I was reminded the other day of "where to start" with an idea regarding game design and conceptualizing out your game. I was remembering a great bit of information on the topic that was instrumental to me at the time I was getting my feet off the ground...

Ian Schreiber, besides being a pretty nice guy in general, shared some pretty deep thoughts and analysis on game design in a very grand 'global' experiment a while ago in which I only partially participated in. I always regretted having to choose the path I did that took me away from it at the time, but revisiting the material has been invaluable over the years.

http://gamedesignconcepts.wordpress.com/

I really like this book co-authored by Ian Schreiber and Brenda Brathwaite (soon after Garner, now Romero):

http://www.amazon.com/Challenges-Game-Designers-Brenda-Brathwaite/dp/158450580X 

It all takes a step back from the computer a bit (and that is a good thing sometimes!), but I haven't found a single thing that didn't translate in some fashion. And the techniques on troubleshooting and verifying mechanic, although laborious, I have found worth it.

There are certainly a lot out there. But these two sources have a common voice by Ian and I like his attitude (and Brathwaite has pretty epic contributions to the industry as well and deserves more than a foot note here, but this about Ian.) Someone who manages a production schedule might go insane, but you end with a quality product given the emphasis on testing and evaluation.

Here is your entry point that is as good as any of the best entry points I have stumbled across in my searches yet.

You are welcome.

Well the news is local if you live in Kitsap County in Washington State, in ye olde United States of America (no to be confused with DC!)

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2013/apr/06/kitsap-creators-of-dwarf-fortress-make-losing/

As a stalker of me you should know I love me some Dwarf Fortress! I envy Bay 12 in many ways. Being able to work on your life's work is pretty darn cool. I always fear that some day something awful requiring a lot of resources from Tarn and Zach Adams will cause them to be pressured to 'sell out'. I don't think I would mind. Actually all they have to do is ask and I bet thousands upon thousands of us would simply open our hearted wallets and help them through the dilemma.

Nuf said on that.

I just upgraded Xcode to v4.6 (yah yah it took me long enough, we have been VERY busy all over the place.) BUT I am not ready to update all my devices to the latest iOS version (6.1 at the time of this entry) I always forget that I need to go get the previous SDK's. By far the easiest method is to simply use xcode to install them.

From the menu choose Xcode->Preferences and the Downloads tab. I just installed everything since we support all the way back to v4.3, actually we have v3.2 support in most of our games. I think that will change this time around. With Apple's mandate to support, among many things, iOS 6 and the new iPhone screen size (to include updates...) we can't update our older titles with adverts for our new stuff... its a 1st world dev problem... The writing was on the wall last year for a lot of this. We really slacked off on updating. I promise you we will get to it! According to analytics this will screw a couple people who play with older devices... Typically less than three in a month... I hope they forgive us! (I am sorry!!! I really am!!! Apple made me do it!  )

For now I wait to test the Doodle Army client against my recent server changes...