Break is over.

I haven't touched any code in what feels like a month. I don't really know why, I just lost some steam and haven't had any motivation. Until today. I realized that I want to make something happen for me, have something with my name on it out there, and get this app finished. I have cut back some of the big plans for quadropong for the time being just so I can finish and have something complete to put out there. I have no doubt that I will be able to make my goal of getting this app in the AppStore by the end of the year. And after that's done, I already have ideas for my next project. Stay tuned.

TestFlight

In case you don't know about it, TestFlight is a great way to get beta builds out to testers. It's a little bit of work to set up, but the ease of managing builds, distributing them to testers, and getting feedback from them is amazing. I just started using it yesterday and I already love it.

More Graphics!

I am really enjoying making these graphics for this game, I think it's a little easier than the actual coding. Unfortunately I am at the point where I need to get back into the code and start implementing more features. Here's my latest video (it's a little blurry, even in full screen, but I can't do much about that):

I finally figured out how to capture just the iOS Simulator screen instead of the entire desktop. Smart, eh? I used a plugin found here that works great. I also found a jailbreak tweak called Display Recorder that can capture video on an actual device, but I JUST restored my iPhone to stock, and don't feel like re-jailbreaking (yet).

Icon.png

Been messing around today with VectorDesigner, trying to figure out all its quirks and make a decent icon. Here's what I have so far:

Not bad, eh? I'm sure I'll change it a few more times before I launch, but I think this looks pretty cool, and very "Apple" for now. It was a nice break today to work on graphics instead of code, but honestly most of my time was trying different vector programs out. I think I went through five different "free trials" before deciding to stick with VectorDesigner (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vectordesigner/id402376701?mt=12). It had all the features I need for now, and didn't have the poor reviews that all the others seemed to have. It's no Illustrator, but it will do for now.

Graphics update (kinda)

I found a cheap vector graphics program called DrawIt that I've been testing out (still in the 30 day trial). I was always struggling to draw something like sprites in Pixelmator (which I love), and needed something else. I did some searching and found that vector based editors are better for creating shapes and designs, while raster based editors are better for touching up photos, creating textures/layers, and creating more traditional 'art', like digital paintings. So, here are the results of a few hours of playing with DrawIt:

I also tried to draw a cat face:

Not sure how that one will come to fruition, but we will see. 

Address change

I changed the address for this blog because it's not about bonsai anymore. Update your bookmarks!

Things are progressing!

Another week, another video!

Feels like I made a ton of progress yesterday and today, but watching that video I realize I still have a LONG way to go before I'm ready to actually launch an app. I have the basic framework down for the game, but I have a lot of ideas that will actually make this somewhat attractive in the iOS market. Obviously graphics and music are going to change, I made these in about five minutes (ok more like 30, I'm REALLY bad at graphics...) just as placeholders.

My idea/plan for this game is to release it completely free. Ad free and no up front cost. I know this sounds crazy, because obviously people will pay good money for this high quality and necessary game, riiight? :) I'm looking at this game as a learning experience for me, and release it for free will greatly increase my exposure, my audience, and my feedback. The more people that play with this code, the better I think. I have some ideas for monetizing after release, possibly with additional themes or different gameplay modes. I'm not sure about how to implement this smartly, plus it's way to early to be thinking about this stuff, but I am. I like to have an end goal to work towards, but tend to forget about all the steps it will take to get there. All in due time, I guess.

I'd also like to take this chance to say THANK YOU for reading this blog. It's fun to watch the stats grow each month as I post more, and get a few more readers to the site with each post. Knowing that someone out there is watching my progress, asking questions IRL, and commenting (...) is a huge motivation for me. Stay tuned, more to come as always!

Quick rec...

Here's another site that breaks down Obj-C in an easy to understand manner:
http://designthencode.com/scratch/
Helpful if you are starting and feel overwhelmed, or need a refresher. I'm currently freshening up on subclasses.

Four paddles are go!

So in case it isn't obvious, or you didn't check out the link to ticalc.org I posted earlier, quadropong is a simple, single player pong game where the player tried to keep the ball from hitting any edge of the screen. There are four paddles, one for each side, and the player controls all of them. To make it less annoying, two paddles can be controlled at once. Check the video:

I don't have the ball in there yet, and the graphics are sadly very basic, but the framework is there. Obviously I'm using cocos2d to speed up the process of building this app, and it has been an amazing help. There are tons of tutorials and resources available for beginners and experts alike. Two notable websites that have helped me in the last few days are Ray Wenderlich's blog (http://www.raywenderlich.com/) and Mohammad Azam's article (http://www.devproconnections.com/article/mobile-development/create-iphone-game-cocos2d-framework-136107). Both sites are a great starting point for cocos2d.

Why I always keep my notebook close

Lately, no matter what I'm doing, I'm constantly thinking about this app. Frustrations and road blocks in coding that cause me to stop and move on to another activity (like replaying Final Fantasy X) stay in the back of my mind. Sometimes a solution will suddenly pop into my head in one of those slap-on-the-forehead kind of moments, and I'm glad to have a piece of paper and a pencil nearby to jot down the idea. I don't always have time to jump into the code at that moment, but having a place to log ideas and possible solutions is crucial.


Also, I haven't found a good way to take the kind of notes I take on the computer. I love the free open space of a piece of paper, and the ability to draw pictures with annotations and full sentences, without worrying about formatting. I highly recommend a good 'programming notebook' for everyone.

Removed Ads

Since the ads on this page were doing absolutely nothing ($1.35 since I started it...as the BONSAI blog), I decided to remove them. No point in wasting space with ads if they aren't generating any revenue. I was hoping that eventually I would be able to make a decent side income from app sales and ad revenue, but for now I'm just going to focus on learning this stuff and getting one app published, and worry about the money later. Or not at all. =]

coffee_dev.jpg

New Direction!

I had a moment of clarity/brilliance in the shower this morning (side note, I always do my best thinking&brainstorming in the shower...why is this!? I need a dry-erase board in there to write stuff down because by the time I get out I usually forget the idea) and decided I needed to make a little game really quickly to finally have a product to show off. If you haven't heard about cocos2d before, check their site out. As far as I understand, it is a library that provides tons of graphic and layout tools so you can get a game up and running without necessarily understanding what each and every piece of code is doing. Perfect, right? Well I decided to jump in this morning because I want to port a game I wrote in 2004 called quadropong. Yes that page is still up on ticalc.org, a fact which blows my mind. This is the only 'full game' that I have actually finished and released, as silly as that sounds, but I decided to recreate it for iOS. It's a simple enough game that it isn't a very daunting task, and will allow me to finally finish something and get some confidence (hopefully). Redditors, please don't steal my idea and beat me to the punch. =]

I'm done coding for the day, so here's a small video of the new progress. Nothing too amazing, but I had to make one..

Calculator done, with a small problem

I finished all of the additions in the first 'Calculator' assignment. It consisted of adding a few buttons with new functions for the calculator, and some memory management buttons which needed new variables too. Adding floating point was the last thing I did, and it is almost working as expected. It was easy to allow the user to add decimal points (add a digit button with a '.' on it), took some thought to keep the user from entering more than one decimal per number, but now I am stuck on one situation. When the user is adding two decimals together (0.2 + 0.3), the second entry isn't allowed because of the way I check in digitPressed. Watch this video:

I want to move on, but think that I should figure out a solution to this before jumping in further. This is one thing that sucks about taking the class through iTunesU, you don't have any TAs or teachers to answer your questions or help you figure something out. All I have is Reddit. :)

Calculator!

I finished the highly detailed walkthrough for the Calculator assignment (it basically tells you step by step how to build this project). I added a few new buttons and some color, then recorded building and running it on the iOS Simulator. Enjoy.

The next step is to follow the actual assignment and probably add some more functionality. Fun!

//edit - so annoying, I cannot get a decent sized and viewable video to embed on this page. You can either view the small YouTube video here, or click through the the full YouTube site and view full screen there. Why wouldn't they just include the full screen button on the embedded video? :-\

Stanford Classes

I found the latest iTunesU class from Stanford, and have started to use those as my development guide. I even hooked up the AppleTV to stream the class to my TV so I can watch and do work at the same time. Will post a screen of the 'calculator' assignment when I finish it up.

An in progress screenshot

"Even if I don't make enough money to quit my job,
even if I don't make any money at all,
even if all I do is read a book and learn a new skill, this will be worth it"

-quote by me, Jonathan H, a few minutes ago on the toilet.

New book

I've given up on Objective-C for Dummies, and decided to shelf Programming in Objective-C as a reference tool. I want to get into some actual app programming, not command line stuff. Also, I've noticed too many misspellings and errors in the Dummies book, I can't follow along anymore. I hope these errors are a result of the ebook conversion process, and aren't actually in the print book! These little things, like a function name changing from one page to the next, or typos in the code, really distract me and are making it hard to 'trust' the book. I've moved on the "Beginning iPhone 4 Development: Exploring the iOS SDK". We'll see how this one goes, seems to be more geared towards what I want to learn.

I'm so bad at this...

It's been over two weeks and I've only made it through four chapters in my "Objective-C for Dummies" book. All the basic Obj-C stuff that is boring but essential. You can only do so many NSLog prints to the console before you get bored. Slowly but surely I am making this happen though. In fact the next chapter I am starting goes beyond instruction sets and actually gets into some programming concepts and examples. Yay!

I met an Xcode developer the other day at my store, he was wearing a track jacket with the Xcode logo on it, proudly showing the world that he is a successful and productive developer. He was so excited to share, even for a few minutes, his love for his project (something about the Xcode toolchain...). It gave me a little inspiration to continue on with this.

From Bonsai to programming

My bonsai tree died before it even had a chance. Time to move on to another type of project...

My new year's resolution this year (along with the usual "work out more/eat healthier" one) is to get an app in the Apple app store. I have been interested in computer programming for years, and have started learning on a number of homebrew systems, but iPhone and iOS combination is the first system that combines the accessibility needed for a hobby developer and the opportunity to reach customers and make money. Everyone dreams of sharing the success of apps like Angry Birds. While this would be awesome, I'm setting a smaller goal; get one app published and approved by the end of the year.


I've gathered my materials, which I will share below. So far it has been a lot of reading, but I hope to update with tips, things I've learned, and a full journal of the app, whatever it will be, as it is being developed.

Here are two books I'm combing through now.




While these two books are by no means enough for me to get an app together, but they will be a great starting point. I also have a collection of links to share as days go on.