Acorn Heroes

Now that the initial excitement of getting an App on the store is starting to fade, it seems like a good time to look back over Goo!‘s development history and figure out what worked and what didn’t.

The Good

Sales:

It may seem odd to put this under the ‘good’ category, as our sales figures are still in double digits (although we’re hoping for a roll over into three digits before long).  However the purpose of Goo! was to be a test case, dipping our toes in the AppStore’s waters.  As such, it’s a success.  There’s a wonderful buzz from selling your own software that I had never experienced before.  Despite developing software for over ten years now, it’s always been for someone else.  The thought that other people, around the world have seen my software and wanted to buy it is thrilling.  And the feeling you get when one of your friends greets you by waving their iPhone in your face with your App on it is pretty special – thanks Chris, you’re an awesome friend.

Cocos 2d:

After faffing about with raw OpenGL for a while, we eventually switched to using Cocos2d as a platform.  Although both Sam and I are familiar with writing OpenGL engines, it just soaked up our time – something we have little enough of.  Cocos2d worked a treat and the change over took only an afternoon’s effort.

Twitter:

Twitter has proved to be a real find for me.  The iPhone developers I follow are a friendly, helpful bunch.  I’ve learnt plenty from these guys, found lots of great articles on the Internet and when we released Goo!, lots of people re-tweeted the announcement or promptly bought it on the spot.  Thanks guys, it means a lot!

Working together:

Sam and I have been working together on and off for over ten years now.  Ideas pass back and forward freely, and there’s enough mutual respect that we can quickly throw away bad ideas, or modify them to become good ideas with no ego or resentment getting in the way.

Submission process:

We hit a lucky patch with the App Store – just before Christmas people started reporting quick turn around with App submission.  Sure enough, Goo! went through the approval process smoothly in three days – a very pleasant surprise.  In fact, after hearing horror stories from developers over the last year, it is nice to see that Apple is improving things (or were we just lucky?).

The Bad

Too long:

Yeah, this is the biggie.  Nine months is a ridiculous length of time.  No excuses here.  Too often real life got in the way.  It’s just a fact of the lives we live with full time jobs and families.  Also…

Lack of a core concept:

In it’s day, Goo! has been a time tracker, the beginnings of a series of articles, a set of particle system toys and finally an implementation of the Game of Life.  Perhaps now you understand why it took so long.  Sam and I wanted a simple project to get started and we exercised some poor judgement along the way.  A lack of a clear vision for Goo! hampered us a lot.

Lack of a forward delete key:

Seriously, this is the single biggest pain I have working on a laptop.  And yes, I know about fn-delete, but it’s just not the same.

So, in summary it’s been an enjoyable process.  Goo!, while simple, is an App that we’re happy to have on the store.  The idea of selling our work on the App Store now feels much more achievable and we’e both brimming with new ideas, at least one of which is showing a lot of promise – and as far as I know is a completely new idea.  Of course the challenge is in turning a good idea into a successful project – watch this space.

After a delightfully short period of three days, our maiden iPhone app is available through iTunes (App Store link).  Goo! is a fun version of the Game of Life, by John Conway.  You create patterns of cells, and then watch as generations pass.  If a cell is too lonely, or is overcrowded, it will die out.  If conditions are just right, new cells are born.

Although it’s a simple app, there’s plenty of depth in the Game of Life.  Some patterns will oscillate forever, or become stable.  Others will travel across the screen in a stately procession.  Yet other patterns will ‘fire’ out new patterns.

So, give it a try today, and help us take one more step towards living our dream!  To Infinity, and Beyond!