Even with this basic buggy simplified version I find myself wanting to pick it up and play it.  Either I am obsessed with the idea or it does have some interesting game play already.  I have started to fiddle with the tank, turret and missile speeds amongst other variables and am hoping that upon testing I will just know the ideal setting for optimal game play once I see it.

I am also getting some of the first graphic renderings back and they look great, the team is really good at taking guidance.  The temptation is to try to squeeze in more features and components but I do not want to: A) go outside of what was agreed and B) delay the project by even one day.  Although my game has not been created in the short history of iPhone app development I am still worried that it will be done in the next 4 weeks.

iShoot continues to be number 1 and it is really making me want to get our application out, for some reason I feel that if we could launch the game with them as no. 1 then it could help us.  I know it is not that easy to even get near the top 100, but how do you explain that a pretty simple game (no discredit to Ethan Nicholas) stay no. 1 for 3+ weeks selling at a $2.99 price point?

Update: After having played iShoot I can definitely see the addictive elements like big explosions, nice sound, being able to purchase items and unpredictability of the game terrain.  Thinking about how to incorporate some of these elements into iCombat.  I also think the price point was a very smart move by Ethan Nicholas as it was not too low nor too high which kept everyone who had bought the game ecstatic that they had finally purchased a game they felt was worth it.  I still haven’t felt good about a single $10+ app I have purchased nor have I really been overwhelmed by what $0.99 gets you.  What do you think was the element that kept iShoot number 1 for so long?

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Basecamp screenshot

The team put all of our milestones into the system so now I can go to Basecamp, review the list of upcoming milestones and leave files and comments that I think are useful for the team.   Once you upload or insert a new comment you have the option of notifying specific group members which is great because it avoids spamming those people who are not relevant to the update.

I think this software is really a brilliant way to manage a geographically separated group of people where transparency can obviously be difficult and it is hard to get clarity around what each person is doing.  I seriously recommend Basecamp for anyone collaborating on not just software development, but anything that could require getting a group of people on to the same page.

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Level mock-ups

Of course you have to consider user habits, the quality of the enemy AI and so on, and even knowing that and expecting future revisions it is still frustrating how much of a shot in the dark it all is

The question I grappled with most was how will the accelerometer steering affect game play…impossible to really know until we start fiddling with different filters to find the right blend of speed and control.  I definitely want to avoid making a Labyrinth style experience, where the low friction coefficient makes steering so difficult.  Another thing I didn’t really appreciate beforehand was how little real estate an iPhone screen actually has -  you do have to be efficient in your design when it comes to games.

So although I have no proof that this first run of layouts will last or even be playable, I am going to briefly go into how I laid them out because I think it was fairly efficient.  First, I traced the iPhone and screen size in 20 boxes to one of those huge Post-it Easel pads (for those of you like me who don’t work in an office with miles of whiteboards this is a great solution).

Then I started laying out sketches in pencil of the game level walls, enemy starting points, bonus items, etc.  Doing them all on 1 page makes it easy to avoid repetition and to get a united visual view of how the player experience progresses.  I didn’t focus too much on having a perfect arc in difficulty level because I figure I can always change that either A) in the PowerPoint mock-up version or B) when it comes to seeing how the levels play out.

Once I was happy with the levels I just used powerpoint and took a screenshot of the iPhone simulator and used that plus some copied building block graphics off of the web to compose my tanks, walls, background, etc.  While none of these graphics will make it in to the game it helps to have a visualized version so that the functionality can be developed in parallel with the graphics.  One thing that became very obvious once the levels were laid out though was that the AI behind the enemy movement is going to need to be good otherwise the game can easily become unplayably hard or easy.  I am trusting Taras and his team to help offer some insight as to how best create a good user experience.

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If you want some tips on the contract details and other legal stuff see the Taking Care of the Legal Stuff entry.

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Being new to programming and having just started to learn the iPhone SDK I felt time pressure to get my app idea out to market before someone else beat me to the punch.  I thought about the trade off between time, money and certainty of getting a launchable product and decided that I should invest the money necessary to get a working version into the App Store as quickly as possible.  That way I could also put more time on designing the game as well as the marketing.

I’ll say from my experience so far that outsourced iPhone app development is a big business but seems to have largely remained a practice for the enterprise realm.  Many start-ups and medium sized businesses are outsourcing their work and sometimes probably don’t even know it as it is passed through local development houses.  What I have learned through the various quotes I received was that any type of iPhone app development can run in the tens of thousands of dollars in the US, both because of the demand for developers but also because of what I noticed in several cases was developer inexperience.  Many of the quotes I received were astronomical (in both time and money) and were by development houses that didn’t even have one iPhone application in the App Store.  Bottom line, iPhone application development is far from becoming a commodity so you have to be very careful about whom you hire.

So why has there been little discussion about this topic?  Part of it I’m sure was Apple’s until recent tight NDA keeping discussion on the web muted.  Also, while there is clearly altruism amongst the iPhone developer community in terms of learning (the documentation and forums for learning both Objective C and the iPhone SDK are great), there just doesn’t seem to be such a push to help non-programmers who want to create something.  This is probably because people like me who are trying to create something through an external / outsourced process, try to HIDE IT, as they are worried about sharing credit or appearing as less than a real company.  While I understand this reasoning, I think it’s important to show everyone that people without much programming experience can create something of quality as well.

So I hope this blog is helpful and more importantly I hope that the advice I give actually works out to be a testament to how to create a great application.  If my application bombs, then just do the opposite of everything I write and you should be fine.  And PLEASE share your experience or post any good sources of advice for other readers.