I’m so glad I’ve switched to Visual Studio for all the code editing. Out of the box Unity doesn’t support anything more advanced than a basic text editor, which drove me nuts within a couple of days. When you’re serious about your programming, you bring out the serious programming tools. It does feel a bit like returning to the Dark Side, running Visual Studio on a Mac to do your iPhone development.

The extensibility of the Unity interface is great however. I’ve added loads of helper objects that automatically generate the real geometry when the game is started.

gr.jakko

It always strikes me how much game development depends on good old paper.
E.g. this is the first draft of one of the game levels.

gr.jakko

Make sure you always do your research, and make sure you always have enough fresh ink cartridges ready.

gr.jakko

Every town needs a hero, and every hero needs a concept sketch first.

gr.jakko

This is where the title screen shows its true nature: the develop environment. Overkill to construct a 2d game in 3d? Probably… but 3d movements and effects can add so much more.

gr.jakko

When testing on the iPhone you lack the convenience of a regular keyboard for your cheat and hot keys. So I’ve added the following cunning ultra cheat code: four fingers to the screen and -hey presto- a debug interface.

gr.jakko

My oh my, has it been almost three months of radio silence already? Time for three quick updates I think, one for each month of silence. And, even better, two of them are EXCLUSIVES. It does feel like Christmas doesn’t it?

First one
Yes, I’m still here, working hard to get things done. Still loving it, thank you very much.

Second one *EXCLUSIVE*
The last months I have worked on the first PebbleBug Studios game, an amazing game for the iPhone with an amazing working title: Pocket Town Hero.

It’s still a couple of months from release, a couple of months filled with long working hours for me, and a couple of months filled with tantalizing anticipation for you.

And Third *EXCLUSIVE*
To keep you (and myself) entertained during that period let me introduce you to a new and exclusive feature you can only get here: the Daily-ish Picture Dump or DiPD for short. A somewhat daily update of the game and its development through the use of carefully selected images.

So, without further ado, here it is, the first DiPD of the -under construction- title screen, fresh from the iPhone.

Get it while the pixels are still hot.

More tomorrow…

gr.jakko