360iDev » Gaming

360iDev – From Game Jam to Appstore

John — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:24:19 +0000

The Game Jam, is a great time. It’s also an awesome place to create a game that will someday be up on the appstore. Case in point Star Fighter X2 By our pal Dan at Manic Gaming. This game started out life in the Game Jam, as a prototype. Now it’s in the app store!

The Game Jam started in Denver 2009, and we’ve continued it ever since. In San Jose 2010 The Touch Arcade Game Jam saw a ton of awesome games being worked on, developers collaborating, sharing their knowledge and skills, to help each other out.

The Game Jam brings together developers of all skill levels, to collaborate and build games or learn game theory. Many developers with little experience in game development use the Game Jam as a launch pad to quickly ramp up and leave the next morning with a firm understanding of Game Dev. Touch Arcade, our awesome sponsor in San Jose did several posts about the experience.

To take part in the Game Jam you have to be an attendee, register now!

360iDev it’s not what you get, but what you take away

John — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:38:45 +0000

We’ve talked about ‘Who attends 360|iDev‘, and I’m sure we’ve covered some of this before too. But I think it bears repeating.

360|iDev, is as much about what you take away, as what you get when you’re there. And NO I don’t mean SWAG.

When you leave 360|iDev on Wednesday you:

Leave with new friends. Friends you’ll stay in touch with online in between conferences, and reconnect with at the next 360|iDev
Leave with new projects. You met a great developer that you want to collaborate with, and a new game is born! (Just ask Keith and Natalia about teaming up with David Whatley on geoSpark)
Leave with new employees/employers. You’re hiring, or looking for work. Odds are good you’ll leave with resumes, or actual new hires/new employers.
Leave inspired. You’ll get home, jazzed about new techniques you learned, new concepts you picked up. New ideas you talked about over beers. With a keynote by David Whatley, a Wednesday General Session by Mike Lee, it’ll be heard to walk out uninspired!
Leave 6 months ahead of the curve. You’ll get home and start working on things that others won’t be thinking about for months. New libraries that haven’t hit the mainstream yet, new ways of writing code, new frameworks, etc. You’ll be ahead of the pack when they finally catch on to what’s going on.
Leave with new apps that just need to be cleaned up and submitted. The Game Jam (Sponsored by Touch Arcade!) is the birthplace of games like Hippo High Dive, Gravity Sling and more. Whether you’re a game developer already or not, attend the game jam. It’s Tuesday night thru Wednesday morning, and you won’t regret it. You’ll leave with more than you came in with Tuesday night, we promise.

As an iDeveloper (You know what I mean.) you have a lot of choices; iPadDevCamp the weekend after, Voices that matter in Seattle, etc. All things being equal, compare what you get from each and see what makes sense for you to attend. If you don’t agree it’s 360|iDev… Let us know. You won’t get as much technical content, community, and fun from any other event, really.

CHeck out the schedule, description of sessions, and of course, the awesome speakers list!

360iDev Touch Arcade Game Jam

John — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:12:53 +0000

Have a game idea you’ve been saving for when you have the time? Maybe you need to learn cocos2d first to do the game you want. Maybe you have too many other things going on, but the moment you have a few hours, it’s on.

Well, the Touch Arcade Game Jam, is for you :)

Starting Tuesday night, after the evening reception, we’ll be locking (Not really) anyone who wants to into a room at Ebay to crank out code all night long, 12 straight hours, through the night.

Touch Arcade is sponsoring, and will keep you hydrated, fed, and loaded up on Toblerone and Red bull.

When everyone else comes back to Ebay Town hall for the Wednesday General Session (Mike Lee, ya’ll) the Game jammers will be done, and ready to show off their creations.

Whether you’re a game developer right now or not, the game jam is the best place for you to try it out.

3 days to write an app? p-shaw! In Denver we saw something like 15 games demoed. Some made it to the app store shortly after, some are still being worked on for future (soon) release.

Come learn from experienced game developers first hand, in person.
The Game Jam is open to any 360|iDev attendee. Make sure you have a power cord :)

360iDev speaker chat archives

John — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:06:35 +0000

If you haven’t been joining us on the weekly speaker chats, well you should be ashamed :) BUT you’re not out of luck. We record them.

Just click the names below to listen in on the great chats we’ve had leading up to 360|iDev San Jose.

These chats have been incredible! The speakers freely sharing what they’ve learned, and more. It’s great!

These chats, are simply amazing. You’re not gonna get this level of access to these speakers anywhere else but 360|iDev, unless you kidnap them, which we don’t condone :)

360iDev speaker chat – @nattylux

John — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:41:48 +0000

Join us this wednesday for this week’s 360|iDev speaker chat with Natalia Luckyanova of Imangi studios.

Natalia has a ton of great info and wisdom to share on surviving the app store (the topic of her session at 360|iDev by the way), so you won’t want to miss this chat.

Bookmark this link.

We’ll be chatting Friday the 26th, at 12pm Mountain time!

If you haven’t registered for 360|iDev, there’s still time and space left, but I wouldn’t wait around! Register now!

360iDev – Who attends 360idev?

John — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:03:35 +0000

360|iDev, since it’s beginning has attracted an awesome mix of people.

The first conference in 2009, had several sessions, including a sunday Hands-On about Jailbreaking, and what you can do in the jailbroken environment. We also had tons of people who had just put 1 or 2 apps in the store, we had a few folks who had already gone full time, whether as indie developers for hire, or running their own agency, building iPhone apps for companies big and small. We had authors and more in attendance. Mike Lee talked about the Apple community, and why it’s so awesome. We had sessions on how to market your app, what you need to watch out for legally and more.

Then in Denver, we noticed a shift, seeing more indie game developers in attendance. Keith and Natalia keynoted, David Whatley, an awesome late addition talked about being successful in the iPhone game space. Matt Drance formerly of Apple kicked off the conference, with an incredible keynote. We had developers talking about game design and development, being successful in the app store, making a living. We had developers talking about integrating push, getting crazy with OpenGL ES, Core Data, Core Animation, and more. We also saw the first Game Jam take place, developers spent the night churning out games. Presenting them on Wednesday. Several are in the app store now.

Were seeing the same thing as we plan for San Jose 2010 (You should register). We’re seeing tons more successful developers talking about how to succeed, how to rock the app store, even how to rock the app store with out being a “Smash hit”. We’ve got sessions that are sure to blow your mind, and be worth more than the price of admission, just for those 80 minutes. The Game Jam is back, sponsored by Touch Arcade, Aurora Feint is holding a Game Bar, to highlight games using Open Feint and talk about the added coolness of using OF in your games. We’ve got sessions, on marketing, running your business, advertising, and more.

360|iDev has proven to be an incredible mix of technical sessions, unlike any you’ll see at other events, and business and design sessions that will inform and inspire.

So to answer the question, who attends 360|iDev? Everyone.

Developers who want to be a success in the App Store.
Developers who want to hear about what the rest of the world will be talking about in 6 months
Developers who want to level up their skillset
Developers who want to meet other developers, and share experiences, and a beer.
People looking for work (3 people who’ve spoken at 360|iDev, have been hired by Apple, coincidence? Probably, but who knows), indies looking for projects, people looking to hire developers, etc.
People who are already a success, making their living from apps in the App Store
Authors of THE books you’re reading to learn iPhone Development
- From Manning, O’Reilly, and Apress
People with new projects and products to announce!
- Where better to announce iPhone specific things than to a very targeted group of people.
People who want to connect with the iPhone developer community. Not the hobbyist community, not the authors for x publisher community, THE iphone developer community. The people doing it daily, making and selling apps. The people who eat, sleep and breath iPhone development.

The short answer is, the people who attend 360|iDev…

Want to make a nice living in the App Store. (Originally it was “Want to get rich on the App Store”, but I toned it down)

Want to get hired by Apple.

Do yourself and your career a favor, be in San Jose April 11-14th for 360|iDev! Register now!

360iDev – The Speakers – Robert Strojan

John — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:04:43 +0000

It’s amazing who you run into in the most random places. As an example I bumped into Robert Strojan the other day, in of all places, the DMV. I know! Who’d have guessed two people suffering the same fate at the same time.

Robert was already inside when I got there, but there was a seat next to him. I grabbed my number, which I’m pretty sure is the same number Beetlejuice had at the end of the movie.

I sit down between Robert, and … well I think he’s human, but could easily pass for either vegetable or mineral.

Me: Hey Robert how are ya?

Robert: Great John, you? Stuck renewing your license too I see.

(I nod)

Me: Yeah. Hope you’re excited about 360|iDev, I know I am, I can’t wait for April.

(They call number 365, a large black woman gets up. I’m not entirely sure, but I think they might be covertly filming a “Martin Lawrence dressed like a black woman” movie at this DMV. I keep an on eye on “her”)

Robert: Yeah I can’t wait. this is my first 360|iDev. I spent the early part of my career working as a hardware engineer so I’m really looking forward to Michael Gile’s session about the External Accessory Framework and finding out more about how to get the iPhone to communicate with custom hardware via the 30 pin connector.

Me: Yeah the hardware stuff has some promise. I can’t wait to see what products start surfacing for the iPhone, hopefully we get more than 30 different universal remotes. What do you think people who attend your session will be most surprised by/about?

The maybe-it’s-martin-lawrence-woman is throwing some kind of fit and flailing her arms. It’s looking more and more likely that Robert and I are now movie extras. Robert notices too and tried to not pay attention.

Robert: There’s something for everyone. If you’re a novice or intermediate developer you’ll appreciate the points on AVAudioPlayer and the intro to OpenAL. If you’re an iPhone guru you’re going to love the precision audio control you get after we unravel the mysteries behind Audio Units.

(Now a tiny white guy is crawling around on the most-likely-martin-Lawrence-woman. She’s swatting at him, takes out the DMV lady behind the desk, the ‘security’ guard is keeping a safe distance as this unfolds. Most-likely-Martin-Lawrence-woman gets a hold of tiny white guy (Rob Schneider?) and tosses him into another DMV customer.)

(Robert and I stand up and move to the side as the scene(?) unfolds)

Me: What are you most looking forward to at 360|iDev San Jose?

Robert: Meeting other iPhone devs, presenting my session, and learning. (He has to duck as what looks like a bowling ball flies past. Who brings a bowling ball to the DMV??)

(Looking-more-and-more-like-it’s-Martin-Lawrence-woman is swinging a broom handle at Has-to-be-Rob-Schneider. For some reason I guess he’s trying to tackle ‘her’ he’s dressed like a carrot, did I mention that?)

(The other tellers are trying to work, god bless them, they call 381.)

Me: What would you tell someone that was on the fence about attending 360|iDev to convince them to come?

Robert: (He thinks a bit, again dodging something airborne) Four days jam-packed with powerful info you can’t get anywhere else; surrounded by some of sharpest minds in iPhone development. Why haven’t you signed up?

(the action up frontis getting a little frenetic, Rob-Schneider-dressed-like-a-carrot is getting thrown around by There’s-no-one-else-it-could-be-but-Martin-Lawrence-woman. She’s really mad, not sure what he did, but she does not like it.)

(Finally the security personnel get the upper hand and manage to escort There’s-no-one-else-it-could-be-but-Martin-Lawrence-woman and I-thought-Rob-Schneider-was-dead-guy outside. I’m sure after that one of them died, or the director yelled cut. In any event the finally called Robert’s number)

Me: (as Robert gets up to go to the window) Dude, who do you think would win, Lion Voltron or Vehicle Voltron?

Robert: (As he approaches the wind0w) Lion Voltron by KO in the third round.

Robert finished his business and I sat back down. I was surrounded by people, I’d be more comfortable with not driving, as I waited for them to get to the 600′s. Robert waved as he left.

Don’t miss 360|iDev San Jose. We’ve got great things planned. I’m not even talking about the 40+ sessions that you won’t see elsewhere, at a level you won’t get elsewhere. I’m talking about the Touch Arcade Game Jam, The awesome panels. The Appfigures party, and more! Register now! Don’t miss the best iPhone Developer conference ever! :)

360iDev – The Touch Arcade Game Jam

John — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:11:58 +0000

What started as an idea during 360|Flex Denver, and executed with a day’s planning and work, is now “a thing”

We’re pleased to announce that 360|iDev San Jose, will host the Touch Arcade Game Jam!

The Game Jam in Denver, the brain child of Noel Llopis, who organized it, and stayed up all night to “run” things, was a huge hit, with more games being created in 10 hours, than I thought humanly possible. Touch Arcade has a great write up that links to a few others, and after Denver Touch Arcade approached us about making the Game Jam a more permanent and visible feature of the conference, which worked for us, because this kind of hacking is what we love!

Some of the projects from the Denver Game Jam are available in the store! You should check them out!

Hippo High Dive (iTunes Link) From our pals Imangi Studios

Gravity Sling (iTunes Link) from Riptide Games

for Example!

With Touch Arcade sponsoring the Game Jam, it’s gonna be epic. we’ve got time to plan for it, so it’s gonna rock, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see 2x as many games come the Wednesday Game Jam Review.

Touch Arcade is awesome, and we’ve wanted to work with them since we started 360|iDev, so it’s great to finally get a chance! I can’t wait!

Don’t miss the Game Jam, sponsored by Touch Arcade, your game idea could be launched in a night! Register now, before the early tickets sell out, and save $100!

Don’t miss the best iPhone conference in the world!

360idev – it’s a wrap

John — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:55:20 +0000

I don’t even know where to begin, trying to wrap up the conference. David does a really great job of capturing why we do what we do, read it. It’s worth the read, but here’s a few of the many gems of why I love doing what I do.

We’ve raved on this blog about the speakers already, so I’ll wrap that up with, EVERY SINGLE ONE WAS AWESOME! That’s really all there is to say. Special thanks to David Whatley, not only did he agree to speak at the last minute, but also stepped up to moderate a frakkin’ awesome lunch time panel on “The App Store” that inspired us to make sure panels are a bigger priority in future schedules.

We had a really great time, Tom and I both agree, the 4 days of actual conference make up for the 5 months of looking for sponsors, selling tickets, dealing with hotels, etc. It’s so amazing to be with such an incredible brain trust, exchanging ideas, talking opening about troubles and successes in iPhone development.

So much cool stuff happened too, that the mind wobbles, whether it’s every attendee getting a Mobile Sketchbook, courtesy of Apress and Dean Kaplan, or Aurora Feint Releasing Open Feint 2.1.

Our official sponsor, Apress provided 30 some odd books for our raffle, and Ebags (Local Denver Company!) provided 5 backpacks as well. The raffle is our way of encouraging attendees to participate in session surveys, and it works. We had a ton of submissions and since each submission is an entry in the raffle, those who submitted for each session they attended had awesome odds, and it showed.

We also got to experience what will now be a full fledged feature of the conference. The Game Jam. Mad props to Noel for throwing it together. I admit I was little unsure whether 1 night was enough to roll out a game, even a rough one. Turns out it’s enough time to turn out several.

360|iDev to have 2 (yup, 2!) “Top 3 Paid App” developers at the show

Tom — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:35:43 +0000

Let’s be honest, you’re into iPhone development for one reason and one reason alone: to break into the Top 3 Paid Apps list. Sure, to follow your heart and make the world a better place is up there too, but you want to make money while doing all that.

That’s why we’re proud to announce that we have, not 1, but 2 indies that have cracked the highly coveted “Top 3″ chart.

First off, as we’ve announced already, Keith and Natalia from Imangi Studios. Imangi is a member of the App Treasures group. Their game, Harbor Master, broke into the Top 3 spot on Friday, July 17th. John and I are very addicted to the game. If you haven’t played it, go get it now (iTunes Link).

The creators of this (and many other great games and one non-game app) will share all their knowledge during the Wednesday Keynote. John and I officially sought Imangi out and forced them to come share their great knowledge with everyone.

We thought they were the only Top 3 speakers we’d be getting. However, on September 9th, Noel Llopis of Snappy Touch, send us an email introduction: “David Whatley, creator of geoDefense, wants to talk. Can you squeeze him in?” We have a fourth room for late coming stuff like this, so we said sure. I mean, who doesn’t love TD games, much less one of the best on the platform?” We work out the details, but all the while, David holds back a little secret from us. His new game, geoDefense Swarm was in review.

September 14: geoDefense Swarm gets approved
September 19: It hits #2 in Top Paid Apps

Lucky for you, David is still going to come talk. Only now, he has mad street cred to back up his talk, entitled “How to make Mad Money with an iPhone Game”. It’ll be going down Monday right after Matt Drance’s keynote.

Again, if you’re serious about learning how to be successful on the App Store, you have 2 chances to hear from 2 different parties that cracked the Top 3 charts. Registration price is just $699, which is a small price to pay for the millions you’ll make with their knowledge. Register now or forever lose out on this knowledge.