So I’ll just lay out the harsh reality: if you have zero programming background and little more than a vague outline of what you want to do the odds are you will have little luck finding a good developer, let alone making a decent iPhone application without spending way too much money and time.  My advice if you want to execute your idea efficiently would be to first:

1. Think through what it is that you want to create – sounds obvious but I don’t mean in a half-ass way, I mean really walk through the usage scenarios and create mock-ups of what you want to create. I know this is painful if you don’t come from a programming or engineering background but it is a must do if you want to be taken seriously by developers.
2. Create full specifications of what you need – write down every single thing that you think you will need to be created. Developers are just developers, especially the ones you can afford, and if they could resolve the unknown design problems with your idea then why would they need you?  See a great post by Joel Spolsky on why specs are so important.
3. Think about how much time, money, effort you are willing to put in to the project – odds are your project won’t be done in 1 week, so you need to make sure it is an idea you are comfortable working on and marketing once it is developed.  Basically, whatever time frame you think is possible, double it.
4. Learn what the iPhone SDK can and can’t do – this makes it much easier to know what to ask for and it also helps avoid your getting screwed by inexperienced or dishonest developers

Once you have spent the time to go through these steps you need to decide if you are looking for local or offshore developers.  Offshore will be cheaper but the additional time it takes to create very thorough specs and communicate what you need is significant.  The budget question is an important one because odds are you will not find a developer partner who will work for equity alone.  See my post on finding the right developer here.  Most important steps I followed before pulling the trigger on the idea were:

1. Check the App Store thoroughly for precedents or competitors to your idea
2. Check whether there are any companies or games that replicate your product on the web (for example in the flash games world)
3. Think about pricing and what you would need to break even.  If you are creating a niche product that will move 20-30 units a day odds are it does not pay to outsource development
4. Think of a narrative for your product.  Gimmicks have been done and they give you very little to work with.  You need to think about why bloggers, journalists and users would care about your 1 app out of 30k+ in the App store.

Bottom line is if you spend the time to walk through all of the design and planning yourself and can be bothered to learn the basics of the SDK you will be in a good position to know how to spot talented developers either in the U.S. or abroad.  The best way to get developers to respect and want to work with you is to be precise and exact with your idea and your specs from the get go.  Developers are getting inquiries from dozens of “next big thing” idea people so show that you have thought through your project enough and they will choose to work with you over their other options.  That’s right, finding the right developers is just as much about you convincing them as them convincing you, especially when it comes to iPhone app development.

Update: Just found a great article about developing an iPhone app from scratch here.  Includes some good resource links at the end of the article.  Also see Joel Spolsky’s blog for great project manager tips for when you do decide to begin your app development.

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Once you have a signed NDA and you have sent out your specs and chosen someone to your liking the next step is drafting a contract.  What worked well for me was to create a contract between the developer and myself outlining, via milestones and detailed specs, what was going to be done at each stage.  While it takes a lot more up front work on your end to know exactly what you are looking for, it pays off in the end by having everything out on the table for everyone involved.  I learned from my experience developing application for The App Farm^tm , that it is worth the trouble to get it right the first time to avoid confusion down the line.

Things to consider in terms of a contract with a developer for an iPhone application:

1. Make sure the developer guarantees that they will have a bug-free working version of the application acceptable to Apple in terms of code quality (there are cases where the code is buggy and Apple rejects your application, so you want to make sure the developer stands by their work at least through this initial approval process)
2. That the developer relinquish and assign all worldwide rights and privileges and code to the contractor
3. That there be some sort of penalty for late delivery (to prevent low-ball time estimates just to get your business)
4. That the code and application created be built with proprietary and non conflicted code (you don’t want a previous contractor to recognize or see that their IP has been copied by the developer – this is a logical shortcut some developers might try to take to leverage past projects)
5. Make sure you have a process established in case something goes wrong in one of the steps of delivery (need to have clear plan for payment after a milestone or proceedings to fix flaws within a certain time frame)
6. Define the method and frequency of payment.  Define this early so there are no delays or discussions later

Obviously not all contracts or projects will be so clearly defined so then an hourly wage would be better.  I recommend using oDesk for this as they allow you to monitor work in progress, pay via credit card on line, and even challenge a payment if you feel the work is not executed as agreed.  Not sure how easy contesting a charge is, but again having the possibility of doing this ensures a minimum level of accountability.  All depends what you are looking for.

With regard to the contract, I would recommend you use an experienced lawyer because you want to be certain you are creating a contract that protects your claim to the idea, the code and its implementation, especially if your application does well.  I think anyone willing to go it without a strong contract is risking getting screwed because there is nothing preventing a developer from claiming ownership or filing in the App store under their own certificate if they so choose.

In terms of other legal issues to consider around your idea, make sure that:

1. The name of your application is not trademarked or otherwise reserved
2. The idea and concept you are using is not copyrighted or patented.  The laws around this are inconsistent, divided and are always changing so best to consult with an attorney or at minimum spend the time to educate yourself if you have any concerns
3. Create a legal entity to shield yourself from any sort of liability.  In case there was a trademark or copyright issue you were not aware of, you want to protect your personal assets from any sort of litigation that might result down the line.  This can be done fairly cheaply, just head to LegalZoom to figure out which structure works best.
4. In terms of any music or images or code you use, make sure that it is not protected or under a general public license.  You do not want to face royalty payments for a certain song playing in the background or be forced to share your code because you used a line of code or an image protected under the GNU General Public Use license.

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I still don’t think it is a bad deal to offer a developer: 1) an application idea, 2) a salary, 3) a flexible schedule, and 4) a portion of the returns.  I wasn’t able to find anyone experienced, however, with enough interest and skill to really dive in to the project.  While I am sure this is a symptom of the high demand for iPhone developers and my lack of being able to find / convince anyone locally (I only posted on Craigslist so wasn’t exactly scouring the city), it was still surprising how few serious inquiries I received.  Let me just add, as someone who is learning the iPhone SDK, I was amazed at how little most developers who reached out to me knew about developing with the iPhone SDK.

One thing I knew was that I didn’t want to create an SDK University where I would pay someone to figure out how to develop my game.  So if you are an outsider like I am to programming, just a warning to be careful about who you consider working with.  By no means is someone good because they can throw some jargon your way, and more importantly all programming languages are NOT the same.  True, a talented developer can pick up a language very quickly, but the reality is there are a ton of less talented developers out there so look for proven experience.  For some tips on how to find talented programmers as a non programmer see this post.

When I looked at local companies all of them had quotes that were either too high or too slow.  Again, it felt like most were traditional web developers trying to branch out into iPhone development on my dime.  This was probably because the professional local iPhone outfits were busy charging 25-30k to advertising and other companies to develop their apps so weren’t interested in my less than straightforward app.  I had heard plenty about the quality of outsourcing development to Eastern Europe so I chose to look internationally and post an add on oDesk.  I had found out about oDesk through a friend who was developing an application and when I visited the site I was extremely impressed with the quality of their services.  Clearly quantifying hours worked, developer ratings, even test skills passed as well as displaying links to portfolios made it easy to filter through applicants.

I posted an add and received about 10 responses within the first several days.  Some were developers just spamming me, others had relevant experience but were divided into a range of ratings from 3.5 to 5 out of 5.  I initially contacted the higher rated ones who had positive feedback on past assignments but with one from the Balkans I found that his English proficiency was far below what would be necessary to communicate effectively.  He clearly was very talented but I got the feeling he was using Google translate to answer my e-mails.  Another team from Pakistan spoke great English and they spent quite a bit of time on chat with me getting to understand the project.  I liked them but their estimate came in at 4 man months – roughly 2-3x longer than anybody else!  The process was tedious between getting NDA’s signed and sending out the specs to receive a quote (see Taking Care of the Legal Stuff entry) but I ended up with a few good options that I felt would work.

I decided on a team of developers from the Ukraine whom I had found worked on an application roughly similar to what I wanted to make.  I contacted them and immediately knew they would be easy to work with.  From their English level to experience with similar projects to their extensive list of published apps I knew Injoit could execute on what they promised.  For more about the process of finalizing the specs and signing up with them see the related entry Contract Signed!.  So far working with them has been great, they are timely and easy to communicate with so we will see what happens.

If you are looking for a developer make sure to:

1. Even if you are not a programmer, spend some time reading about what is possible with the SDK – you’d be surprised what developers try to convince you of (for example, Apple makes it very easy to utilize tools like the Accelerometer – matter of hours or a day to set up but I had one guy tell me that it would take a week!)
2. Find someone who has worked on something similar.  If you are developing a game, someone who has no graphics or game engine experience will slow the entire process down
3. Don’t be afraid to ask for a time and cost quote, and once you get the time estimate have them breakdown how long they see each component taking.  When you have a couple of quotes it makes it easier to figure out their skill / bs level.
4. Don’t hesitate to contact previous application users.  In most cases it will be a dude in a basement like you so no harm in dropping him / her an e-mail asking about their experience.  I actually almost signed with one team before I spoke with someone who had worked with them who told me to steer clear!
5. Think carefully about hourly versus by project.  Both have their benefits and it will largely come down to how specific your plans are.
6. Know exactly what you are looking for.  This was hard for me, but sit down and map the whole damn idea out as well as what will be required before contacting people.  Don’t expect anyone you speak to to have really creative solutions to your important application design questions (i.e. application purpose, business model, pricing, etc).  If they did, they wouldn’t need your ass and if they did have your answers they would cost way way more than you can afford.  If you need someone to figure out the other half of the puzzle then look for a partner, not contracted development.
7. Be realistic about the costs, although outsourcing development is cheaper than doing it in the U.S., it is not going to be free to develop something of quality.  If you are developing the next iFart then maybe, but honestly why bother?  Besides, in my opinion the real opportunity in the App store seems to be the tween category of 2$ to 3$ apps, not the $10 Spore’s of the world and not the $0.99 crap gimmicks that are drowning the App store.

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I decided to develop a basic tanks game that would leverage the 2 player via Wifi as well as accelerometer and tap features of the iPhone, but include little in the way of characters, story line, etc.

This stems from the assumptions that 1) I have no idea how to develop an interesting game narrative and 2) it is the playability and 2 player component that I think will have people signing up.   I decided to use the tank theme of the original Atari Combat game that so many of us know so well as the inspiration behind my game.

Atari Combat - Tank game

For me, this was the first game that captured my imagination and got me obsessed with gaming as a boy.  If you recall, there were several playing modes all of which looked the same but had slightly different strategies but all were 2 player. The game was so addictive primarily because of this social component, so I hope to recreate that effect on players when my game launches on the iPhone app store.

Of course I had to make sure such a game had not been done, and while I found atleast 6 tank related games on the App store, I found none that used similar functionality nor tackled the 2D approach as well as I had wanted to.  Even in the flash games world I had not found a version of this other than an exact replica of Combat, so I knew I had an idea that could be different enough from everything else out there.  Let’s hope it stays that way until well after game launch!!

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