Archive for July, 2010
The Xcode Expressions Window
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Last week I asked folks on twitter whether they’d like a tutorial on using the Expressions window in Xcode for debugging. Many people replied that they’d never heard of it, so I decided it was probably worth doing.
I’ve just added the tutorial over on the Tutorials page: Using the Expressions Window
The Expressions window is a powerful debugging tool available in Xcode that allows you to evaluate expressions or even call methods on your objects while stopped at a breakpoint in your code. Check out the tutorial for an introduction to some of the cool things you can do with it.
You’ll also noticed that I added a new page in the sidebar for Essays. I’ll group blog posts related to art and video games under that page. Right now there’s just one from January of this year, but I’ve been working on a new one that I hope to have up soon.
Owen
LandFormer 1.1 + New Levels
Friday, July 16th, 2010
Yesterday Apple approved a new update to LandFormer, as well as a new level pack you can purchase in the game. The new level pack is called “Easy Part 2″ and it contains 25 new easy difficulty levels, available for $0.99. If you’ve been playing the game and are finding some of the more difficult levels too challenging, then this is a great level pack to pick up.
I will be releasing “Medium Part 2″ and “Hard Part 2″ packs in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for those.
The 1.1 update is free to download and contains some important fixes to problems people had reported in 1.0. There are also two new free levels added to the game! Here are the full release notes:
New Stuff:
- Added two bonus levels to the free version of the game: one Easy difficulty level, and one Medium difficulty level.
Fixes and Improvements:
- Fixed an iOS4-only crash that would occur when certain help alerts came up mid-game.
- Fixed a bug where a received level wouldn’t load if you were in the middle of a game.
- Fixed a bug where purchased content wouldn’t appear right away when the shop was entered from particular alerts.
- Improved fast app switching for iOS4 devices.
- Improved handling of corrupt save files.
- Improved the review path from within the game.
- A few small UI tweaks and bug fixes.
If you left a review for the 1.0 version of the game, thank you. If you get a moment to download the update and update your review for 1.1, I’d appreciate it, as reviews get hidden away with each update.
Owen
Two Years
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
I was just talking to someone about when I started Streaming Colour and suddenly realized that today is my two year anniversary since embarking on this indie adventure! It has been an exciting two years with lots of highs and lows, but one thing has remained clear: I have the best job in the world. I love making games, and I love that I’m alive during a time when that is possible to do as “work”.
Thank you to everyone who bought one of my games over the last two years; you’re awesome. And a big thank you to the indie iPhone and indie games community for all the inspiration and support. I’m honoured to be part of this community, and I look forward to being a part of it for years to come.
Owen
Sneak Peek: City Theme Sketch
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
I thought a few people might like to see how the design of a new theme for LandFormer starts. I’ve started working on the concepts for a city theme for the game. I did some sketching the other night and these are the drawings I’ll be basing the theme on:
You can see there are the 5 tile heights from the game. I’ll be working from these drawing to start creating the main tiles for the theme. There’s a lot of other art that goes into a theme, but the tiles are what I start with.
Owen
Launch Week Summary
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
What an exciting week last week was! LandFormer finally launched, I was lucky enough to get some great press, Apple featured the game, then on Friday Gizmodo mentioned the game in their “This Week’s Best Apps” article! You can read all the latest reviews of the game on the Press page.
I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better launch for the game. Thanks again to everyone who tweeted about it, who emailed their friends and told them to get it, who left a review in the store, or who posted about it on their blog. I appreciate all the help. Once again I am reminded of how awesome the indie community is, and how supportive developers are of each other.
Between the press and the Apple feature, LandFormer made it all the way up to the #122 Free App in the App Store over the weekend. This far exceeded my expectations for the game. In Canada, the game made it all the way up to the #57 Free App.
I’ve been absolutely thrilled with the reception so far, and I’m starting work this week on the first update to the game. I’ll also be starting work on some requested level packs and themes soon. Lots of people have been asking about an iPad version of the game. At this point, it’s definitely something I’m looking at seriously.
In other news, Southern Ontario is in the grips of a ridiculous heat wave this week. The forecast is calling for a high of 33C (91F) in Guelph today with a humidex (i.e. a “feels like” temperature) of about 44C (111F). I’m starting to wish I had air conditioning. I’m thinking I might try to find refuge in a cooled coffee shop this afternoon …
Oh, and one more thing: I missed posting to the blog yesterday, so I’ve been ousted from iDevBlogADay for the time being. I’m still going to keep the sidebar links active, as I want to continue to support the effort. I’ve been added to the end of the waiting list, so I’ll be back eventually.
Owen