All right Google, nevermind. I thought you were obnoxious. But after trying Bing for a few hours I see you’re still the best thing going. Google’s recent interface changes may be noisy and toadying. But at least their search engine works. Bing’s doesn’t. Not well anyway.
Also posted in programming
I never imagined this day would come. It seemed like Google would be my conduit to the internet forever. Why not? Who could beat it? I never guessed that I would leave Google not for another, superior search engine, but simply because Google had turned fickle and annoying.
I’ve started work on porting Crush the Castle from the iPhone/iPod Touch to the iPad. I thought I’d share some of the technical issues I’ve encountered while expanding the Crush the Castle renderer from an OpenGL 1-based system to a system that supports both OpenGL 1 and OpenGL 2. When my daughter wants the iPad [...]
This week Crush the Castle hit the top 10 list on the iPhone App Store. I’ve helped release a dozen iPhone/iPod Touch apps in the last year and a half. Some have made money. Others have tanked. But Crush the Castle is the first to have climbed to the top echelons of iPhone apps. It’s [...]
Every piece of software has its limits. There’s only so much an application or a game or a website can do. You may wish you could double-jump in Halo. You can’t. You may wish you could use a lasso tool to select icons on your desktop. You can’t. When a user wants an application to [...]
Also posted in programming Tagged user interface |
User interface design is a subtle, subtle art. The smallest detail can mean the difference between an application or site that is fun to use or one that grates on the nerves. I discovered this insight the hard way, by making Flash games and iPhone apps. Often the difference between a successful app and a [...]
Time, Inc., in association with The Wonderfactory, has just announced a new eBook reader that is getting people excited. Could this be the end of print media such as books and magazines? You can check out the video below. Exciting. Apparently. But, you know, in over fifteen years of working with cutting-edge technology I’ve seen [...]
The most striking thing about the modern world is that our ability to live as we want has far outstripped our ability to live well or wisely. Ours is the most advanced society in history—where technology is concerned. But in our art, architecture, philosophy, public discourse—or even ordinary concerns like romance or happiness—we are infants [...]
A few months ago I posted a Flash movie demonstrating real-time interactive shadows in Flash. Quite a few people responded. Some offered suggestions for how to make it better. This summer I found some time to integrate some of their suggestions, along with finding other ways to improve the system. Today I’d like to show [...]
Also posted in games, programming
House of Shadows is a Flash-based web game I’ve been working on for quite some time. It is set on Halloween night. You are a young boy trick-or-treating with your little sister. As you inch past a creepy old house, she decides to run up and knock on the door. It opens and suddenly she [...]
Also posted in games, programming
