In good company

I found a list of quite some illustrious names. My game is mentioned along some real powerhouses like Angry Birds HD free in this list of iPad releases on the website of the independent. An honour bestowed on me because of the little crane that could's ranking as the number 1 free iPad app in the United Kingdom. After many tries, it looks like I finally managed to score a hit on the app store.

The feedback from it is quite overwhelming. A lot of rave reviews, but also a lot of useful criticisms. I will be using the feedback to improve the game for a new release. The runaway success took me by surprise. I had already accepted the fact that I made the crane game to suite my own gaming taste, and that it would probably do poorly on the app store, as it would not appeal to gamers in general. Well, luckily I was wrong.

It also taught me a valuable lesson of demand-pull versus technology-push. Before making 'the little crane that could', I decided to develop for the taste of the market. The game 'jump daisy, jump' was the result. It was the game I thought the market wanted: simple gameplay, bold colourful graphics, easy challenges. The little crane was the other end of the spectrum: a very complex game with a lot of controls. A game I personally liked playing, but which I deemed to complex for joe average. So when in doubt: go with your own passions, not on what you think people will like.

The little crane that could is a free game, so why not give it a try? Get your copy at iTunes.

What I thought the market wants versus what the market wants.

dear mr Jobs

I just sent an email to Steve Jobs. Hopefully he will respond by telling me that Apple will eat its own dogfood.

Hello mr Jobs,

Nowadays my iPad is my primary device.
I am also an iPad developer, and the problem is that I can not use the developer forums with it.

Using an iPad you can only read the forum, but writing a message is not possible, as the input field of the message body can not be activated.
This has been the case since the iPad was released.
I am totally with you on not letting flash polute the device, but I do not think the forums are using flash.

Could you please put some gears in motion so that developers can use their ipad to write a message on the developer forums?

Thx,

   Bram Stolk

Sent from my iPad

Let's get this fire started!

Nice..... it is cold and snowing outside, so the perfect moment to try out the fireplace that came with the apartment. Don't worry: it is pretty safe, as we have both a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide alarm. Amy and I are settling into our new routines with Annelies. It's harder on Amy than for me, but fortunately Annelies can sleep longer stretches during the night. Last night, five hours or so. Annelies behaves well when we go out. Last night we took her to a poker party at a friend's house, and she slept through pretty much all of it. Bram ranked 3 out of 11 players, not bad.

Births

I have two important birth announcements to make. First there is the birth of a lovely girl named Annelies. And then there is the birth of my private enterprise called stolk.org which offers iOS development services. Exciting times ahead for me, I am sure.

Strolling

This is for strolling with the baby. I thought I would go for the walker, but I compromised, and we got the red one instead. Seven more weeks to go. If it does end up a 10-10-10 baby, then not only would the baby have a binary date of birth, it would have the binary date of birth (101010 in binary is 42 in decimal). Also, the pictures are from my new iPhone4 in HDR mode. For a phone camera, they are pretty good, even in low light conditions.

Jump Daisy Jump is nearing completion.

Almost done with Jump Daisy Jump. Here is a video of the gameplay.

And it has a name: Jump Daisy Jump.

So... the project is coming together slowly. It's time to reveal some more details of my new project. The name is Jump Daisy Jump. Star of it all is an hapless dairy cow Daisy. And yes... she is on springs. Like the little tank that could this game is heavily based on Physics Simulation. In the case of Jump Daisy Jump that would be spring physics. The game is as much fun as it looks. This time I think I will try the ad-supported revenue model, so the basic game will be free. It will be available for iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad.

Sneak Preview

A sneak peek at my new project, which I started today. Are you getting curious? Then keep an eye out on this blog, and see what this iPhone/iPad/iPod app will be all about. The still secret title will be revealed soon.

Performance Tracking

To track the performance of The little tank that could attends Panzer Class in different markets, see below. According to igamestats, it was even the nr 1 free iPad game in Russia for two days... hoorah!

topappcharts.

igamestats

Crib

As of today, we have a crib in our nursery. Amy and I are getting ready for the big event. We've been attending Pregnancy Classes to prepare for it. I'm still scared, but less so. We've also managed to find a nice stroller. And what do you know... it's Dutch Design optima forma. Many thanks to the grandparents who helped us to buy this fancy smancy stuff. Nothing is too good for this future Dutch Canadian Girl. I guess we'll put the remainder of the baby money into a savings account to pay MIT tuition in 2028. Or will University in Holland still be government paid at that time? Amy insists that I speak Dutch with the baby, and that the baby gets two passports.

So about the baby: a girl, due October 29. But as they told us in Pregnancy Class: there is no due-date, more of a due-month. So secretly I hope on a 10-10-10 baby with a binary birth date. The baby moves around a lot inside Amy, and health checks have been good so far.

- Bramy

Set of wheels

I saw this awesome set of wheels in Vancouver. The police force was doing a charity event, so I made a deal with an officer: I donate to the charity, and they let me get behind the wheel of this Ford Mercury. It has a manual gearbox but the shifting is done at the steering wheel, not on the floor.

Vancouver in Oranje

In Vancouver heerste er ook een flinke WorldCup fever. Door de vele nationaliteiten die hier aanwezig zijn zitten de bars vol tijdens de wedstrijden. Het feestje voor expats in Vancouver tijdens de finale was zo populair, dat het niet mogelijk was om binnen te komen. Het zag Oranje van de Nederlanders. Vlak voor de finale kwam ik Miguel tegen, mijn Spaanse ex-collega, dus dat was een mooie photo-op zoals ze dat hier noemen. Tevens op de photo: Bram pruilend na verlies, en Bram en Slavica voor het feestje van het consulaat.

Star Wars in Concert

Niets is zo overweldigend voor een 12 jarig jongetje als de Star Wars saga. In 1982 zag ik samen met mijn broer Robbert een dubbele vertoning van van Star Wars a new hope en the Empire strikes back in het Corso Theater in Castricum. Ik wist niet wat me overkwam. Sindsdien heeft de magie van de cinema me ooit nog zo kunnen overrompelen als toen. Een belangrijke bijdrage in de onderdompeling van het Star Wars universum was in de vorm van de muziek. De genialiteit van John Williams is niet veel minder dan die van George Lucas. Wat betreft George Lucas: ik heb altijd een hekel gehad aan die hetze die het publiek ging ontwikkelen omdat Phantom Menace niet Star Wars waardig zou zijn. Dit vind ik onzin. Phantom Menace is een goede film, en natuurlijk is de indruk van de film op een volwassene niet te evenaren als de indruk van het orgineel op het kind. Als de films in omgekeerde volgorde waren uitgebracht, dan had een flink aantal waarschijnlijk a New Hope verguisd.

Ik heb vanavond Star Wars in Concert bijgewoond in het Hockey Stadion hier in Vancouver. Gepresenteerd door Anthony Daniels, met een volledig symphonie orkest en koor. Wat een genot om die muziek live aan te horen, vergezeld met beelden uit Star Wars. Mocht de toer ook Europa aandoen, dan is mijn advies om dit zeker te gaan bekijken.

Burgerplicht

Wel, ik heb zojuist aan mijn burgerplicht voldaan. Daar ik nog niet bevoegd ben om mijn stem uit te brengen voor de Canadese verkiezingen, heb ik gestemd voor de tweede kamer verkiezingen in Nederland. Per post gaat mijn stem naar Den Haag. Zoals immer, stem ik puur op het programma, met de hulp van de stemwijzer. Blijkbaar is mijn gedachtengoed niet optimaal vertegenwoordigd in de politiek, want de partij waarvan het program het meest met mijn ideeën strookt, heeft slechts 20 matches op 30 stellingen. Ik ben het verst verwijderd van Groenlinks en de piratenpartij met 7 matches uit 30.

Fit

Is it me, or are the people in Vancouver just more fit than the average person? 50000 people are doing the Sun Run, including Amy's sister, Amy's best friend and a bunch of my Slant Six colleagues. I tried to spot Ben, who got seeded, from my balcony, but failed to catch him. However, here are some nice pictures I took. I really like the one of the shadows. It's a somewhat reversed from what you expect: the shadows are in normal perspective, and the people themselves are from a strange angle.

Liberated

It was 65 years ago that thousands of Canadians gave their lives so that my parents, both born under nazi occupation during WWII, would be able to grow up in a free and safe Netherlands. The Netherlands is deeply indebted to all the allied forces, but it was the Canadians that were given the task of liberating Holland. One such soldier who embarked on a long voyage from Canada to Europe to fight in Arnhem is depicted in this picture. I admire their braveness, their tenaciousness and their achievements. I hope I would have at least half their courage if I were ever to be in their shoes. For now, all I can do is gladly pay my taxes for an ever improving Canada, which has provided me with a wonderful new home. The True North strong and free.

Another beautiful evening in English Bay

What a beautiful spring evening in Vancouver today. English Bay is looking its finest. People are flocking to the seawall. Amy and I will probably move out of the neighbourhood soon, to get something bigger and more affordable. The west end, and English Bay in particular is my favorite part of Vancouver, but I'm sure we'll find something nice south of False Creek. We will definitely be renting again, as the housing market has not crashed here yet. I've heard that the disparity between house prices and incomes is nowhere so large as here. A hard hitting housing crash is exactly what is needed here. Last weekend I visited a condo tower near UBC called the Wesbrook that was selling two bedroom apartments for 1.4M dollar. Maybe a Hong Kong businessman can afford this.

Touch Flags

Just submitted to the app store and available soon: my latest iPad game Touch Flags. It is a flag pop quiz, with amazingly realistic multi touch interaction. You can drag, pinch, stretch, flip, fold and swirl the flags. It's so realistic, you can almost feel the cloth.

A nice thing about this puzzle game is that it is highly educational. Playing a few games will quickly give you expert knowledge on the flags of the world.

I am really proud of this game, I think it's a killer application of the 10 finger multitouch functionality of the iPad.

Superhero

I never got into superheroes all that much. So personally, I would not pick 'kick ass' as a movie to see. But Amy's colleagues were going there, and I was invited. Man... that movie is awesome. And as a bonus, I had a nice 'fiction meets reality' moment. In the movie, the bad guy goes to the cinema. Guess what cinema he goes to... the VERY SAME cinema I am at that very moment sitting in, watching that movie. How freaking weird is that? I can recommend the movie... funny as hell, a lot of suspense, and just very well made.

Pixels

Wow.... this video is an amazing piece of work. Everyone growing up in the digital age will be able to relate to it.

In the other news: last weekend I went to Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood Washington to pick up an Apple iPad. Amy and I took the Amtrak train from Vancouver, heading to Seattle. The Amtrak station in Edmonds has some historic items on display. Railroads have such a rich history in the United States, opening up the continent to the pioneers and new settlers. It's a shame that the US railroads have been ignored by the car owning masses and the governments alike. It's a shadow of what it once was. It deserves a better fate, because it can be very comfortable. I remember an Amtrak ride from New Orleans to Memphis, when we had a nice juicy steak dinner, white tablecloths and silverware included, on board of the train. And because the ticket was bought months in advance, it was unbelievably cheap.