#NaAppDevMo

Ian Robinson wrote: Like in NaNoWriMo you are not going to produce an app that will make you a fortune, or maybe even make it to the App Store. But what it might give you is the confidence that you can take a concept for an App from design, through to running on your device … Continue reading “#NaAppDevMo”

Ian Robinson wrote:

Like in NaNoWriMo you are not going to produce an app that will make you a fortune, or maybe even make it to the App Store. But what it might give you is the confidence that you can take a concept for an App from design, through to running on your device (or in a simulator). This will hopefully show you that it is possible for you to do App development. Even if it’s just as a hobby and for fun. And if your App is useful you can spend time over the next few months maybe refining it and releasing it for others to use.

Ian also has a heap of starter links. And I have a truckload of books.

More important than a promise to anyone else is a promise to yourself. I’m going to do my best to work on this for an hour from 8 pm to 9 pm every night in December, permitting breaks for events, family and Christmas.

I’m entering it in my calendar right now. Who’s up for it?

JFDI

I misinterpreted a message earlier today and it led to an exchange on Twitter, the core message being: Don’t give me fucking JFDI A smart Web Developer Saying JFDI is the answer They made a Web Service No Use to An Ideas Man Who Writes No Code Doesn’t Make Pictures And Can’t Get Easy Money … Continue reading “JFDI”

I misinterpreted a message earlier today and it led to an exchange on Twitter, the core message being:

Don’t give me fucking JFDI
A smart Web Developer
Saying JFDI is the answer
They made a Web Service
No Use to An Ideas Man
Who Writes No Code
Doesn’t Make Pictures
And Can’t Get Easy Money

I did apologise for being a grumpy sod but I’m a little sensitive about this predicament.

There’s a lot to be said for product validation and building something iteratively that people will buy. Getting sales from big customers and using that to finance your first build (either directly or using bank money) is a completely valid way to start out. For certain types of business.

It’s no use for games.

With a game, even if you don’t succumb to hubris and insist on writing your own engine, you’re going to be in the shed for months with development tasks, getting code written, getting art and sound assets made and getting it all put together.

And my personal experience of hiring developers and artists has, almost without exception, been disappointing. It’s too hard to find people who have vision. Another Tweeter asked me if I was looking for a co-founder? Of course I am but I’m uncompromising in my vision and I would expect them to be the same. Co-founder? Maybe. But I’d rather just pay them. So, in the absence of big sales to make your balances, how do you pay for code to be written?

Government grants are a way of getting some risk cash to make games. Finding a private investor is another way. But both require considerable (and onerous) conditions. And (speaking for myself here), I’m pretty much excluded from government grants due to my day job and I doubt I’d find any succour from our local VC due to the general abrasiveness I have applied to their latest term sheet.

This is why Kickstarter matters so much to the average game developer. They can figure out how to provide value to customers who choose to buy the higher levels of product. With exclusive graphics, promo codes, special attributes and physical items like T-Shirts and Posters make all the difference. And this is why I often contribute to Kickstarter projects – even projects that I don’t personally want for myself – if they show a little spirit, a little vision.

So, I’m down but not out. There are others to be helped, dreams to help bring to fruition and I can live vicariously through the assistance I provide to others in their aims to create their own games studio, inadvertently helping me create a local industry.

So we soldier on and in our spare time, we chase only the things we dream about.

eBook Libraries in Northern Ireland

From NIDirect: Library users can now download eBooks. There are thousands of titles now available and they can be downloaded 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This free service is open to library members across Northern Ireland. Almost 25,000 eBook items in the Libraries NI catalogue can be downloaded to most eBook readers … Continue reading “eBook Libraries in Northern Ireland”

From NIDirect:

Library users can now download eBooks. There are thousands of titles now available and they can be downloaded 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This free service is open to library members across Northern Ireland.

Almost 25,000 eBook items in the Libraries NI catalogue can be downloaded to most eBook readers and handheld devices, including some mobile phones as well as to personal computers.

There are no reservations fees and no fines, with the books automatically expiring when the loan period finishes.

This is progressive and very welcome. Here’s the link to Libraries NI.

You can download up to nine titles and have them for three weeks, after which they will just disappear from the device to which you have downloaded them.

The DRM is Adobe ePub DRM which you have to access through OverDrive

I’d also direct you to my earlier post about Libraries.

“To me, a library is a thing not a place.”

Sony: Failure to Launch

From the Wall Street Journal: Sony has a “four screen” strategy of offering network services on mobile phones, tablet computers, personal computers and TV sets. “I spent the last five years building a platform so I can compete against Steve Jobs,” Mr. Stringer said. “It’s finished, and it’s launching now.” Cool! Mr. Stringer declined to … Continue reading “Sony: Failure to Launch”

From the Wall Street Journal:

Sony has a “four screen” strategy of offering network services on mobile phones, tablet computers, personal computers and TV sets. “I spent the last five years building a platform so I can compete against Steve Jobs,” Mr. Stringer said. “It’s finished, and it’s launching now.”

Cool!

Mr. Stringer declined to discuss details of what Sony has on the drawing board.

So, not actually launching now?

I’m confident that Sony will fuck this up. Whatever it is. It’s a simple equation; shut the fuck up until you have something to actually talk about. Otherwise it just sounds like a desperate gambit to stay relevant and put uncertainty into the market.

Two Men Talking

I’m not a movie critic by any means. I’m not a movie buff. My Dad did buy a copy of Halliwell’s Film Guide some time in the 1980s and I pored over it but then I was reading pretty much everything in the world back then. So please understand my point of view, which I … Continue reading “Two Men Talking”

I’m not a movie critic by any means. I’m not a movie buff. My Dad did buy a copy of Halliwell’s Film Guide some time in the 1980s and I pored over it but then I was reading pretty much everything in the world back then. So please understand my point of view, which I will explain, when I say that Two Men Talking is a staple of British cinema.

I recently watched the big screen epic of “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” mere days after watching the BBC adaptation starring Sir Alec Guinness. Watching on an iPad or even on the TV means you have to pay attention and you can’t have disruptive noise in the room because most of the action is “Two Men Talking“.

I was reminded of a great TV series from the 1970s called The Sandbaggers which, again, featured Two Men Talking, interspersed with pictures of office buildings and the odd coal pit in Wales.

For Two Men Talking, you need to have immensely powerful dialogue, actors who can convey emotion with a wobble of their jaw and a great shooting setup.

The advantages of Two Men Talking is that if you have an amazing script and great talent, the sets are cheap and the results can still be amazing.

That said, I don’t really want to make a Two Men Talking movie. (Nothing smacks more of white male privilege than two white males in privileged positions talking in private)

From the Archives…

This is a list of British TV shows from the 50s, 60s and 70s. I’ve removed some that weren’t really suitable for my purposes – which includes any which have been recently re-made (for good or ill). 1950s Quatermass II 1960s Adam Adamant Lives! The Baron The Champions Danger Man The Dark Island Department S … Continue reading “From the Archives…”

This is a list of British TV shows from the 50s, 60s and 70s. I’ve removed some that weren’t really suitable for my purposes – which includes any which have been recently re-made (for good or ill).

1950s

1960s

1970s

A Call to Arms

This is a plan that has been bubbling in my head for months now. I ooh at the success of the Welsh Media Tiger, my affectionate name for the re-building of the Doctor Who franchise from something to be forgotten into something that you can barely escape. It took a couple of people, a little … Continue reading “A Call to Arms”

This is a plan that has been bubbling in my head for months now. I ooh at the success of the Welsh Media Tiger, my affectionate name for the re-building of the Doctor Who franchise from something to be forgotten into something that you can barely escape. It took a couple of people, a little convincing and Russell T. Davies found himself exiled to Cardiff with a chance to make something great. And he managed it.

I am convinced there are other gems lurking in the archives within the BBC that need cleaned, polished and presented properly. I’m also convinced that we have the talent and the willingness to make something new. We just need the reasons to get everyone into the room.

This is a call to arms.