Yes, it’s true: I’m working on my own iPhone game. Well, “games” is more accurate since I’ve got a couple in progress. “How did this happen,” you might ask? Sit down and let me tell you!

Last week I stumbled upon some software which claimed to make it “easy” to develop your own iPhone game without needing to know hard coding mumbo-jumbo. Sure, you’d have to learn the program’s language, come up with the game, design it, do the art, sound & music and somehow make it all work together yourself…but, hey, at least you don’t have to know how to code shit (whatever that means). So I decided to take the plunge into the world of game design. It was actually an inexpensive plunge, since the basic version of the software (which is called GameSalad) is free.

I spent several hours last weekend just reading about how GameSalad works and watching video tutorials. Somewhere in there I came up with my idea and started putting it together. I wasn’t exactly starting from scratch; there are a ton of free GS demos out there that you can learn from. Plus, every time I get stuck on a problem (which has happened a couple times this week) the people on the GS are pretty helpful.

So right now I’m jumping back and forth between two small games, and I might begin a third soon. I like this method because each game will have different challenges to overcome and learn from. So if I solve a problem in one, chances are that knowledge will come in handy with the other.

Once one game is completed I’m hoping to get it on the App Store for 99 cents per copy. I figure I should make a small game and sell it for cheap just to see what the experience is like. I’ll update more as I make progress building the games.   

Yes, it’s true: I’m working on my own iPhone game. Well, “games” is more accurate since I’ve got a couple in progress. “How did this happen,” you might ask? Sit down and let me tell you!

Last week I stumbled upon some software which claimed to make it “easy” to develop your own iPhone game without needing to know hard coding mumbo-jumbo. Sure, you’d have to learn the program’s language, come up with the game, design it, do the art, sound & music and somehow make it all work together yourself…but, hey, at least you don’t have to know how to code shit (whatever that means). So I decided to take the plunge into the world of game design. It was actually an inexpensive plunge, since the basic version of the software (which is called GameSalad) is free.

I spent several hours last weekend just reading about how GameSalad works and watching video tutorials. Somewhere in there I came up with my idea and started putting it together. I wasn’t exactly starting from scratch; there are a ton of free GS demos out there that you can learn from. Plus, every time I get stuck on a problem (which has happened a couple times this week) the people on the GS are pretty helpful.

So right now I’m jumping back and forth between two small games, and I might begin a third soon. I like this method because each game will have different challenges to overcome and learn from. So if I solve a problem in one, chances are that knowledge will come in handy with the other.

Once one game is completed I’m hoping to get it on the App Store for 99 cents per copy. I figure I should make a small game and sell it for cheap just to see what the experience is like. I’ll update more as I make progress building the games.   

Game design rule 1: Finish a game, then move on to another one.