Friday, April 19, 2013

25 releases in 26 months.

I think I can rightfully call myself a game developer dedicated to his creation. The Little Crane That Could saw 25 releases in just 26 months. Each release making it a better game. (Except for the 4.4.1 version which made the game crash upon launch. Argh!) I can only put the blame on myself for that and a little bit on Apple, who just for that particular release, decided not to test my update. (It got approved immediately after going into state 'in review'). And I did not even count the Android, Raspberry Pi and OUYA releases here.

I clearly remember the first release when frankly, it was an unfinished product. I launched with too few levels, without sound, with penetrating music that could not be switched off and other shortcomings. Still it managed to be a hit from week 1. Not day 1, as I also clearly remember my first sales report. I was horrified to find that the game had managed to sell one single copy. At that point I had given up hope, and decided to do contracting jobs from now on, for other people's apps. However, the next days, sales increased 10 fold every day, hitting a high of 6000 sales in a single day. The game still brings in good money, so that is why the updates keep coming. Today I submitted version 5.07 for review by Apple. I hope they test launch it this time before approving.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Trailer for Buggy Bang! Bang!

My upcoming title 'Buggy Bang! Bang!' is nearing completion. Therefore, I have created this promotional video with a great soundtrack to give it a nice epic feeling.

EDIT - Now available on iTunes.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Googling "Little Crane"

Since january 2011, the release date of The Little Crane That Could, people have been googling the term, mainly in the UK and the US. The big spike of dec 2012 coincides with the Android release.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

False sense of security

So my new house came with Weiser Smart Key locks for the back, garage and basement doors. One morning, I could no longer open my garage. There was no way to get to my car to pickup my little monkey from day care. My builder is a great guy, so was on site with his installer in 15 minutes. They helped me get in by drilling out the lock. The next day, another guy came in and put in a replacement Weiser deadbolt lock. And what do you know, 10 minutes after he left, I discovered the same thing had happened, with a different lock, different set of keys.

At this time, I had lost all confidence in Weiser locks, and decided to replace them all. I got ANSI Grade 1 fixed key deadbolts from Schlage, and installed those on all doors that previously had that Weiser crap on them. They are robust, super smooth, and rated top grade for commercial use. My advice: never go with those 'programmable' locks known as Smart Key or SecureKey. See the photo above of all the useless crappy locks I removed from my house. Professionals rate the Weiser Smart Key of the same caliber as that lock that could be opened with a Bic pen. See this video on how to open any Weiser Smart Key lock in a few seconds.

So to sum up: Never get a programmable key, especially not the crap from Weiser that will lock you out at random. Instead get a lock that is not programmable, and rated ANSI Grade 1, for instance, this one from Schlage.