Nov172010

Ohhh mannn, Yoshinoya… I could totally go for
a beef bowl right now. (via ungatonipon)

Ohhh mannn, Yoshinoya… I could totally go for a beef bowl right now. (via ungatonipon)

No comments · Written by Nathan at 9:15 am · Tags

Oct292010

Need a messenger bag?

Seagull Bags is a small Columbus-based company that makes (what else?) bike messenger bags and accessories. I’ve wanted to get one of their bags for a while, since the satchel that I currently use is designed to carry vinyl records, and can’t easily hold the stuff necessary for a work commute.

Well, this story actually started last year(!). While browsing the Seagull Bags website, noticed that they didn’t have any sort of “preview” feature for ordering their custom bags online. I had been tinkering around with Flash for a few months, so figured I might be able to offer some sort of a trade – “programming a bag preview widget in exchange for a messenger bag” sort of thing. I also already knew Dan McKewen, the owner of Seagull, through church, so I already had an “in.” Well, Dan liked the idea, and I started mucking around, trying to create a Flex app that would be a suitable order form replacement. I actually got pretty far, in spite of my lack of knowledge regarding Flex. What held me up was that I needed some good photos of messenger bags to use in order to create a “preview” of each custom bag. Dan promised me some, but he was always busy, and the project got pushed to the back burner.

Fast forward to July of this year. Out of the blue, Dan said that he had photos for me, and the project lurched from the grave. It had been so long since I’d touched any sort of Flash/Flex, I didn’t want to keep trying to build on what I had previously created. Since my current job had me doing a lot of Javascript and jQuery, I decided to re-build the order form using Javascript. Javascript also had the added bonus of being accessible to Apple’s iOS devices.

There were a few delays (such as me trying to publish my first iOS game and the birth of my daughter), but the form eventually got done! I think it works pretty well, and gives you a decent preview of what you’re getting before you plunk down some of the cold, hard-earned. Check it out at the Seagull Bags site.

UPDATE: They just posted a picture of my bag on Facebook. Awesome!
Mario & Luigi!

No comments · Written by Nathan at 9:53 am · Tags ,

Aug272010

Nonogram Madness is on the App Store

A few months ago I decided to try my hand at iPhone development, and the result is finally with us. Presenting Nonogram Madness for iPhone and iPod Touch!

For those of you who’ve been following along at home, late last year I made the first version of Nonogram Madness in Flash using the Flixel framework. Since I knew I would have to learn both a new language and a new programming framework to create anything on iOS, I decided to re-work a previous creation. I thought since the core logic had already been programmed, porting would be relatively straightforward.

Obviously, in the end it was a bit more complicated than that. There were lots of unexpected challenges, such as dealing with touch-based controls, as well as creating all-new puzzles. It’s been the most ambitious project I’ve done in my spare time to date, and I’m actually pretty proud of it.

In fact, I enjoyed the process so much that I created an LLC to publish the game under. The company is called Ganbaru Games, and while right now it’s not profitable at all, I’m hoping that perhaps if I get enough decent games out there, I can take advantage of the “long tail.” The word “ganbaru” means “to try ones’ best” or “to work hard” in Japanese, and that’s the philosophy I’d like to bring with me in game creation.

If you’d like to show your support for my game-making efforts, why not follow @ganbarugames on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook?

No comments · Written by Nathan at 7:13 pm · Tags , ,

Jul022010

How not to use Twitter
to promote your business

Just an FYI, for all the businesses out there that are now trying to get on the “social media” bandwagon: spamming people on to your follow list is going to get you blocked. At least by me.

I got followed by some car repair place this morning. Obviously a new account, they had one tweet and were following 800 people. What value are you going to bring to me again? Oh, that’s right, none. At least send a mention saying something about your services… it might make me think that you care enough to at least spend 5 seconds thinking about each person you want to have follow you.

No comments · Written by Nathan at 7:52 am · Tags ,

Apr282010

No comments · Written by Nathan at 2:05 pm · Tags

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