Political Caricatures OK'd by Apple

My first app caused me a ton of heartbreak because of Apple's stance on caricature drawings of political figures. I was literally thrown into the doghouse for drawing President Obama throwing a frisbee on the White House lawn. Other apps were turned down as well, but it was a tough lesson. I just got a Google alert that Apple has changed their mind. now you CAN cartoon political figures… "Son of a bitch!" I repeat, "son of a bitch!" It's like playing basketball while they change the height of the rim. No, it's more like moving furniture. Honey, I think it looks better here, no here…no here. It's really a pain in the butt to learn a lesson, adjust your life then have that lesson changed. Had I mentioned "son of a bitch!".

I just edited the app description for the last time and sent instructions to finish the free app. In theory , my part (artistically) is done. I would expect that I would submit this week, but I said the same thing a few weeks ago. It's almost time to change into my marketing hat.

Pocket god

I read Dean Takahashi's article on Venture Beat's site about the "pocket god" iPhone app and the reasons for it's success. One reason they are successful is because they constantly update their app, with every update they alter the icon.

This isn't a new concept, but what got me is that two guys put together pocket god. One is an artist another a programmer. Sounds familiar, but my programmer is in India. I can emulate their method.

It has been such a long haul, the thought of making the game bigger at this point would have programmers at Indianic planning my early demise, but I want Beat the Boss to stay popular. Sales spikes occur when you do an update. I am going to take suggestions for weapons online and add them regularly if possible. The chosen weapon winners will get a free T-Shirt.

Being that the game is level oriented, the framework is there. The Boss icon is set up well to accommodate version changes.

I look outside and see pitchforks and burning torches. It must be programmers.

Bernie Madoff

Watching TV, I saw a segment about a guy that made statues of Bernie Madoff that you would destroy with a gold hammer. He was selling them for $100. I don't know if he sold any but it got me thinking. My first experiment was designing a game where you could beat the crap out of Bernie. I thought twice after making the demo. One thing I have learned is to stay away from current events, spicy foods, Ponzi schemes and celebrities.

Looking at demographics my questions was, who is holding an iPhone? What do they have in common? What do they want in an app? Most apps fill a need, measure this, find that, on and on 65,000 times and counting. I decided to make an app aimed at the typical office worker. Everyone holding an iPhone pays about $70 a month. They either have a job or don't have a job which means they want to smack their current boss or the one that fired them. "Hugh DeMann" will be an app where you take out your angst on a fictional character.

The most important part to me is making a game that is fun to play. Word of mouth goes a long way. The free version will display what is possible. $2 bucks gets you twelve levels and 10 weapons. A hamburger costs $5 and it's gone in 5 minutes. If it is good, people will buy it.