Memory upgrade

1&1/2 months now since my baby son arrived, and I got my first moment to think about iPhone programming - I'm sure this brief period of quiet time will not last for more than an hour or two!

I did start to modify my now quite old game 'GravSpace' to the iPad format - it's a bit of a headache as I was too lazy to implement relative XY locations in the game programming when I started - it's going to take a little while to implement some kind of translation to relative positions for all my XY location specific code.
Hope I can find some cycles in the near future for more work on this, between nappy changes and going to the office.


Mac DIY hardware upgrade:

Apart from this initial warming up of my iPhone coding fingers, in anticipation of more updates from Apple, and more resource intensive versions of Xcode, I decided it was a good idea to increase the RAM space in my Mac mini.

Having seen a few you-tube videos (in my case I specifically searched for 'mac mini core 2 duo 2GHz memory upgrade'), I was able to crack open the box with the aid of a wide putty knife (already in my toolbox), and for the relatively small sum of 400HKD (about 40 euros / 32 UK pounds) I've increased the RAM from single slot 1 Gig to dual slot 2X 2 Gigs - more than my desktop PC running Ubuntu - however that seems to run quite happily on 2 Gigs.

I decided to play safe and stick with exactly the same FSB (1066) and latency values as what was originally inside the machine when picking the RAM sticks (checked in the system profiler before ordering the sticks).. possibly I didn't get the best price (maybe I paid the Guilo tax here in HK as often happens), but a lot cheaper than asking Apple to do it.

IMPORTANT NOTE - check the machine is still functioning OK after the memory upgrade BEFORE putting the lid back on! :)

Another tip, remove (leave hanging out the side of the machine) the 3 antennas (orange topped components in the photo above) before trying to lift out the CD drive.. remove the springs too - easy enough to pop back on afterwards.

Also a good tip.. take photos of each stage of removal when you do something like this... can be a life saver when you are putting it all back together.


And voila... that's going to make a big difference... the way it should have been when I got it originally (1 Gig was never enough for more than a bit of single tab websurfing - and iTunes is still painfully slow - and single process oriented... how Mac...) - but I was not prepared to pay the Apple memory tax...  DIY was actually pretty easy.. you just have to remember to take your time.

Just for fun: here's a few pics of probably the most scary dismantling and re-assembly job I did - replacing the LCD screen (due to dead back-light) on my Korg Wavestation EX synthesiser (back from 1992) - that was a daunting job as it was an expensive bit of kit for me at the time and involved a bit of soldering too - still works.. unfortunately it's in a keyboard case in my parents house (on another continent) - untouched for the last 5 years - for the moment I just use the VST equivalent of this great synth:

Kung hei fat choi

Already CNY 2011! and the last year has been a busy one for me.
New job + multiple work related travels to USA/India/China + expecting a baby kind of took priority over getting to sit down for some iPhone coding... still cannot expect to have much (or any?) time for it after the baby arrives - however I have just ordered the Snow-Leopard Mac OS update (which I may or may not regret according to many reviews) in order to be able to make a start on iOS 4.2 and iPad apps.

First off I am still planning to do another version of GravSpace - just to get myself warmed up - and because it should be relatively easy to upgrade the graphics and make a few levels targeted at iPad - perhaps also make a much simpler control system - apart from a few fans of the genre most people I see try the game for the first time found it impossible.
It's also a chance for me to try out using the game centre for score tracking.
I'm not expecting it to be a big money spinner.. just an exercise in learning.

Next I have plans to do some simpler to play games or creativity apps.

Devices:

I ended up getting the iPad, and the iPhone 4 through work, and the iPad has become the sofa browser device of choice more than anything else - for which it is excellent.. reading on it is not comfortable for me (too heavy mainly) - email on it not practical since I share it with the wife and it doesn't support multiple account login - still prefer to use Stanza on iPhone for reading.
Can't believe I have so many Apple device now - 8 including the Mac mini.. -  at least I have a nice line-up of devices now for testing on.

Still can't get comfortable with Mac OS (copy and paste multiple files?) - still typing this in Ubuntu Linux which have been using for the last 5 years without any trouble at all - using XP at work only and for music recording - wish I could get ASIO drivers for my soundcards and use VST plugins in Linux in a decent sequencer (I'm using Cakewalk in XP).

OK, hopefully next postings have something to do with coding/projects! :)

iPhone4 + the latest iPods

Have been in the US now for quite a while, and had the time to go play with iPads at the Apple store in San Francisco. I've never seen so many greasy fingerprint marks in my life :) .. anyway, it's definitely a slick piece of kit, although feels rather big, perhaps a bit too big - trying to find a reason to get one, but the only one I can find is to develop some apps on it (not such a bad reason - but finding time is still an issue).. otherwise it's too big to carry around... and for reading books I like the one handed operation of the iPhone/iPod touch better.

Having said that it does seem like a fantastic device to keep the kids quiet though.. but I don't have that joy yet... also if I was a student, I might consider it instead of carrying around a pile of books - but still nothing beats paging through the brick that is 'The Art of Electronics' :) .

What would be 'amazing' is something the size of the iPhone with a foldout/pull-out screen that ends up 3 times bigger - or even perhaps a clam-shell design that opens like a book, with a seamless join of the two halves of the screen - come on Apple - I'll buy that one.

I got the chance to play with iPhone4 as well, very nice screen, but apart from that I could not see the point of upgrading from my 3GS which I only got relatively recently - for video chat I tend to use my laptop.


I also got the chance to get a colleague to download my game 'GravSpace' onto his iPhone4 - was very pleased to see that it runs very smoothly without any issues, and although I've not provided higher resolution graphics it does appear that the GL rendering is crisper on that screen - still not seen how the game would look on iPad - probably not so great I imagine - still may be an opportunity to make 'GravSpace2' with higher resolution graphics/more levels at some point.

The new iPod nano looks cool, but the opposite problem of size to the iPad - I would be worried about loosing that one.
For value for money in terms of functionality, the new iPod touch looks great - if you keep a basic phone in your other pocket/purse, this seems to me like the most attractive all-singing/dancing device you can slip into your jeans/shirt pocket - camera and video chat.. that's a nice touch, but that screen - for reading web pages and books and playing games is really nice..

Thoughts

With all the best intentions to actually do something on the 'iOS' platform in the last month or two I've been delayed by both holiday and work. Having just got back from 2 weeks travel and family visit, I had a week to unpack and get back into my local timezone, before being requested to head off to California for several weeks work at the 'head office'. Two major timezone shifts in one week is not easy.

Was seriously tempted to pick up a macbook at the airport duty free area on the way out, since I only have a mac mini (which I decided was still not quite small enough to bring due to the screen requirement), but the reality is I would probably not find time during my business trip to get myself properly back into it - I need to check out all this iOS4 stuff (and probably spare time will turn into work time anyway).

Will be taking a look at iPad prices whilst in US, although the phone platform continues to seem like the best target for any potential revenue from mobile games/apps due to the sheer number of people with iPhones  - except I don't really want to have to buy an iPhone 4 - casual development for 1 man band developers is getting expensive if planning to support all those Apple devices.. would be better to work in a team...

Whilst I don't have access to my mac mini, I will at least have a go at using OpenGL with SDL in a C++ project under Linux or Windows - I can port back the vast majority of my game engine for GravSpace as it was written in C++ and didn't use any UI views including for the menu system - will maybe post the details of how I set up that workspace and how easy or difficult it was to port back the graphics code as seen in GravSpace and as 'inspired' from the tutorials on 71Squared.com. The plan being that I can try out some ideas for new games without a Mac or iPhone, and easily merge back into Xcode - only missing the multi-touch input and accelerometer, and of course I need to be careful on resource usage - since there will be a much higher limit for mips/memory.

Time to find time... for an update

I'm planning on releasing a 'lite' version of GravSpace in the coming 2-3 weeks - that should be a pretty easy project, however I'm not sure how I will add the link to the full iTunes download, and possibly will try to add online scoring.. but no promises there - some research is required - comments on that welcome.
Hoping that will trigger a few more sales.

Secondly, I'm pretty interested by the add supported model for the new iPhone and iPad - it's a good way to combat the problem of people expecting free or next to no cost games on the iPlatform, and also a way to avoid any worries about piracy hopefully. The only problem - more devices to invest in.

Still, I have a pretty interesting new idea for iPad (apart from loving the idea of making a HD version of GravSpace, if only for my own benefit), and would love to work with a friend who is a very talented artist to do that one.

Stay tuned, there may be a gap, but iPhone development is still on my mind.

In the mean time, I highly recommend 71Squared.com for anybody interested in getting into iPhone game development.