1 Week Apps
Things have been pretty heavy over the last few weeks. Work has been busy and the very last edits for “Learning iOS Game Programming” have come in, plus working on Particle Designer 1.3.
To try and spice things up a bit, Tom came up with the idea of trying to create apps in just one week, start to finish. Tom has done a great job and created a couple of children related apps which you can see in the “Our Apps” page. These are available on the app store and are a lot of fun for young kiddies.
I on the other hand am still working on mine. I did 90% of the game in about 4 hours and not done anything since :( but I am hoping to finish this week and get it submitted to the app store.
Having done this we thought it would be a cool challenge to set for blog readers, so, what I’d like to do is get as many blog readers as possible to design, code and submit at app to Apple in a week. I’ll then list them all on the blog and set up a poll so that people can vote on their favourite. As my book is going to be in print soon I’ll then give away copies of the book for the top three games from the poll.
This could be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to see what people come up with. The app needs to be a game of some sort in that their is an objective/score to it, rather than just a utility app and I’m going to trust that people only submit apps that were created in a week :o)
Let us know what you think and if you are going to take part in the challenge. The app needs to be submitted by 21st August with voting starting at the start of September. This should allow everyone to get their apps created and submitted to Apple.
Good Luck
Mike
RULES:
- The app has to take no longer than 56 hours that’s 8 hours per day for 7 days. You therefore don’t need to do everything in a calendar week, just in within the hours stated above.
- If you are interested in taking part, send an email to mike@71squared.com to register your involvement. If you can also send email updates they can be placed on the blog to provide a running commentary of progress, which would be cool :o)
- You can use any frameworks you wish e.g. any of the code from the 71squared tutorials, cocos2d etc
- The game can be anything you like, but it has to be a game and not a utility application
- The game has to be complete and published to the app store by 30th August. I’ve extended the deadline as I’ve be tardy in responding to comments on this post. An email should be sent to mike@71squared.com when the app has been submitted which provides details of the app e.g. name and description etc.
- The game does not need to be free, but having it free for a small period would I’m sure encourage others to download it and then vote ;o) you could then add a price once voting is over
- All voting must have taken place by 13th September, which should have given Apple time to get the apps to the app store and for people to download and try them.
- I am hoping we get more than three entrants, in which case the top three games as voted by the readers of this blog will receive a copy of “Learning iOS Game Programming”
26 Comments
mike on July 24th, 2010
Excellent :o)
I forgot to mention, that the 1 Plus 2 and My 1 to 5 apps are the 1 week apps submitted by Tom.
FYI, both of those apps are using nothing but UIKit.
Mike
Dan on July 24th, 2010
Interesting this idea this Mike.
There a few people out there who have attempted to make full games in a time limit. Ive always felt its a good way to market a product.
Anyway, few questions. Do all the games have to be aimed at children?
I gather that you have reused your game engine code. Can we do that if needed? (so technically, the game could have taken more than a week to develop).
I do hope to have my licence by that time and get at least one app done :)
Dan on July 24th, 2010
EDIT to the above:
Perhaps its an idea to 1) make all games free so we can download it and have a play when voting
and 2) sharing source code at the end of the competition. I personally have very little experience with the UIkit… as will many people new to iphone development. :)
Of course these two would be decided by the developer and the “owners” of the game engine.
P.S. Mike. With the source code for the book, when released will you offer code for your game engine? :)
Tom Bradley on July 24th, 2010
Hi dan,
The idea to to see just how much you can achieve in a week. You can use as many frameworks you like along with any source code you can find on the net. The 2 games I wrote made use of Mikes sound manager but all the artwork / sounds / learning UIKit / game design was done by myself inside of a week. The first game “1 plus 2″ was actually written in 5:30 hours!
I like the idea of making the apps free so you can have a fiddle with what people have done, but, these apps could actually become quite lucrative so I would leave it to the developer.
Again, sharing code is a great idea, but has to be up to the developer at the end of the day.
I can’t wait to see what people come up with ;)
Simon on July 24th, 2010
I don’t think using old code, really constitutes cheating. I think the test is more a question of your imagination and coding skills combined. After all you could re-hash SLQ in a week but that wouldn’t be terribly creative. Having watched the vids for Jon’s 1 week apps, there clearly fairly simple, but if I was a small child I’d probably be entertained. although I’m not sure I’d learn much if it’s just 1 to 5 lol
After all, would you class using Cocos2d as cheating? I wouldn’t, it’s a foundation/starting block much like UIKit or any other API.
I think the hardest thing will be the graphical design of the game in a week, coding it will be the easier bit!
I think john has a head start on both counts :)
Mike, are you going to make this a little more formal. With some sort of application form/page to register.
I think it’s a fun idea, and executed well could work for you and the developers who use you site.
mike on July 24th, 2010
Hi Simon, I will create a more formal approach to this so that I can track who is taking part. It maybe nice to also get updates from those having a go in the comments of a an official post so others can see how they are doing.
I’ll get a post created this weekend.
The games mentioned in the post were actually done by Tom and not John ;o)
As for making use of other frameworks, that is fine and I’ll include that in the official post. It’s the idea and execution that’s going to be cool to see, rather than worrying about any underlying frameworks. A week sounds like a long time, but it can vanish SOOOO quickly :o)
Mike
A Person on July 25th, 2010
Sounds like a great idea and i think making them open source would be a great way to learn something from each other.
Simon on July 25th, 2010
Whoops Tom/Jon, they sound similar lol my bad!
As always if you want a hand putting it all together, I’m always keen to get involved and you’ve got my e-mail address.
Berko on July 25th, 2010
Would an app I already created be eligible…as long as it was done in under a week? :)
Tom on July 25th, 2010
Hi Berko,
I guess an app that was already written could be considered. we are trusting the developers out there to be honest with their submissions as there is no way to validate they actually took less than a week to develop.
It’s just a bit of fun to see what people can achieve in a very short timeframe.
PaulC on July 26th, 2010
This sounds like a great idea. I’m sure I can spare a week’s worth of time before the deadline to participate, though it might be a broken week. (eg. an evening here, a day there etc.)
Simon on July 26th, 2010
I think this should be hourly based if its going to work.
Hours wise i was thinking 7 hours x 7 days – 49 hours total over a defined period (say a month max). I’ve not suggested 24hours, as realistically that’d be more than a weeks programming.
What do you think?
You could also (depending on how much time you want to spend on this) create a simple timer application that we can install and hit start on when we’re working on our app- like clocking in – we register with you – you give us a unique ID then the timer app could report back progress – via the web.
It’s still trust based, but you could then get a few stories going and gain interest in the actual comp and app as you go. Plus also if any of the developers have there own blog, site whatever they could link to you to update their viewers – it would make this a nice community activity, that should in theory benefit all those involved. Especially if you provide entrants with the opportunity to put up a description and link to there site where they can also post videos and links back to 71squared
Okay now I’m spent…
iamflimflam1 on July 26th, 2010
I wish I had a week to spare – can we spread a week’s worth of time over several months? :)
A Person on July 27th, 2010
Simon’s idea sounds great it’s not possible to work for 24 hours everyday in a week so the time should be to spread out. Also i think logging the time we spend on making our apps and updating on this site would be a good idea.
mike on July 27th, 2010
Wow guys, these are all great ideas, and I love how much enthusiasm people have for the challenge. I’m going to work through all the comments and pull together the rules of engagement.
I like the idea of having a tracking app for people to use, but I’m not sure I’ll have the time to create it, but great suggestion Simon.
I’m out and about today as its my Birthday AND I finished the final author reviews last night for the book, so double reason to celebrate.
More details about the competition will follow shortly.
Thanks again guys.
Mike
Simon on July 27th, 2010
Mike,
Perhaps a quick update on this post would be good, as it sounds like the comp is running and I don’t think we’re there yet.
Happy birthday and well done on the book. :-)
Always thinking… lol
Daniel on July 27th, 2010
Happy birthday Mike :D
One question with regarding the book, do you have any ETA on the video tutorials that will be going with the book? I’m looking forward to these as they will go very nicely with the book and the other tutorials on the blog.
alnp1987 on July 30th, 2010
Mike,
I think this is a wondefull idea. Since I started reading your blog I’ve had a lot of ideas for games and apps in general, but as well as most of the readers here I’m a developing on my own. Hopefully I’d had my current app on the store in the following weeks. If anyone is interested on working together, I’m developing an app to write partitures based on what you play and record trough the mic (guitar and bass guitar for now.) Thank you very much 71 squared guys for all your time and the effort put on the blog, you truly inspire all of us.
Alvaro
carlos on August 1st, 2010
Mike,
Is your book out? Can you post a link to it, I would like to get it :)
Thanks for all your awesome tutorial.
Cheers!
mike on August 2nd, 2010
Hi Carlos
I am hoping the book will be available in all good book shops ;o) and online to purchase around the middle of September. The edits are complete and it should be going to print in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks for the nice feedback.
Mike
mike on August 2nd, 2010
@alnp1987, I’m actually starting the tutorials this week. Now that the chapters are all edited I’m starting to record the tutorials as the content will not change now. These videos will be ready for when the book has been printed and released, so around the middle of September.
Mike
mike on August 2nd, 2010
Just to provide at update for everyone. It’s been great to see the interest in the 1 week apps idea. Just to confirm the rules of engagement, I’ve listed them below.
- The app has to take no longer than 56 hours that’s 8 hours per day for 7 days. You therefore don’t need to do everything in a calendar week, just in within the hours stated above.
- If you are interested in taking part, send an email to mike@71squared.com to register your involvement. If you can also send email updates they can be placed on the blog to provide a running commentary of progress, which would be cool :o)
- You can use any frameworks you wish e.g. any of the code from the 71squared tutorials, cocos2d etc
- The game can be anything you like, but it has to be a game and not a utility application
- The game has to be complete and published to the app store by 30th August. I’ve extended the deadline as I’ve be tardy in responding to comments on this post. An email should be sent to mike@71squared.com when the app has been submitted which provides details of the app e.g. name and description etc.
- The game does not need to be free, but having it free for a small period would I’m sure encourage others to download it and then vote ;o) you could then add a price once voting is over
- All voting must have taken place by 13th September, which should have given Apple time to get the apps to the app store and for people to download and try them.
- I am hoping we get more than three entrants, in which case the top three games as voted by the readers of this blog will receive a copy of “Learning iOS Game Programming”
I hope this makes sense, but let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to hearing from those who are going to take part :o)
Mike
Tony on August 3rd, 2010
Well, this is a another great idea, Mike. I have ideas for games and will let you know, as per the rules, if I can participate.
Happy belated birthday!
Tony
Simon on August 4th, 2010
Hi Mike,
I’d take part but given that you’ve only just published the rules and started to formalise it I’ve got to ask why you didn’t move the deadline along a bit. As personally I would have liked a month from now. Also feel the update should have been a new post rather than a rewritten over the old one. It’s a little misleading when you do that.
mike on August 4th, 2010
Hi Simon
Sorry for the confusion, been distracted with other things and didn’t get this info done soon enough. I did extend the original dates slightly in the update above, but I’ve just created a kickoff post in which I’ve extended the time more significantly to hopefully give people more time to get involved.
Apologise if this has all been a little misleading, but hopefully sorted out now.
Mike
Simon on July 24th, 2010
This sounds like fun, I’m in; just not this week!