Sometimes it is worth stepping back from work related projects and focus on something that you find more fun. Over the last month or so, I started to work on a couple of these fun little projects.
The project I’m going to show here is a sand simulator. There is a short animated gif shown below.
This project came from watching a Youtube video where someone explained creating their own version of a sand simulation. I used many of their ideas, but implemented them in my own ways. What you see above is the current version of what I have been playing with. The app includes 8 different types of particles that interact with each other in different ways. Sand will pile up like sand does. Water attempts to level itself. Snow and ice pile up in their own ways and fire will turn water, ice or snow into steam that will rise off the screen.
There were many interesting techniques used to make this all happen with the main movement based on Cellular Automata theories. Each particles moves by looking at it’s surrounding neighbors and then decided how to move. For the most part, they only care about the 8 locations directly surrounding them. As simple as that sounds, it allows for some interesting and occasionally surprising interactions.
Doing this project let me work through some interesting programming issues, while at the same time giving me something fun to play with. A majority of the code fits in around 400 lines and it does everything you can see above.
So, if you find yourself stuck – step back and find a small project that appeals to you and work on that. It will not only better your programming skills, but it will also allow your brain to reset before you return to your actual work.
I’ve been disenchanted for a bit with my apps. I was really excited for the last couple of apps that I released, but the sales have dismal for them. I believe the apps themselves were useful and worked well, but my marketing leaves a lot to be desired. Instead of pushing myself to do better at marketing the apps, I kinda fell into a rut and stopped doing much of anything useful.
I shouldn’t say that I haven’t done anything useful. I have spent time upgrading my skills and also working on a couple of new apps.I have at least one pretty much ready to go, but I have lost my confidence so I haven’t done the last few steps needed to release it. So, one set of failures has compounded to make a an entirely new set of failures.
Sadly, at this point I don’t have a great solution for myself. So, this might not be the most helpful blog post to anyone, but it does help with my accountability to myself. I know I am capable of creating a decent apps that are either useful or enjoyable. I just have to remind myself that no one can see the apps if I don’t release them. After that, I need to find a way to let people know that the apps exist in the world.
So, I’m going to use this post as a way to push myself to step back up and do what I know I can do. By the way, if you read this and want to play a silly, but enjoyable game – Fruit Derby is still available in the Apple App Store.
A lesson that I learned again recently – inspiration can come from anywhere. I have been working on several projects lately and also taking some time to learn new skills and also refresh some old knowledge. During those attempt to refresh old knowledge I fell into a rabbit hole of going through old games that I used to play. When I say old, I mean old. Most of these I had had played on my old Apple II back in the 1980s. Needless to say, many old memories came flooding back. But, also, I was able to see things that were done with games back then that kept my attention and kept me playing. These games were made decades before micro-transactions, and years before the internet would start to shape our lives. They had to focus on the gameplay itself to keep our interest and there is a lot to be learned from that.
In my case, I was reminded how much humor and curiosity for what would come next drew me in. Spare Change on an Apple II emulator was the game that prompted this post.
A screenshot from the Apple II version of the game Spare Change
The goal of Spare Change was simple – collect coins while trying to keep the robots from stealing them. The robots themselves were quite funny. They would perform various silly moves as they stole the coins, including passing between each other, running into each other or kicking the coin into their piggy bank. If they collected too many coins the game would end. Also, of interest were short cut scenes involving these robots and their silly antics. But a feature that kept me wanting to play the most were the various items on the game board that could be used to distract the robots. They loved watching Popcorn popping, or dancing to the music on the jukebox. On some levels you have get them to talk to each other using the pay phones. Now, these distractions would cost a coin, so you had to be careful to not waste too many coins. This became more of an issue as the levels went on. But, it all led to the player wanting to keep playing in order to see what other silliness could happen along the way.
So, what does a 40 year old game have to do with my current efforts? It caused me to rethink my own game that I am currently working on. I have since made an effort to add cutscenes along with items for the player to collect. I should back up and explain the game a little bit – it was essentially a demolition derby game using various geometric shapes to battle.
An image of game play from Fruit DerbyAn image of a cutscene from Fruit Derby
The images above show a little view of what the game looks like. It also shows a shot from one of the cut scenes that can be found in the game. I am proud of how the game is turning out. The sides on the shapes turn red as they get damaged until the player dies if the damage becomes too great. Once an enemy shield is destroyed, you have the chance to steal their fruit. It is the fruit that is necessary in order to advance to the next level – by making an epic fruit salad to impress your alien overseers.
You can clearly see how playing a close to 40 year old game inspired a new game. If I hadn’t taken the time to play Spare Change, my game would still be the original Geometry Derby game in which you would simply crash into shapes until you finally died. It was somewhat fun even if it did get a little boring over time. The new version is one that can easily hold interest for a far longer time.
So, to bring things back around – don’t be afraid to look for inspiration everywhere. You never know what might contain an idea for a future project.
