Design Blog
Thoughts & Musings
Recently updated one of my iOS games. While doing this I realized how much Objective C and Metal is really behind SpriteKit and other APIs. I felt like Alice going through the mirror and finding myself in an unfamiliar land. Looking at what makes up the API’s is really insightful to see how it’s works under the hood. Every time that I need to use a new API, I always take a look at the source code to gain more insight. Let's go exploring!
https://apps.apple.com/cy/app/gamma-fighter/id1555920102
I’ve started preliminary work on a new app that I’ve been thinking about. I won’t go into too much detail for now but I can say its game related, easy to play, and uses the imagination of the user. For this app, I’ll be using SwiftUI and the ML and Vision frameworks from Apple. Let’s see what we can do! I’m also working on a schedule to get more of my apps updated soon.
Here’s more information on using ML and Vision frameworks on Apple Devices: https://developer.apple.com/videos/ml-vision
Gamma Fighter is a fast action retro style arcade game that's quick and easy to play. Destroy alien ships and advance to the next level. Good luck pilot and have a great time!
The initial version of this game uses motion to control your rocket ship and integrates Game Center. Future updates will include adding game controller support (virtual and physical). In addition, I am in the planning stages to add support for Watch, Apple TV, and Mac.
Almost done with another game before I change gears and work on a few non-game apps. The next two weeks will however be focused on creating sound effects for the game and continuing to learn SwiftUI. Right now I’m learning how to write tests for testing out code & UI.
This week i’ve been learning more about functional programming that can be found in Chapter 6 in Hudson’s Pro Swift book. Here’s are the five guiding principles:
“Five Functional Principles, and hopefully you’ll remember
1) first-class data types
2) higher-order functions
3) pure functions
4) immutability, and
5) reduce state.”
Excerpt From: Paul Hudson. “Pro Swift.” iBooks.
MVP for the game is done and for this release, i’ll be targeting iOS 13 & 14 for the initial release. Now it’s time to start cleaning up the project and begin work on the art and music. Nothing like working on projects after the day job by burning the midnight oil and moonlight! 😍
This year WWDC21 will once again be an online format & free from June 7 to 11.
Started integrating the new Game Center APIs into my current project game that were introduced during WWDC20. Game Center has a lot of social gaming functionality and I will be trying to incorporate many aspects of it into my next game. All of my previous games did not use Game Center, so I’m excited to get his working.
As for the project itself, it’s a space shooter and I’m going after an arcade type feel with it. As with the previous games I’ve made, i’ll be working on my own artwork and sound also with this. Another project i’m actively working on is a non-gaming project. It’s a photo filter project using SwiftUI and CreateML. It will be the first project for me using SwiftUI and I am excited for this one even though there are soooo many photo filter apps out there. But that’s ok, because it all about the adventure! 🚀😆
Wow! Happy to have completed 100 days of SwiftUI in my spare time. As I still work full time, I had to make time when at home to find the right combination of quiet & productive learning time. Now it time to put what I’ve learned to create some new projects.
OK, here we go! I’ll be participating in Y Combinator’s 4 week build sprint starting Feb 15. This will be the first build sprint I’ve participated in and I am excited to get started. I have several projects in mind, but will choose one to focus on for this sprint. The most likely project I’ll be building will be an app to generate game art assets.
More information on the build sprint: https://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-build-sprint-winter-2021/
