"Don't bully me, Daniel!"

Oh...I just read an article (yes, still with the magnifying glasses hiked on top of my regular glasses) about Steve Demeter. He developed the puzzle game, "Trism," for the iPhone. In the article he mentioned that he had a working prototype up of his game in 10 days. 1o DAYS! He knew nothing about the iPhone SDK, or Objective-C e'der. Now, how much of a working prototype do I believe he had in 10 days, I'm skeptical, but I love a good challenge. So, I'm challenging myself to have something up in running on the iPhone simulator, since I don't currently own an iPhone or iTouch, in the next 10 days. Since I started my research into iPhone development, last Friday (Decemeber 5th) that means I'm already 3 days behind, and now have 7 days to get something up and running.

So, for those not familiar with Mac OSX development that means I have to learn a new IDE (XCode), Objective-C, and the iPhone SDK, in 7 days in order to get something up on the screen. Ahhh...I like a good challenge.

Hmmmn...I've got a bunch of American Express bonus points that I've never used. I just did not want to spend 400K points on a calculator. However, I did see in their last catalog an iTouch. I will use the majority of my accumulated points on it (thus a free iTouch). I already own a 17" MacBook Pro (purchased 3 years ago to edit my 40 min. short film - which did get into 2 film festivals I brag...no need in being humble, that sh$t was hard work my friend, so I pat myself on the back every chance I get). So, I have to upgrade my OSX, $130. I'll stop by the Apple Store on the way home, and pick that up.

Thus my schedule of tasks stays the same (see below), with the caveat of my having little test program up and running by next Monday (keep in mind I have a day job -and we must all count our blessings for that, in this economy-) so you know I'll be scrambling.

Tasks/Status

1) Learn the iPhone Tech
* Download/install iPhone SDK
* Upgrade Mac OS $130
* Join iPhone Dev $99
* Read iPhone Docs/Samples
** iPhone OS Technology Overview
** Cocoa Fundamentals Guide
** iPhone Application Programming Guide
** iPhone Human Interface Guidelines
** iPhone Development Guide
** The Objective-C 2.0 Programming Language
** Write little test programs to learn the iPhone Capabilities (memory allocation, file I/O, iPhone audio, WiFi, graphics, etc...) - by Dec. 15th

2) Test my game concepts out on the iPhone
3) Build tool(s) if needed
4) Solidify Game Design
5) Architect the game code
6) Develop game w/ scratch art
7) Drop in real assets
8) Test/Debug
9) Ship It


Sad news...I was following Noel Llopis (game developer, author, biz owner) blog "Power Of Two Games," he and his friend where embarking on making a game w/ just the 2 of them. Sadly they have shut it down after about 2 years, and what do I read he's doing on his old/new blog, "Games From Within," iPhone game development.

Well, off to do my day job, and can't wait to get home this evening...10 DAYS! 10 DAYS! "Don't bully me, Daniel!"