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 – starting today – at the iBookstore!
You might be asking an obvious question, “Why are you making us wait a month? Why not just publish the book immediately?” There are lots of reasons. The first reason is that I don’t want my book to get accidentally buried in the iTunes App Store. By setting a future date, the idea is that the book should properly appear on the “New Releases” list. I’m also suspecting that a significant amount of preorder sales might help with the ranking. If the book has a high rank on launch day, that might lead to additional sales. That could be good news not just for this website, but also Stencyl in general. I’m not sure that the world knows about the fun and power of Stencyl.
Another reason for the delay is that I need time to promote the book. I’m planning to send out an email newsletter and prepare promo copies for review.
The third reason is that I need to update this website. In addition to actually adding some content to this website, as I haven’t added any other new articles this year, the games section requires significant upgrading. People will likely look at my website, wondering if I can actually make games with Stencyl. Wow – I most certainly can. Unfortunately, you probably wouldn’t know that by looking at this website. That should change.
Additionally, I mention a specific game throughout the entire book. However, I haven’t actually published the game yet. I’m planning to get my iOS Developer account back online and reserve the name of the game. Perhaps the game could be published before the book is officially launched.
After the disappointment with BOT, I lost my motivation with app development. While working on this book, I felt the passion return. I’m feeling motivated to start making apps again. Although, this is book is a significant risk. I’m not sure if this book will be successful.
The book is an iBooks exclusive. It only runs on Mac or iPad. That’s because the book is interactive. It has lots cool widgets. If not for iBooks Author, I’m not sure if I would have finished this project. I wasn’t having much fun creating the book as an interactive PDF. Apple did a really nice job with iBooks. Now I wait and see if Apple feels the same way about my book.
I did some translation for Stencyl a while ago and this is how it started my adventure with this program. This is the greatest book everyone who wants to have, to make their own games! Such a smart idea with the interactive point to show exactly how to make the game. Stay motivated, I got your ibook and think it is awesome! Thank you!