We Rule is a farmville knockoff that recently made its debute on the iPhone. I respect this kind of game for its virtues of a time waster but I don't find it enjoyable as a core gamer. Its extremely casual and unlike Farmville it automatically sends you a push message when a crop has finished growing. 

The game designer in me wants to break down the game into excel cheets and learn from it. And since I have yet to find any sites dedicated to powergaming We Rule though the most basic of Google searches, I've created my own.

Farms

So I just went on a Mac Application Buying spree. This is rare for me because I usually think of reasons not to buy things. But Macheist made it really easy to impulsively buy a few apps that I felt would be very useful to me in the coming weeks. 

Here is a list of the problems I encountered working with my first Core Data App. Maybe it will help others from making the same pitfalls.

User interface design on the iPhone is fun. Really it is work I don't mind doing at all. As a budding Objective-C programmer I feel like I was given so many tools that I don't know what to do with them all. Fortunately I know what to do with nearly all of them and I'm preparing to show everyone with the Shanghai Bus App.

I haven't mentioned the Shanghai bus App here yet so its time to document the project. I started this project about a year ago in an effort to give something back to Shanghai for all that it has given me. I also wanted more published code of mine out there in the wild. So I got a directory of all the Buses in Shanghai and I made an iPhone App out of it. 

"How did the unrest after the Iranian elections come about? It was because online warfare launched by America, via YouTube video and Twitter micro-blogging, spread rumors, created splits, stirred up and sowed discord." -People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, asked in a Jan. 24 editorial. (I learned this via NYT)

I had some time to try two new games today at work. I don't know if some people call playing games work but as a game designer occasionally it is in my job description to play a game at work and think about what was good or bad about it.

PaulWoodWare was once my portfolio, now its my blog and personal notes. I don't really expect many people to be interested in what I do and what I have to say but I do think that if someone is interested in what I am doing then they should be able to find me easily. Thats why PaulWoodWare got its make-over. 

Computer games don't affect kids, I mean if Pac Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music.
  - Marcus Brigstocke

I stayed up til 4am last night reading the news on the Apple iPad. Yes I misnamed it in my last Post. Anyways heres some of the links: