JohnnyWorks

In case you haven’t noticed it so far, StickWars v1.4 contained some unfortunate bugs that makes the game difficult to play at certain points. This is partially due to me moving my house, moving over to a new forum system (had trouble notifying beta testers), all at the same time. Basically the released didn’t get tested as much as it should have, and this was the result. I’ve learned an important lesson here…

Version 1.5 was sent to Apple last week, but was rejected because the message that says “Submitting high score” wasn’t on a text label or something else silly. So we are still just waiting on Apple to approve the latest update.

After like 6 weeks as the #1 paid game in the US, it is now pushed down to #2 by Sims, which is okay considering Sims is a pretty cool game. I still hate the fact that StickWars was overshadowed so long by “The Moron Test”, but this is the AppStore after all.

A reporter had some questions for me about the Palm Pre, and I just spotted an article with some of the interview posted on Bloomberg.com. You can read the entire article here, or read the section about StickWars below.

18 Applications

The Pre will go on sale with about 18 applications available in its App Catalog, including programs from Pandora music player, movie ticket service Fandango and a digital version of the checker-stacking game Connect Four, Letts said.

Some popular games may not make it to the Pre at all. The creator of “StickWars,” where you defend a kingdom against invading armies of stick figures, said he’s not willing to put in the extra effort to re-design the game if it’s not going to make any money back. The game is the third-most popular paid application in Apple’s library.

“I would need a real direct incentive in order to be willing to once again commit months of my evenings and weekends behind a computer screen coding,” said Eric Hartzog, who created the game as a student at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Designing for the iPhone was easier because other developers shared resources in free online libraries, said 22- year-old Hartzog, who has since graduated and joined the U.S. Navy. He said he would only consider doing the same for the Pre if its popularity reaches the level of Apple’s phone.

I’ve been looking more at the Palm Pre and am getting more excited about it. I’d love to develop for a device that has a faster processor, but in the end it comes down to the tools available. I’m still a ‘newbie’ coder and wouldn’t be able to create a game like StickWars from scratch. We’ll see though…I’m a strong fan of competition and am really looking forward to a real competitor to the iPhone.