Thinking too much… again.
Well right now in my other tabs in my browser I have several sites opened.
Big deal I hear you say!
But it is a big decision I’m trying to arrive at. That is, should I buy another (I already use Unity 3D) idevice development middleware or should I just suck it up and sit down and learn the Xcode way?
What I like about IDEs like Unity and things like Corona or LiveCode is that I can think visually with them a lot easier and quicker. I can either design visually in something like modo (for Unity) or Photoshop (for Corona) and then add the complexity via code and interactions between components/objects in the respective IDEs.
Unity gets great big ticks for this sort of process.
Corona does for games… but not so much for UI intensive Apps. Which is what most use Xcode for. I just couldn’t get into Xcode cause I couldn’t think visually with it enough. Objective-C as language isn’t my stumbling block… thinking visually in Xcode 2-3 was… then Apple released Xcode 4… which got me thinking!
I don’t know about you lot but I tend to get bogged down over thinking things. It was one of the reasons I decided to suck it up and release Middle Em. Cause I was sitting there thinking about games I could build, what games I should build, should I bother with a game at all and just go with a utility app first… or should I team up with some other indie’s and release the next greatest thing since sliced bread?
I was chasing my tail to say the least.
So I blew the dust off the original Unity project of Middle Em from 2009 (!!) and taking the advice of one of my favourite quotes:
“Internal dialogue, thinking or whatever you want to call it holds you back from action. It is the rehearsal of an act or action. When there is complete commitment to an action, no matter how small and subtle or how large and violent, if it is complete and there is no holding back, then there will be no internal dialogue. Acting with this kind of commitment is a true expression of the warrior’s spirit.”
Finish it and release it!
And I did.
Done. Next…?
And the process begun again. What the fuck to do next. In one hand a game in the other a utility app. Which felt the best?
To be honest a utility app.
There has been a lot said about good and even great games being swamped within the AppStore amongst the shite. Not saying my latest addition doesn’t add to that pile. But it is a fact and fact that many indie’s struggle with every damn day.
So I’ve more or less decided on a utility app or productivity app or whatever, something that isn’t a game, as they seem to get a better go of it then most games, as long as they are of a good quality and fill a need well. Plus I do have something in mind, and I’ve even done a code mockup in PHP just to sees if my logics will work. So this seems like the best option for me at this stage.
But what has bogged me down is what IDE do I use? Do I use Xcode with something like this? Xcode is free and one can create some fantastic AppStore art with it. But all it compiles to is iDevices and Macs. Do I care enough about supporting other markets like the obvious, Android? In that case I would need an IDE (to maintain one’s sanity) like Corona. Which does seem to be the best of the bunch at the moment.
Like many I’ve read a lot on the interweb about supporting Android based devices. The Pros and Cons. But for me it comes down to my available time compared to actually releasing something and then seeing some return on that to drive me to my next project. Basically do I have time to learn a whole lot of new hoops to jump through to support Android et al? I believe developing for iDevices (and potentially Macs) only is the best choice at this time. In my day to day work I develop mainly iDevice games in Unity for my clients. So I’m setup for testing on theses and have a small stable of test devices. I own exactly zero Android test devices. So really I think the writing is on the wall here.
But I could always sit on the fence and get something like Corona and have the ability to support other platforms in the future. After all I did buy into Corona back in its $99 per year days. 2010 was it? But I just couldn’t get into it, Lua looks like a nice language and fairly easy to pick up… but I just didn’t get into it. Also at the time Xcode was a lot more clunky than it is now. Corona also didn’t have the UI smarts that I wanted for making utility type Apps. So I just let my subscription lapse.
But here in 2012 I’m back contemplating the whole third party IDE thing again, and it is giving me the shits. Overthinking and wasting time.
So I did a search and found this nice little tutorial. Something just clicked in my head, and like many epiphanies it got me focused and moving forward.
So my next App WILL be a productivity application for the iPad and maybe iPhone 4 and above. I will be using Xcode and maybe PaintCode. I will stop rehearsing my actions and just do it! 
Cheers.