The Commute From Hell has been officially released today :D You can get it here.
The Commute From Hell is a commute themed running app where you have to run to catch your train while dodging common characters of the city.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Shipping my First Game
I shipped my first game, The Commute From Hell, to the Apple Store for review on Tuesday. It was both a terrifying and exciting moment. I have been at MakeGamesWith.Us Summer Academy this summer. MakeGamesWith.us is an 8-week intensive bootcamp for students who want to learn to build iOS games. The first few weeks we learned the basics of game programming and objective-c through tutorials and projects we worked through on our own. This self -paced environment allowed for students to learn as much as they wanted.
Around week 3 we all started our programs. We spilt into project management teams of 3, that way each person had two project managers, and brainstormed ideas. We all developed game design documents they had laid out every detail of each project, including weekly goals. On Tuesdays and Fridays we would have project management meetings to go over what we did since the last meeting to make sure we were all on track.
A week into my game I had a crisis of confidence, not sure how to take my idea and implement it in the game I was making. Luckily, the staff helped me through. They let me explain my problems and we came up with a way to structure my game to the level of programming I had. After that, I felt more confident in my abilities and continued with my game.
Fast-forward to this week, it has been 6 weeks since I first started this game. Its been 2 weeks since I finished the core game mechanics. And a day after adding the final artwork. I submitted my game, The Commute From Hell, to the Apple Store. The terrifying part about the entire experience is that I just want people to like my game, I am more excited that I may release a product that was built by me. For now, I am waiting to hear back from the Apple store.
While I wait I have been thinking of new game ideas, and setting up social profiles for my game. On Saturday we all get to share what we have worked on at a Demo Day. Its the first time most of us will be sharing our game with people from outside the MakeGamesWith.us circle. While it is great to see what we can all do, we are all coming from similar mindsets. It will be helpful to see what people who have not been exposed to any of our games think.
This has been a great experience and I am glad that I spent my summer this way. I feel like I learned a lot more than any other summer.
Around week 3 we all started our programs. We spilt into project management teams of 3, that way each person had two project managers, and brainstormed ideas. We all developed game design documents they had laid out every detail of each project, including weekly goals. On Tuesdays and Fridays we would have project management meetings to go over what we did since the last meeting to make sure we were all on track.
A week into my game I had a crisis of confidence, not sure how to take my idea and implement it in the game I was making. Luckily, the staff helped me through. They let me explain my problems and we came up with a way to structure my game to the level of programming I had. After that, I felt more confident in my abilities and continued with my game.
Fast-forward to this week, it has been 6 weeks since I first started this game. Its been 2 weeks since I finished the core game mechanics. And a day after adding the final artwork. I submitted my game, The Commute From Hell, to the Apple Store. The terrifying part about the entire experience is that I just want people to like my game, I am more excited that I may release a product that was built by me. For now, I am waiting to hear back from the Apple store.
While I wait I have been thinking of new game ideas, and setting up social profiles for my game. On Saturday we all get to share what we have worked on at a Demo Day. Its the first time most of us will be sharing our game with people from outside the MakeGamesWith.us circle. While it is great to see what we can all do, we are all coming from similar mindsets. It will be helpful to see what people who have not been exposed to any of our games think.
This has been a great experience and I am glad that I spent my summer this way. I feel like I learned a lot more than any other summer.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
MakeGamesWithUs
This summer I decided to take on the daunting task of making an iOS app. Specifically, a game. But I didn't do this alone. Me and 40 other people in the NYC region, and even more in the Palo Alto and San Francisco regions took on this task as well. We have help from MakeGamesWith.us. MakeGameWithUs teaches people how to design, code, manage, and market your own iOS game in 8 weeks. Monday through Friday 9-5 we each work on our own projects. With the help of the instructors, we are learning to code at levels that none of us have really coded at yet.
I have two more weeks left of the summer academy, affectionately know as CRUNCH TIME. We are learning the art of polishing our game. Adding the finishing touches to the gameplay, adding analytics, and getting everything ready for launch. This experience has been wonderful. I have learned more this summer than I have in a few semesters at school. Besides learning, we have the opportunity to meet more tech workers and founders. The ability to talk to and learn from people who have felt like us at some point is great. Now time for more coding. Are you ready for the Commute from Hell?
I have two more weeks left of the summer academy, affectionately know as CRUNCH TIME. We are learning the art of polishing our game. Adding the finishing touches to the gameplay, adding analytics, and getting everything ready for launch. This experience has been wonderful. I have learned more this summer than I have in a few semesters at school. Besides learning, we have the opportunity to meet more tech workers and founders. The ability to talk to and learn from people who have felt like us at some point is great. Now time for more coding. Are you ready for the Commute from Hell?
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