My first iPad app, French in Space, was approved for sale in the App Store today.
I've been building a few iPhone apps for clients this year and it has been a lot of fun. I like Objective-C, (although I know a lot of people don't), and working with the devices couldn't be easier. There has been lots of talk about App Store censorship, policies and such, but I'm not too fussed about it. The truth is, Apple has done a great job as far as making it easy to develop and debug on the device, so they win my vote there.
I spent a few weeks in France last year with my lovely wife for our tenth wedding anniversary and as anyone who knows me will attest, I just wont shut up about the trip, even a year on. I really hope to go back there one day. Part of the fun was learning the language and watching the locals cringe at our awful grammar and pronunciation. I hope to be a bit more fluent on our next trip, but motivating yourself to learn a language can be tough (or at least it is for me).
So basically, I wrote my little iPad game for myself to make increasing my French vocabulary a little less boring. Even if the app never sells a copy (apart from the test copy I bought) I will still add extra features and levels to it in the coming months. I have heaps of ideas, but it was getting to the stage where I just needed to ship something so I could tell myself that I had something out there for people to see (and possibly poke fun at).
I find building software for myself a very relaxing process. Despite the fact that I found myself working at some very odd hours, the lack of pressure is a nice change. I really had to give myself a deadline for shipping something otherwise I would have tinkered forever, which I am sure is a common trap.
Anyway, if you are interested in seeing what the little app is like, I have built a web-site with screenshots and a dinky demo video.
I've been building a few iPhone apps for clients this year and it has been a lot of fun. I like Objective-C, (although I know a lot of people don't), and working with the devices couldn't be easier. There has been lots of talk about App Store censorship, policies and such, but I'm not too fussed about it. The truth is, Apple has done a great job as far as making it easy to develop and debug on the device, so they win my vote there.
I spent a few weeks in France last year with my lovely wife for our tenth wedding anniversary and as anyone who knows me will attest, I just wont shut up about the trip, even a year on. I really hope to go back there one day. Part of the fun was learning the language and watching the locals cringe at our awful grammar and pronunciation. I hope to be a bit more fluent on our next trip, but motivating yourself to learn a language can be tough (or at least it is for me).
So basically, I wrote my little iPad game for myself to make increasing my French vocabulary a little less boring. Even if the app never sells a copy (apart from the test copy I bought) I will still add extra features and levels to it in the coming months. I have heaps of ideas, but it was getting to the stage where I just needed to ship something so I could tell myself that I had something out there for people to see (and possibly poke fun at).
I find building software for myself a very relaxing process. Despite the fact that I found myself working at some very odd hours, the lack of pressure is a nice change. I really had to give myself a deadline for shipping something otherwise I would have tinkered forever, which I am sure is a common trap.
Anyway, if you are interested in seeing what the little app is like, I have built a web-site with screenshots and a dinky demo video.