Mike Cohen

The Suburbs

by

I couldn’t leave without a post about Arcade Fire’s new album, The Suburbs. I’ve been looking forward to this album all year, and it lived up to my expectations. The album is closer to Funeral than Neon Bible, with most of the songs following a common theme of living in the suburbs. It feels a lot more intimate than their earlier albums, and there are no big, powerful songs like “Wake Up” or “No Cars Go”, although “Month of May” is becoming one of my favorite songs. I’ve listened to the full album at least once a day since it was released, and I really love it.

I’m thrilled that this album reached #1 on Billboard’s album charts, for the first time. Usually I hate most of the top albums on the charts.

An Update

by

I haven’t posted too much recently because I have a lot going on.

I can’t say anything about it, but I started a new job involving iPhone development this week. I have a lot of work and I’ve been pretty much working on that project from the time I get up until I go to sleep. Next week I’ll be in San Francisco to work onsite.

My purchase of the condo in San Leandro was approved last week, but I ran into problems with the financing due to me starting the new job as a contractor. There’s a very real chance I might not be able to move because of that.

With all of this, the next month or so will be very hectic & stressful, so I probably won’t be posting or tweeting very much.

PicSlide Free is ready for sale

by

PicSlide free has been approved and is ready for sale. This version has most features of the paid version except:

  • PicSlide Free uses iAds
  • PicSlide Free doesn’t let you save pictures from Magic Panda.
  • PicSlide Free doesn’t support the iPad.
  • PicSlide Free supports the Retina Display.

links for 2010-08-07

by

Removr 1.0.1 Submitted

by
Removr 1.0.1 has been submitted. It adds 20 new levels and several bug fixes. Among the changes, I’ve slightly adjusted the physics so the balls are a bit more bouncy and there’s less friction, so it’s less likely to stick on certain screens. I’ve also added a slight delay after removing all of the red pieces until most movement stops before displaying the win screen (during which time you can still lose).

I plan to release frequent updates with new levels as we design them.

Game Level Design

by

One thing I learned from writing Removr is that designing level maps is a lot more challenging than writing code. There are tools like debuggers & unit tests to verify code, but the only way to test a game level is by playing it repeatedly.

You can’t verify that a level map is ‘correct’ – it’s largely subjective and involves more art than science. A game level needs to be visually appealing and needs to be challenging enough to maintain interest while still being possible to win.

Future Removr Plans

by

Removr 1.0 was just approved, but we’re not resting. We’re already planning for the first update. Here are some of the things we’re working on now:

  • More levels, of course
  • A Removr community site for sharing levels
  • Loading levels directly from the web instead of using the level editor & syncing
  • Improvements to the level editor for easier sharing.
  • Improvements to the physics – make the balls more bouncy & reduce friction.
  • Various refinements.