Horse Crazy - An App in 30 Days

General (non-technical) New Apps / Works in Progress
#1

Today I started work on a game aimed at girls 6-11 (or thereabouts) called Horse Crazy. It’ll be released as a paid app for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad. It will be done 29 days from now.

http://gamedevnation.com/category/horse-crazy/

You can keep track of the progress in detail with that link, and I’ll also post info here as things progress.

I’m just about done sketching out the screens that will be needed in the game and when I have them (kind of) finalized I’ll post those so you can see what the game will consist of.

Jay
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#2

Released on the appstore or to appstore for review?
Nevermind, I regged for the site and saw it was for submittal :wink:
I thought you were doing it in a couple of days!
That would be awesome :wink:
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#3

Couple days? Some people are never satisfied. :wink:

I wrote the first line of code today. I don’t even have the artwork. I’m still nailing down the requirements so I can find someone who can do the art.

I can write a game in a couple days if you like. Just not *this* game. :slight_smile:

Jay
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#4

Does the game involve a background picture of piles of cash, and a large red button that reads ‘I am rich’ which makes a cash register sound?
You could put it on appstore for $1000, and 9 people would buy it.

Oh no wait, someone already did that.
Lol :slight_smile: [import]uid: 34945 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 42976[/import]

#5

Doh! Membership required. I’ll just watch this thread instead :slight_smile: [import]uid: 10389 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 42989[/import]

#6

Sorry, that was a mistake – that link will work for non-members as well now.

http://gamedevnation.com/category/horse-crazy/

But you should join anyway. It’s free and members get access to more tutorial videos as well as sample code and stuff. All the cool kids are doing it! :wink:

New post in the Horse Crazy category tonight, including a shaky video of my whiteboard showing the screens for the first version of Horse Crazy.

It’s all mapped out, now tomorrow I’ll be putting the skeleton of the program together in code and writing down a comprehensive list of all the artwork needed.

Jay
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#7

All fancy with your videos… Some of us don’t own a whiteboard!

Seriously though, sounds very interesting :slight_smile: [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 43015[/import]

#8

Neener, neener! :slight_smile:

Speaking of whiteboards, here’s a money-saving tip…

Instead of going to the office supply store and spending your retirement pay on a whiteboard, head to Lowes, Home Depot, or some other home improvement store. They typically sell 2’ x 4’ whiteboard panels for $10-$11. They’re untrimmed (just the board) so buy an 8’ piece of trim for about the same price, take it home, cut the trim in half, slap the whiteboard against the wall with a piece of trim holding the bottom and the top (screw them into the wall) and for less than $25 you’ll have a white board that’s twice as big and half as cheap as the office supply versions.

If your wife yells about screwing holes in the wall, install it while she’s out shopping.

In my last house I bought 4 panels and ended up with a 4’ tall x 8’ wide whiteboard for under $50. It was awesome. :slight_smile:

Jay
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#9

Shut up with your "neeener, neener"ing!

Here is what your plan fails to take into account;

  1. I’m in Australia and have no Home Depot or Lowes.

  2. I’m a woman and therefore have no tools*

  3. My walls are like paper, they could never support such a fancy whiteboard system.

So there. Who’s the smart guy now, eh? EH?

*I’m just kidding, my ex sold them because he couldn’t use them. [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 43205[/import]

#10

@ peach

You are australian…and lovely…as a new zealander, this makes no sense.

@ J.A. Whye

If I have a white board thats twice as big and half as cheap, that infers the same price per square meter/foot/crazy overseas unit :stuck_out_tongue:

I’d rather one thats twice as big and twice as cheap, make it quarter of the $/m^2 :wink:

And yes, I’m just being picky! but its -2 degrees C, and my son woke me up an hour before my alarm.

Love you all! [import]uid: 34945 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 43284[/import]

#11

“Twice as big and half as cheap.”

D’oh! Thanks for that, innominata, it’s a wonder any of my apps work at all with math like that!

Peach -

“1) I’m in Australia and have no Home Depot or Lowes.”

In Q4 of this year the first Masters store will open in Australia. It’s a joint venture between Woolworths and Lowes and they should have it. Just wait til Q4. Or, see the option below.

“2) I’m a woman and therefore have no tools”

Sheesh, if I’d have said that I’d have been slapped. :slight_smile:

“3) My walls are like paper, they could never support such a fancy whiteboard system.”

There are big pieces of wood inside your walls called studs. Those run up and down and using a “studfinder” (only works on walls, not in bars) you can find those pieces of wood and put the screws into those.

Or, option B for people who don’t want to wait for Lowes (or go to Bunnings Warehouse or someplace like that…)

Go to a paint store and buy “white board paint” – you paint it on your paper-thin walls and then can write and erase just like a real whiteboard.

Soon, you too can be drawing pictures that don’t look like anything!

Jay

PS - Wow, nothing like hijacking your own thread! [import]uid: 9440 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 43288[/import]

#12

I have four 4x6 whiteboards. I use them to sketch out ideas, then I import the images into my Microsoft OneNote (cuz OneNote is awesome). I take a picture with my droidx, or ipod touch 4g. Whiteboards rock!
I never thought of whiteboard paint, hmmm I think I feel a 21’x15’ which is the size of my home office wall, that would be so epic.

Good luck with development, I never wrote a line of code worth a damn and I have had corona installed for 31 days now and I am just about 2/3’s done with my game. My first one yay.

I like your site btw (i signed up a few weeks ago), I go there alot along with techority.com (peach’s site). [import]uid: 61600 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 43297[/import]

#13

For small whiteboards, get a cheap picture frame with plastic/glass front and shove some paper in for the picture. Voila. You could also put a calendar print or anything else in there to make wipeable notes on that.

Oh and on topic, very cool idea for a challenge. Think I may see if I can make a game in 30 days at somepoint. [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 43299[/import]

#14

Our whiteboards at work are all made of glass.
I expect that’s because we are a glass company, and they were all pieces that didn’t fit for customers. [import]uid: 34945 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 43305[/import]

#15

Hi,
I am Australian and I can find a whiteboard, but I cannot find a wall in my home office to put the whiteboard on.

On one wall I have windows, the other has cabinets, the third has a wall unit and the table with my computer equipment, the last and only wall has my Photo gallery…

Which store can get me an extra wall ?? any help here please??

cheers,

?:slight_smile:

BTW: I love the idea of having a glass Whiteboard, if that will not cost my my children’s retirement fund. :wink: [import]uid: 3826 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 43315[/import]

#16

Paint the outside of one of your windows white ! :smiley:
Or get some white duraseal (sticky plastic used for book coverings) and put it on either side, it works as a whiteboard [import]uid: 34945 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 43318[/import]

#17

@nicholasclayg
You’re right, OneNote is awesome. I use it for everything. It is a great organizer, idea capturer, and development space. My tablet computer has a pen, so I can even “whiteboard” right into OneNote.

Talking about whiteboards, last May, I almost went down to Home Depot and purchased a Solid White Tileboard sheet(showerboard); I heard it was less than $20 for and 8’ x 4’ piece. There is something helpful about putting your current project on the wall, and having it stare back at you.

We have a whiteboard in our dining room, and we use it all the time; to explore ideas, make lists, play games, etc. [import]uid: 47723 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 43333[/import]

#18

“Soon, you too can be drawing pictures that don’t look like anything!” - I lol’d.

As to “Sheesh, if I’d have said that I’d have been slapped. :)” - you are correct. Probably by me. As a woman I’m allowed to make those jokes and you aren’t; if you don’t believe me ask your wife/boss :wink:

Seriously though, I’d love a whiteboard and one day I hope to live somewhere I could have them. This house, the walls are weak and the wood inside them (and the roof for that matter) is rotted/rotting. In all seriousness it would be condemned if anyone ever looked at it. (There’s asbestos in the walls, too…)

One day I’ll live somewhere that isn’t the size of a shoe box and have a little office to work from, rather than a desk by the front door. (The wall is cracked in two places. It’s drafty, lol.)

Then my whiteboard shall be 10x the size of yours and I will invite you over to compare them and impress you with my mad drawing skills*

I will leave your thread now :wink:

Peach

*I can draw pigs but not much else. Everyone gets a pig on their birthday cards, it’s my “thing”. [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 11800 reply_id: 43431[/import]

#19

Okay, after the Great Whiteboard Debate of '11 we’re back to horses (for now)…

New post up about what’s happening at the link posted in the first message. I answer the question of why I’m revealing so much stuff – don’t I worry about people ripping me off even before I get the game published?

I also list all the art assets needed for the game – and wonder if that isn’t going to be the hold-up in the game. :slight_smile:

Jay
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#20

Very cool news!

Dwayne Ferguson is going to be in charge of the artwork for Horse Crazy.

He’s created artwork for Mutant League, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, Ghostbusters, Transformers, and California Raisins.

Plus, his own stuff include the comic book series Hamster Vice, the children’s book mystery series Kid Caramel: Private Investigator and the world’s toughest covert operative Black Zero: Mercenary Ant.

Look up DIEHARD Studio in the App Store and you’ll see some of the things he’s created including his latest, Tell Tale Heart HD, a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic horror story.

I helped with some coding on Dwayne’s Mutant ABCs and he helped with some artwork on my Match Game Magic, but this is the first time we’ll be working *together* on a project.

I’m really looking forward to it!

In the coming days I’ll be posting some shots of the app as things get rolling!

Jay
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