In my bathroom, the shower was leaking. I had been fighting with this issue for about five years, which is almost the same amount of time that I’ve been using GameSalad. Then one day, the hot water faucet stopped working. Instead of turning off the water, the handle just went around in circles. The frustration I experienced is similar to the frustration that I’ve been having with Game Development software. It’s a matter of having good tools!
Continue reading “What Does Plumbing Have To Do With Game Development?”
With all of the glorious technology available to humanity, shouldn’t this be a golden age of video gaming? Why am I so underwhelmed by the latest releases of software – or even hardware? I didn’t run out to buy an Xbox One (what a stupid name for a console), Nintendo Wii U (yet another stupid name for a console) or a PlayStation 4. Not even the 99¢ (or even free) games on iOS have been enjoyable lately. Why? What’s wrong? I thought about it and found three big issues – problems that are fairly new to gaming.
Cable companies are dinosaurs. Why pay around $100 a month for TV shows and movies when Netflix is $7.99 a month? However, these monsters are not going down without a fight. Instead of being content with providing Internet access to millions of people, there’s a push to double charge for the delivery of Internet data. Comcast recently struck a deal with Netflix to create a fast lane. This is directly against the notion of Net Neutrality, as the Internet is meant to have only one speed – all data should be promptly delivered without discrimination.
This is not an April Fools Day joke. Photics.com doesn’t engage in such activities. This is serious news. After 2+ years of working on a Stencyl book, the project is now complete. It was a tough project, as learning Stencyl was more challenging than I expected. But unlike my struggles, soon the world will have access to this handy book. Perhaps it can speed up your understanding of Stencyl. Preorders are available – 
It seems that I was late to the party with this one. Back in the Spring of 2012, Defiant Development launched Ski Safari. It’s a cute and fun skiing game. In a seemingly never-ending sea of iOS apps and games, it’s hard to stand out in the endless runner genre. I thought I pretty much had my fill with Tiny Wings and Agent Dash. But with Ski Safari, I was playing on my iPhone 4 like it was brand new.