So much to do…so little time to do it
There are just not enough hours in the day at the moment. My day job is not something I can drop in and out of as it needs my full attention, so my blog and development work is done in the evenings and weekends. At the moment there is so much going on I just don’t know where I’m going to get the hours from.
As well as reviewing the blog and forums we’re:
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- Finishing Particle Designer v1.3
- Finishing a universal PD companion app called Particle Pod, more on that soon ;o)
- Prototyping a version of PD for the iPad
- Working on production edits for the book – “Learning iPhone Game Programming
- Recording the tutorials for the book
- Testing SLQ on iOS 4 and and books tutorials
- Checking out iOS 4 and its new API’s
- Pulling a list of new tutorials together
It’s just mad, there is so much I want to be playing with and I just don’t seem to have the time. Just keeping up with the new features in the SDK is hard, let alone using them in my own projects. I also want to start playing with 3D as I’d love to create SLQ 3D.
I really enjoy this stuff but the life of a part time indie developer can sure be busy. I’d be interested to know how others are handling all this new tech and their lives in general. I have a VERY understanding wife, but the number of hours I spend in my office at home can become a little crazy. I sometimes need to remind my three kids who I am as they just don’t see me much…
The other thing which I am noticing is that it seems to take me longer to get my head around stuff nowadays. I’m not sure if this is an age thing, although I’ve still got a year and a bit before I hit 40!!! When I was younger I could grasp new concepts and tech so quickly. Now it seems to be much more of an effort. I wonder if there is a way of reversing this process LOL.
With all that said, it is great to be involved with all this at a time of great change and opportunity. I’m not sure I’ll ever make my fortune as others have done on the app store, but the possibility that you may just hit on that killer idea and the fact that we have pretty much all the tools we need to make it a reality, including access to tens of millions of app store users, means its certainly worth trying.
Hang on though, if I’m that busy what the hell am I doing writing a big blog entry, I should be getting my head down and pressing on….
Goto go….
8 Comments
mike on June 13th, 2010
I’m with you Ralph. I don’t think if I was having as much fun as I was I would be putting in the effort I am and who knows, one of the ideas may just pay off :o)
Mike
FoxtrotF on June 14th, 2010
I faced with problem that I have small amount of time dedicated to development, designing of my top-down iPhone game, because of my main job (I had free time only on fri night, sat and sun).
I tried different techniques of combining learning/reading or watching tutorials on evenings after work, development and writing code on weekends and so on. Every time the problem was the same: general progress goes very slowly. And the passion of game dev(especially in AI and level designing) became stronger and stronger, so I decided to totally change my career path, I discharged from office job, collect some money, for the first period.
And actually this is my last week as office worker. And it’s hard to predict what will coming next :) but I’m happy with it. I know for sure that I will gain new skills and learn a lot of new interesting things.
P.S. In my project plan, I have task of “Design Level for the technical demo” and completed subtask of watching “Maya Modeling Techniques- Interiors” (I planed to use Maya rendered images as tile map, also I have experience of using Maya on my previous job).
I think a lot of people know the felling of “completed task” and motivation you get after each completed step, especially doing project which you really love :)
mike on June 14th, 2010
Wow, changing your career is a big step, but if your in a position to do it then why not :O)
I’m certainly not in a position to do that, so I’m going to have to just settle with realising I’m only human and that I can’t suck up the worlds entire knowledge on all this new tech in an evening, no matter how interesting or cool it is.
Bummer ;o)
Mike
NeptuneNancy on June 14th, 2010
I’m a stay-at-home mom of two boys, and although they’re in school most of the day, *I* don’t have the time I’d like to have to devote to learning iPhone and actually programming it! I can only imagine what the summer will hold. Apple will probably release iOS5 before I’ll have chance to really get into iOS4…
I agree about maybe not getting rich from having apps in the app store, but the possibility is there, and it’s fun to think about! Probably have a better chance than hitting the lottery.
Mike, I don’t think things seeming to be harder to learn has to do with age (I’m 47), but more to do with having too many things going on, and not the large chunks of time to devote to the iPhone as when I was, say, in college and had fewer responsibilites and distractions outside of my studies! (Oh, to have those days back; just returned from my 25th college reunion.) Every time I’m interrupted now, it’s a matter of getting back up to speed with what I was thinking, even if only a few hours have passed.
Mike on June 23rd, 2010
@NeptuneNancy
I think you make a good point about getting your head around things is reduced by having too much to think a about.
It sounds like you gave your hands very full and are still moving forward with your programming.
Do you have a background in programming or is this all new?
Mike
NeptuneNancy on June 23rd, 2010
Mike,
I come from a technical background, as my degrees are in electrical engineering. I’ve taken many classes over the years in C, C++, Javascript, perl, php, but I’ve probably programmed most extensively in C before my early “retirement” to stay home with my kids.
So, programming’s not new to me, just that some skills are a bit rusty, and Objective-C is new. There’s so much to learn, but I find it all very exciting. Just frustrating for lack of (quality) time to really get into it! I’ll get there….!
Nancy
mplaczek on July 7th, 2010
I hear you Mike. Some days I don’t manage to touch a computer… There has been the odd week where I don’t seem to get anything done at all… Other days I’ll manage to get a good couple hours in albeit a couple broken hours. With two kids and hundreds of other things that need to be done… Priority wise my app development always seems fall a dismal last place… In fact, if it wasn’t for your fantastic tutorials I would not be anywhere as close as I am now to completing my first OpenGL app… For which I am eternally grateful!!
But yes, tech seems to move so fast too… No sooner have you put the finishing touches on your next killer app do you have to start considering universal apps, retinal displays countless new APIs! As a one man team… It is pretty hard to keep up!
Ralph on June 11th, 2010
That about sums it up. I want to know everything and I’m lucky if I have time to learn enough to write a few original games that will probably never really get noticed. But it sure is fun!!! :-) And who knows just maybe I’ll hit the lottery with one these crazy things I love developing so much.
I just keep thinking, the little guy is making it big every day. One of these days it’s got to be me!