Three Mobile Software Rules
Three mobile software rules that probably don’t just apply to mobile software, by Android platform evangelist Tim Bray: no exit code (just pretend that your app crashes on every exit and deal with it gracefully), loose addressing and type-driven coupling and as little decoration as necessary.
Finishing a Game
Derek Yu (of Spelunky fame) shares 15 tips on how to finish a game. Sound advice, and many of his tips are not limited to games development in their applicability:
We’ve all had that feeling about at least one game, comic book, movie, etc., that comes out: “Gee, I could do better than this! This is overrated.” But it’s important to take a step back and realize that, hey, they put in the time to finish a project and I haven’t. That’s at least one thing they might be better than me at, and it’s probably why they have the recognition I don’t! If you treat finishing like a skill, rather than simply a step in the process, you can acknowledge not only that it’s something you can get better at, but also what habits and thought processes get in your way.
Piczle Lines post-mortem is a great summary by Score Studios on what went well and what didn’t in the development of their game.
