Colin Doncaster

So what have I been up too – besides working longer hours at work? I’ve finally finished my first iPhone application that is now awaiting Apples approval somewhere in the digital ether, in Texas I believe….

I kept it small and simple and spent my time focusing on well engineered code as well as an extremely polished look. I’d like to maintain the same high standard for my applications that Apple ( and it’s customers ) would expect from a developer and felt that jumping in with too bold an application to begin with would have been premature.

I’ve been hard at work putting together the branding and customer support side of things relying on Get Satisfaction as a conduit for users to interact with myself, as the developer, and make feature requests, report bugs and generally discuss the project. Although it may be overkill for such a small app, I’m trying to lay the groundwork for larger projects and truly believe that keeping these lines of communication open is going to be the key to developing even greater applications in the future.

I must commend the folks that built the wonderful Get Satisfaction site, as an independent developer the idea of implementing a support and user interaction system with the same breadth is overwhelming and likely wouldn’t happen. This new forum now offers us the means of addressing customers on a more individual level pulling the wool off our eyes and giving us the ability to really see how an application is being used.

So what is the application you ask? Well, as I’m a superstitious git I’m not going to reveal all the details until it’s been approved and available – but if you have a look here you might gain some insight.

Which leads me into another introduction, Finger Collision, my new “brand” for releasing iPhone/iPod Touch applications and games – I wanted to separate the software I write for these mobile devices from my desktop applications and personal page, I feel the market is slightly different, and rather than trying to accommodate the different markets in one location it would be more appropriate to target each of them individually.

If I can think of anything intelligent to write, I’ll try and share iPhone development stories – until then I can only reveal interesting tidbits starting with Unity for the iPhone. As far as indie game development goes I don’t think I could recommend a product highly enough – not just for the iPhone platform, but general Mac, Windows and Wii games too. Having worked in a large game studio and with a fairly good understanding of what goes into the production of a successful game, the ease of producing and integrating art into the Unity system alone is well worth the the purchase price, and I imagine there will be a release or two from myself taking advantage of this great tool in the not so distant future.