This is the story behind how I created my first ever iPhone game with help from my young son and a lot of hard work which dates back over a year, and more importantly a lot of quality time with my little boy. Seeing my son so passionate about a particular subject and working with him on this project has made me extremely proud. Towards the end of 2010 my son, who was 7 years old at the time, really started getting into computer games. It was obvious this was going to be his passion. It was mine when i was a kid, so i would never hold him back from playing games, unless of course it effected his school work. What was different though, was that it wasn’t just playing the games that he enjoyed, it was stuff like how the game was created, what made the game work, and what extra features could be added to the game. He really wanted to create his own game, and he was just full of ideas of what he wanted his game to do and what kind of characters would be in the game and things like that. Seeing him use his brain like this was great i thought, and this was something i wanted to make sure he took advantage of. He started sketching down his ideas, and trying to explain to me how his drawings would work in a real game. What you need to remember is, that he was only 7 years old, and a lot of his drawings were typical 7 year olds drawings, and by that i mean if you looked at them without knowing what they were, then it would be very hard to decipher them. His main inspiration was his toy “Spud Gun” that he had, and he wanted his main character to have a “Spud Gun” as their main weapon, so thats where the title of the game came from. The game is called Spud Gun Attack. So we would sit down together and i would get him to explain to me what his drawings meant and what he was trying to achieve, and most of the time i would fully understand what it was he was trying to put down onto paper and then they made sense. This sort of thing went on for weeks, and after a while I just thought, whats the point of just having all this on paper. Why not just create a game? So thats what we did. I’d never created an iPhone game before, so this was a learning curve for me. If i did know what i was doing from the start, then it probably wouldn’t have taken so long to create the game, but i’m not bothered about that. There was no rush. The game would be finished when it was ready. I began to do my own drawings, and tried to incorporate as many of Tylers ideas into the game as possible, and of course come up with my own ideas. The idea behind the game was simple, you were the main character, “Spud”, and your weapon was a spud gun. The aim of the game was to point, aim and then fire your spud gun, and to make sure you hit the targets which of course becomes harder and harder throughout the game. You could call it a “Physics” puzzler, as i was using a physics based algorithm to get the natural movements and explosions of the spud balls, and other objects such as boxes and walls would need to be blown around the screen in a natural manner, all of which added to the game and made it more of a challenge for you to complete your mission. During the development, Tyler, my son would go into school telling all his mates he was creating his own new game and he thought that was great. Out of all this, the thing i enjoyed the most was seeing him take such a huge interest in something, and i know its a skill he can develop and use later on in life. Plus i got to spend loads of quality time with him, and play computer games which is always nice. So over a year later, the game is finally complete, and i have been through the Apple App Store approval process and now its finally online and ready for sale. Our local newspaper here in the north east of England also ran a story on what we had achieved, which was great for the launch of the app. The day after the app went live my son went into school beaming and couldn’t wait to tell his teacher, and what i thought was a really nice touch, the school arranged for him to get a special certificate and all his class-mates gave him a big round of applause. He was extremely happy. The plan going forward is to add new features such as “Game Center” support and more levels and hope that the general public notice the game and start downloading it. Thankyou for taking the time to read this. I have a better version here, with higher quality images. If you want to share this story, please go ahead, it will be hugely appreciated. Spud Gun Attack Is Available on the App Store Now For $0.99 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spud-gun-attack/id489341947?ls=1&mt=8
Great story, very neat. Spending quality time with your child is always great and even better if it's something you both share a joy/bond with. Happy for both of you guys. Good luck with the game! It looks ace.
That's a beautiful story Phil (and viral material no less if the game does well) What's so touching is that, at the end of the day, however the game performs, you will have shared such great memories with your son. Thumbs up !
Great job father and son team! I'm currently involved in the same journey with my 10 year old son but at the pace we're going we'll be done by the time the iPad 106S comes out... Seriously though, congrats! Just finishing a game is difficult enough.
Fantastic Story. The game looks pretty good from looking at the screenshots, well done. I know from your story you have pretty much accomplished what you wanted, but I hope the game turns out to be is a financial success for you as well.
Getting people to notice the game and give it a go is without doubt a hell of a lot harder than i was expecting, but i'm sure most developers on here have come across that at some point. I'll just keep working on the game and keep my fingers crossed that people enjoy it and then maybe they will spread the word about the game.
