The release of Epic Orchestra for Apple TV is set for June 8th! I thought I'd share the story of how this app came to be.
When Apple TV was announced in Nov. 2015, I shifted all my focus to creating apps for the TV. It was so cool! I grew up playing the NES and this felt like I was creating content for a home console. I created 3 apps at launch but they were quick and easy ports. I wanted to make something designed specifically for Apple TV.
I had the idea of creating Epic Orchestra to combine my two passions: music and retro games. With the Siri Remote it was only natural to make a swipe or tap game. The project quickly ballooned as I added more levels and powers-ups. By the end of the project, I had created an entire classical music album (this didn't occur to me until yesterday).
In the first month of development I demoed the app at an Apple TV Tech Talk in Austin, TX. I just revisited that build and boy has it changed. Here are some before and after shots.
That is all for now. Thanks for reading and I hope you get a chance to play Epic Orchestra on June 8th!
I hope everyone had a great holiday! I thought that since this is the start of a new year I'd share some of my goals for 2016.
Currently Projects:
• A new Apple TV game called Epic Orchestra (more on this later)
• Rebranding Mad Calf Apps as Moby Pixel (http://mobypixel.com)
• Updating and maintaining iOS & Android radio apps
Future Projects:
• Updating iOS music apps including Pedal Steel, Guitar, Ukulele and More!
• Making Google Cardboard VR cart game
• Youtube app review series (https://www.youtube.com/user/The365AppChallenge)
Goals:
• Release the above mentioned apps
• Update my existing catalog of apps
• Rebrand as Moby Pixel
I'm really excited to get these projects under way. I hope to revisit this post later to see how it goes. Good luck to you in your adventures!
The beginning is nigh! In a few hours, the Apple TV App Store will be available to the public. Oh yeah! That means us indies can bring apps to the living room without breaking into the console market. Leading up to the release, I have been grinding to get product ready for the store. What follows is my journey: "Don't Stop, Believin'".
tvOS is Apple's new sdk for making TV apps. I find it funny that when I write "tvos" to friends it is autocorrected to "twos." This is a reminder of how new this concept is: making mobile apps for the TV (immobile apps, if you will). There are a few routes to take when making a TV app, and I chose the one most familiar to me--coding in Objective-C. Apple has been pushing a language called Swift for developers, but I'm an Obj-C dude. I actually have it tattooed across my chest. (image not found)
So here was the Goal. I wanted to make as many fun, polished apps for the App Store as I could before its release. As I began hacking, I quickly discovered the time-sucking monster known as feature creep. According to wiki:
Feature Creep is the ongoing expansion or addition of new features in a product, such as in computer software. Extra features go beyond the basic function of the product and so can result in software bloat and over-complication rather than simple design.
I ended up finishing 3 fun, polished apps that I'm stoked about!
NATURE SOUNDSCAPES
The 1st app I worked on was a port of my iOS app Nature Soundscapes. This app was a great learning experience as to the possibilities and limitations of Apple TV.
VIDEO POKER - GAME OF BOUNTY
The 2nd app I wanted to make was Video Poker - Game of Bounty. While in concept the app is simple, the addition of multiple card pack art and soundtracks made the development take the longest of any of the apps. I think the effort really shows in this app.
FREE CLASSIC MOVIES
The 3rd app I made was Free Classic Movies. This app is the most useful of the three. Every Apple TV owner needs an app like this. Why? Because you get to watch free old movies on your tv for free. Did I mention it is free? This app took the least time to complete but curating the list of movies will be an ongoing process.
So that is it! I'm now sitting here waiting for the App Store to show up and anxious to see if the time I invested is worth it. If you end up getting an Apple TV, I'd love for you to give the apps a try. Just search for: Free Classic Movies, Video Poker, or Nature Soundscapes.
Yup. iOS is ready for release and you'll need to handle the back button press for Android. What you can NOT do is package this as an app to sell to other developers on sites like CodeCanyon.
When is Windows Phone support coming?
I'm working on a Windows Phone build but unfortunately the multitouch input controls are a bit broken between Unity and Windows Phone at the moment so I'm waiting for a stable version before implementing those features.
Why is there latency on some Android devices?
Good Question. Android has always had issues with touch input latency but it is getting better. Google "Android Audio Latency" for more on this topic than you will ever care to learn.
