrog Touch sells for $7.99 (US) in the iPhone App Store.