Zombies & Boomerangs: Production Diary #1

May 4, 2010 in Gaming,Video Games with 10 Comments

As a lifelong gamer with newfound time constraints, I’ve developed quite the affinity for mobile gaming on my iPhone, and most recently, my lovely iPad. Apple fanboy here, guilty as charged.

Gaming on my iPad consists almost exclusively of Flight Control HD, which offers fast paced, path drawing insanity, perfect for amping up those little lulls in the day. If it’s not that it’s Escape which is a very simple, incredibly satisfying puzzler. My iPhone still sees a lot of Plants vs. Zombies action because who doesn’t love tower defense and zombies? Also, Doodle Jump stays in the mix as I’ll never stop chasing that elusive higher score.

A few weeks ago I decided to embark on an epic quest to break into iPhone game development armed with little more than a passion for games. I’ve partnered up with one of Philly’s ever talented developers, Jake O’Brien, combining into a Voltron-of-sorts to one day make a living in the industry we both love so much.

Our first game revolves entirely around doing something geeks love… killing zombies. Just look at games like Left 4 Dead, or Call of Duty’s popular Nazi zombies mode.

Our game is simple, and revolves entirely around killing zombies with a boomerang. I will be periodically sharing our production experiences in making the game, both good and bad, here on Geekadelphia, and hope you enjoy the journey with me.

About Parker: Parker loves video games and has fantastic taste in t-shirts. After spending four years acquiring an extremely expensive piece of paper from the University of Pittsburgh, he moved to Philly and happened upon Indy Hall, a coworking space he now manages. When he's not playing Den Mother he's busy making iPhone games and bludgeoning his coworkers digitally a la Starcraft II or FIFA. You can often find him laughing boisterously and shouting at fellow patrons of National Mechanics in a horrible Scottish accent.

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10 Responses to “Zombies & Boomerangs: Production Diary #1”

  1. Col726 May 4, 2010 at 9:28 am #

    Parker,
    I look forward to hearing about your experience. I myself am a fledgling game developer, and I am currently trying my hand at developing an Android game. It’s not as large of a market, but I can write the code in Java, a language I am much more familiar with than Objective C. Best of luck, and I look forward to hearing what tips you have to offer!

  2. Joe Osborne May 4, 2010 at 10:02 am #

    I’m excited to read about your journey into game development! I’ve never had the guts, so power to you!

    Is this the first piece of concept art for the title? If so, consider me psyched!

  3. Parker May 4, 2010 at 11:03 am #

    Col and Joe,

    I’m glad to hear y’all are excited because Jake and I definitely are!

    Col I will be sharing my experiences in more depth as the weeks go on. You may be even more interested in Jake’s as he’s doing all the development. I’ll see if I can translate some of that greek for you through my Production Diaries.

    Joe this is a step above concept art as it’s been tested on the iPhone for line weight, size, whatnot. I’m glad you like it. I can’t lie, I really love the Knight Zombie.

    Stay tuned gents, plenty more to come!

  4. Mandie May 4, 2010 at 2:42 pm #

    Can’t wait to read about your process, and better yet, kick some zombie ass!!!

  5. Parker May 5, 2010 at 9:32 am #

    Mandie,

    We can’t wait either. Is there a particular kind of Zombie y’all want to see in the game?

  6. Gary Whitney May 11, 2010 at 9:42 pm #

    I too, want to kick some Zombie Butt! I intend on keeping up with your development. You are tapping into a market with huge potential! Good Luck!s

  7. Parker May 12, 2010 at 10:04 am #

    Thanks Gary! Nice…last…name….. Dad?

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