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5th Jan 2012
postHello vlambeer, Dutch indie game developers
As we’ve been seen before this is the programmers’ era one of the best examples might be the Indy game scene. A programmer with an computer, the right skills and guts can make a fortune selling his game online. The best example might be Notch with his minecraft. This type of game development wasn’t possible 10 or even 5 years ago. But now it is. And it’s success is undeniable.
Today I want to put a spotlight on Vlambeer. Just today they released super crate box for IOS (only .99$ or € .79). But before you go off and get hooked to that game, let me tell you more about Vlambeer. A read about Vlambeer recently in bright magazine. Vlambeer is a Dutch two-person team founded somewhere in 2010. With the goal of building great arcade games. They have developed games for a wide range of platforms. From pc, mac, flash to iOS. Being a two-men team means they can’t do everything themselves. They are using a pool of freelancers and other companies to help them out. For example super crate box for iOS has been developed by halfbot. The games I’ve seen all use oldskool pixelated graphics. The games are easy to learn but hard to master. Just as an arcade game should be.
Holy shit, Super Crate Box broke into the top 100 paid apps worldwide – without Apple feature or New & Noteworthy (yet?). That means this is all the work of all you amazing people out there supporting us. We’re really thankful for your support & for helping us out! Let’s see how high we can get this thing!
source: http://www.vlambeer.com/2012/01/05/super-crate-box-ios-released/#more-950
I bought the game this morning and I clearly suck at it. The game is hard. But super fun. I will watch Vlambeer closely for the future. Being a game programmer has been a dream of me for several years now. Thank you Vlambeer for demonstrating that it’s still possible to build great games without big budgets but with love for games and great execution. Keep up the good work!
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30th Dec 2011
postintroduction to HackerNews
It must have been something like two years ago. While surfing the Internet I came about this tech news website called hackernews or simply: HN for it’s members. And since that day HN is my start of the day. I’m not an active member of the community when it comes to posting links or comments, but I read the topics and comments almost every day. At first glance HackerNews is just a news site like many others. A really ugly one for that matter. But it powers lie in its simplicity. It is a community where all is focused on quality content. A simple list of “hot” topics. Voted on by the community and sorted with a time weighting algorithm. The true power of HN may be in the comments. The topics discussed on HN are very broad but almost always contain a link to programming or running your own “online” business.
HackerNews has been originally started by Paul Graham (pg) as a way to collect links and share them with the people they founded via ycombinator. It organically grew to the size it has now. Rarely have I seen a community which such openness and people willingly to help other people. On HN I learned a lot from people like Patrick McKenzie (patio11) whose blog and tweets are a goldmine for online marketing, SEO and A/B testing. Also Jacques Mattheij springs to mind. He maintains a blog about startups and tech in general. And the list goes on and on.
But don’t take my word for it: have a look for yourself: HN’ best. Don’t blame me when you get addicted
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27th Dec 2011
postThe programmers era
We can safely call this era the programmers era.
The latest mayor companies where build by programmers. Software is everywhere and is only getting more important. Soon no company can exist anymore without software.
Programming is an unique profession. As a programmer the only thing I need to build something of value is a computer, an internet connection and some time. And on top of that I can easily build upon the work of others. Compare that to the work of carpenters or a bridge builder. As a programmer I can work anywhere, anytime.
This characteristic is at the same time a blessing as a curse. Because I can work anytime I feel guilty when I’m not working. I always have the feeling that I should be building something cool or profitable. The common sense among programmers is that everybody should have a pet project they should be working on. Or help other people at fora like stackoverflow.com. This goes as far as to make having an active github or stackoverflow account a prereqisuite for a job opening.
The blessing is in the possibilities being a programmer provides. Working flexible hours, running pet projects as a lifestyle business. Always a new technology to learn and master. Never a dull moment.
Sometimes I really hate my work. But I never can imagine doing something else. Once a programmer: always a programmer.
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25th Dec 2011
