Acorn Heroes

Sometimes, I wonder why I ever thought spending what little spare time I have developing for the iPhone was such a good idea.  I spend my days programming for a living, surely it would be easier to do something else in the evenings and weekends – do some painting, build the model railway I always want to build, or get out and play some football with the kids.

The last few weeks have been hard that way.  Lots of distractions at work, the kids have been hard going, and the iPhone work just wasn’t getting done.  It’s easy to get demoralised when this happens, and motivation ebbs away.

At times like this, I find the hardest thing to do is to get started again – lost momentum is hard to regain.  Just getting in front of the Mac and picking up where you left off can be the biggest hurdle.  Anyway, this isn’t meant to be a depressing post, because I’ve managed to get over that hurdle, and life is better on the other side.

I guess my point (and I do have one) is that if you find yourself in this situation, just be aware that the nagging voice in your head that says “It’s too hard” or “I just don’t have the time” is normally wrong.  Make the time, tackle the challenge and you’ll start on that wonderful upward spiral that comes from achieving the things you set out to do.

Last night we had our first meet up for local game devs.  We had about 20 people, all getting to know each other and sharing ideas.  Shatter was available for people to play and Sam and I were wandering around with an iPod for people to have a play with ‘secret project #4′ which we’re currently working on.

Thanks to everyone who came, I hope you had fun.  We’ll look to have another get together towards the end of September.  If you live in Dunedin, please join us on our Facebook page, where we’ll keep you up to date with future plans.  If you live elsewhere, I thoroughly recommend you try and find like minded people around you to share with.  If no group exists, start your own!

Tim Nixon and I have been working to set up a local game developer’s group for Dunedin.  The aim is to have an informal get together to swap stories, ideas and generally offer encouragement and feedback to locals who are interested in developing games.

So it’s my pleasure to unveil Game Dev Dunedin (GDD).  Initially we aim to have a semi-regular get together about once a month.  Our first meet up is next Tuesday at the South Bar on Frederick Street.  We’d love to see you, so come on down.  We’re putting on pizza, and will be showing off Shatter - the latest game from Sidhe Interactive.  Go Kiwi!

For more info, see our Facebook page, or more specifically the Meetup page.

Just a quick note.  It was pointed out to me that I have a blog presence and also a Twitter presence, but it wasn’t necessarily obvious that they were the same person!  So, just to clarify, I am also @GeorgeSealy.  I try to keep my twitter activity to iPhone related work as much as possible, so if that’s your interest too (and reading this blog means it probably is), please feel free to follow my tweets as well as blog posts.  I’m always looking for other like minded people to follow too.

Every now and then, my wife and I get a sudden urge to rearrange part of the house.  Normally it’s a part of the house that gets unusually messy, or feels like wasted space.  What results is a more useful area that is generally easier to keep tidy.  It’s also accompanied by an immense feeling of satisfaction.  

In the middle of one such episode this weekend, I realised that this is a perfect analogy for refactoring code.  To a non-coder, refactoring must seem like a waste of time.  The code you have works, why rewrite it?  Aren’t you at risk of adding more bugs to the code base?  The thing is, refactoring code is just like rearranging the family nest – it’s based on a desire to revisit past decisions and make things better.  Consider the following statements, which apply in both cases:

• The result is easier to keep tidy and make use of.
• Things that were in the way find their proper home where they can be useful, rather than annoying.
• Unwanted cruft is removed.
• Time that was spent keeping this mess under control can now be spent on more useful things.
• It looks and feels fresh and interesting.  Suddenly it’s a place that you enjoy spending time in.  When you spend a lot of time in a place, it helps to be happy to be there.

Acorn Heroes HQ - complete with resident beta tester.

OK, next time something a bit more technical with a hint of Battlestar Galactica.  I Promise.

Just thought I should add a quick post to point out that I do actually exist, and I’m not just a figment of George’s diseased imagination.  He’s just better with the word-typey stuff, so he’ll probably end up being the most common poster here.

Anyway, welcome and enjoy.

Welcome to Acorn Heroes!  There’s not much to see here for now, we’re just getting set up.  In fact, if you’re here reading this, you’re probably either a friend or family.

In the near future we’ll be putting up details of our plans for world domin… er… great products for the iPhone.