Category Archives: philosophy
Work blocks: Their causes and remedies
I listen to the Merlin Mann podcast Back To Work. One topic was Getting Unstuck (time 1:18:00 to 1:20:15). I recognized some areas where I’ve made progress. Let me show you them. Too many options I list options on paper … Continue reading
Posted in iDevBlogADay, philosophy, process, rants
Tagged back to work, core values, crappy first draft, getting unstuck, mind map, perfectionism, pride
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Rejected Elaborations
Rejecting features is a vital phase of the game development process. Skip it and you risk the all-too-common failure mode of Overwhelming Complexity. While THE OCTOBER GAME has grown in scope, there were plenty of features I deliberately didn’t include. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, philosophy, process, rants, traps
Tagged complexity, core values, features, sunk costs trap, THE OCTOBER GAME
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The Game Deadline Problem, part 2
The deadline problem is, unless a project has a hard limit (like a fixed budget or a client milestone) or a willingness to halt work, it’s pointless to even call it a deadline. And a due date is more a … Continue reading
Posted in iDevBlogADay, philosophy, process
Tagged deadlines, due dates, rationalization, the big picture, THE OCTOBER GAME
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High Hanging Fruit
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: The Kzinti school of problem-solving As a noob developer, I don’t always know when to tackle a difficult area immediately or wait and let my subconscious chew on it for a while. From what I learned … Continue reading
Posted in ProTip, Uncategorized, philosophy, process
Tagged be aggressive, freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose, just do it, THE OCTOBER GAME, you scream and you leap
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Search Your Feelings Luke
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: Facing the Uncomfortable Late in the first week of December, it felt like The October Game was in the last stages. Having the game come out before Christmas didn’t seem too unreasonable. App submission had to … Continue reading
Posted in ProTip, Uncategorized, philosophy, process, prognostications, rants, traps
Tagged eat that frog, less wrong, planning fallacy, THE OCTOBER GAME, time-estimation, ugh fields, uncomfortable truths
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Fear is the Mind Killer
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: A Handy List of Fears to Ignore …when creating your very first commercial game. Say them out loud. My game will: be too simple have crude artwork have lame music be too small get bad reviews … Continue reading
Posted in ProTip, Uncategorized, creative, philosophy, traps
Tagged dune-quotes, fear, mind-killer, THE OCTOBER GAME
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If you love NSDictionary so much, why don’t you marry it?
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: The Autodidact’s Problem Early on, after I’d decided on a career involving computer technology, I decided the best way for me to learn was not in a classroom, but on my own. This decision has served … Continue reading
Posted in Objective-C, Uncategorized, philosophy, programming, rants, traps
Tagged Autodidact's Problem, NSDictionary, self-taught, THE OCTOBER GAME
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No time to get side tracked
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: Yak Shaving* For a game with such a short development cycle, every day counts. If fact, that’s precisely why I chose to make a game for sale within a month. Without a deadline, it’s very easy … Continue reading
Avoiding the research trap
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: Research I’m making a casual game and it’s gonna have frogs. My first instinct is to do some research. Here’s a pretty good book about frogs with lots a pictures and some good facts: 300 Frogs: … Continue reading
Posted in creative, philosophy, process, traps
Tagged paralysis by analysis, research, THE OCTOBER GAME
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iPhone App idea count = 47
Total worth, just under 40 cents.
Posted in creative, iPhone, philosophy
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