Digital Cream

On Tuesday the 25th of August, my game Taboo Snaps will be open to the public at http://www.taboosnaps.com. Please help your indie developer friend and take a few minutes to build a viral wave to promote it. In less time than it takes to watch a YouTube video, you can help me out a lot!

If you wish to help, please do these today:

–Make sure your favourite “social bookmarking” site is working. If you don’t have an account, it takes only a minute to make one. Here are some sites. If you already have an active account on any of them, use that one. If you don’t, please use Digg.
http://www.digg.com
http://delicious.com
http://www.stumbleupon.com
http://www.reddit.com

– Follow/befriend/befan(?) as many of these as you can:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Taboo-Snaps/51119882856
http://twitter.com/taboosnaps
http://www.myspace.com/taboosnaps
http://groups.google.com/group/taboo-snaps-announcements/

–Anytime you see a Taboo Snaps message, please give it a thumbs-up and share it on Facebook or RT it in Twitter.

–Set yourself a reminder to take action on Taboo Tuesday!

Here’s what to do on Taboo Tuesday, next week on the 25th:

–Please promote http://www.taboosnaps.com at Digg and any other social bookmarking site. If the URL is already in the system, vote it up.

–Spread the word any way you can—talk about it and share links in Facebook, Twitter, email, or anywhere else. Say it’s good, bad, shocking, bizarre, original, or weird—any mention is helpful. (If you play the game, click the options button to get a special URL. The more people play the game from your link, the more elite “golden guests” you get in your game!)

All this takes just a few minutes, a tiny slice of your Internet recreation time, but it helps me out so much. You’ve seen silly stuff sweep the net like wildfire—well, now I ask you to throw a few sparks to help out your odd indie buddy. Please make Taboo Tuesday epic!

With many kind thanks,
Matt

I’m seeking a development partner to port my Flash game Taboo Snaps to iPhone and other mobile devices. If you or someone you know is interested, read on! (continued »)

Flickr just approved my application for a commercial API key, thank goodness! I have been having a lot of fun and challenge working with the Flickr API and I am glad to share my knowledge with others who want to know more. My Picture Game Platform (and the first game based on it, Taboo Snaps) can draw from any photo source, but I prefer to use Flickr. (continued »)

I’ve been hard at work on my project, the Picture Game Platform, and I am coming to GDC in San Francisco to show it to everyone who may be interested. The Picture Game Platform allows developers and amateur enthusiasts to create and customize casual, easy-to-learn games in which you scurry around and take pictures, avoiding obstacles and unlocking new abilities. It’s a fun, breezy way to showcase a bunch of pictures or videos, just for its own sake or to drive traffic to other properties. I did all my own programming in Flash, which has been a true joy, and it has gotten my feet thoroughly wet in the vast sea of independent development. I’ve learned a great deal about coding, online advertising, and Web 2.0 APIs, and it has all been so fun!

The most advanced use of the Picture Game Platform is a game called Taboo Snaps, which is near completion and shows off the platform really well. I’ll be showing the Taboo Snaps alpha in my GDC demos as a way to demonstrate the PGP.

I am very keen to meet with all my friends and colleagues to show the demo and get feedback, as well as network for contacts. I am seeking a development partner who will make a mobile version of the Picture Game Platform, with Taboo Snaps as a really promising, ready-to-port app for the iPhone and other mobile devices. I am also looking for partners who want to localize PGP games for other markets, particularly Asia. If you can meet up with me in SF from February 18-29, or know someone I should meet and show the demo, please email me or leave a comment!

I have been digging deep into programming my own little weird games, writing ActionScript 3 code fulltime. I have a very long way to go but I am immensely relieved to discover that I am decently skilled at object-oriented programming. For a while there I was not sure if I had the mental chops to grok it. I don’t think I’ve ever more enjoyed any creative act (other than the nekkid kind) more than I enjoy programming. (continued »)

I have started getting back up to speed on programming and design. I have Adobe Creative Suite 3 and have been happily munching up Flash and a bit of Dreamweaver and Fireworks. ActionScript 3 gives me a geeky thrill and I feel my inner programmer becoming dominant. I love this stuff, that blend of the technical and aesthetic, and having new ways to think.

I am really enjoying wrapping my head around OOP practices. I’m getting much deeper into coding than I thought I would. It’s a tremendously satisfying mental challenge. It also will allow me to make my own weird little games to a greater degree than I had guessed.

I am doing my best imitation of a real coder nowadays. I am programming in Flash, making a proof of concept of my new game project here at Auran. I have really made progress so now instead of making awful code I am making bad code. What I am making may or may not be able to be cleaned up and reused by a real engineer, but even if it’s not, it serves as a companion to the spec I am writing to illustrate what I intend the final app to be like.

Flash is a fantastic tool and I am really enjoying working with it. I am able to refine my design rapidly without bothering anyone with changes except for me. I can get an idea, whack it down, and then see if it works. If not, no worries. I like programming so I’m happy either way.

I will have a team eventually, once the budget has anything to spare around here, but meanwhile I am happy as a clam.

(This has been archived as this event is past.)