Flashgamer

The last year was full of changes for me professionally. My focus is still games and entertainment, but I'm drifting towards other languages and platforms than I've been using the last few years. I've changed office and I'm also spending lots of time on my new hobbies: electronics and 3D Printing!

Hardware

I started the year by taking two months off from client work so I could learn electronics and microcontrollers. I had heaps of fun and I've gotten far enough that I can solve pretty much any idea I get. From having just a very basic knowledge of electronics, I can now read datasheets, solder and build circuits that solve problems. Thanks to microcontrollers (such as an Arduino) I can get really far with only limited electronics experience. Throughout the year, I wrote 19 blog entries about Arduino and 9 about electronics.

3D Printing and modeling

In April I got myself an Ultimaker. I built it from scratch based on a kit and at the end of the year, I got myself a second 3D Printer - a Printrbot Jr. Throughout the year I've written 9 entries about 3D Printing and I'm sure it'll be at least twice as many in the year to come. I've always known how to model in 3D, but 2012 was the year I learned Rhino. It's very different from other 3D packages, but I absolutely love it! It's incredibly intuitive and easy to learn. Drop by Thingiverse to check out things I've designed this year.

Projects

I've done several great projects this year. My favorite was the Rock City Project where I got to work with my friends in Back on a huge museum installation. On this project I did 6 of 10 interactive installations and lots of hardware integration. If you're travelling in the Namsos area, it's well worth a visit!

Another favorite what the HTML5 game I made for NASA! The screen was 8x12 metres and anyone with a smartphone could open a URL and then play a game on the big screen using their phone as a controller. Unfortunately, the project was only live for a week. Due to that I can't really show it, but hopefully there will be more projects like this in the year to come.

My Arduino Companion app keeps going strong. It's now surpassed 70k installs on iOS and Android and it just keeps growing. I'm also working hard on another AIR-based game at the moment that I know is going to be a success. Hopefully, we'll have it out mid February.

My new office: Bitraf

I've said goodbye to my architect friends for now and moved to Oslo's biggest Hackerspace -> Bitraf. I share my office space with designers, 3D modelers, illustrators, programmers and other geeks. In the evenings, the office transforms into a lively Hackerspace with an even wider mix of people. It's a really great place with lots of nice people and it's something I've dreamt of for many years.

Bitraf works as a "DoOcracy", meaning that those that DO things there gets to decide what happens there. My biggest contribution this far has been the 3DP weekends, but I hope to contribute even more in the year to come. You'll usually find me there every Build-night (Thursdays).

If you're looking for an office in Oslo and you have an interest in code, creativity and making things - check it out. I don't think you can find a better deal on an office for freelancers in Oslo.

Adobe's lack of interest

I've put anything that has to do with Flash on hold until Adobe (or a new owner) take the platform further. I still do Flash & AIR projects, but when Adobe can't bet on it's own platform, then how can I? I'm looking beyond Adobe tools and I'm liking what I see on the Open Source side. The way Adobe has treated developers the last year clearly shows that they're all about graphics, not code. This also means that Flashmagazine.com is on hold until something new happens to the platform.

2012 is also the year when Flash User Group Norway (FUGN) went silent. The group was started 5 years ago by Paulo, Øystein and me. It's been a hotbed of creativity and inspiration over the years. I have gotten lots of good friends through it, but wouldn't you know - just as we were sitting in a meeting we got an email from Adobe saying that the group had been closed down?

Apparently the reason was that we had less then 50 active members. In other words -> if you run an Adobe User group - you better make sure it's in NYC or other big cities. "Small" cities like Oslo are apparently no longer being tolerated. After all - they do support you with free pens and a single software license per year so they can't waste that on good customers. What can I say… Words fail me…

I still do lots of projects based on AIR and I'll continue to do so as long as Adobe keeps the product up to date. It's by far the best cross-platform solution that I know of, but Adobe really isn't doing much to tell the world how great it is. It's sad…

Ages ago since I posted some animation. I totally loved this one! The punchline is indeed very true.

Rock in the Road from SVAD Animation on Vimeo.

In other news - Arduino Companion now has passed 40.000 downloads across iOS and Android.

Update: I feel that I should add to this post that working with node.js and socket.io has sort of changed my mood when it comes to Javascript. I'm having lots of fun doing JS stuff these days and even combining it with Flash and AIR.

Now this is going to sound cocky (sorry) but I need to get it off my chest - the thing I hate about the Flash vs HTML(5)/JS/CSS(3) debacle is that clients now expect you to be able to do everything you could in Flash using HTML. They also expect that everything will magically work well on mobile devices such as iPads and cheap Android phones. This is after all the very promise that Steve Jobs and other cool guys have sold them. The problem is - it’s not like that at all.

It’s really hard work to solve browser incompatibilities and code around lack of capabilities in mobile browsers. I don’t mind hard work but this really bores me - a lot. I hate patching something that really should have worked, but since somebody didn’t agree on how to solve it I’ll get to poke around half a day to look for an answer…? It’s much more fun to create stuff, isn’t it?

I don’t mind that Flash’s role is changing. It was inevitable and I too love to see cutting edge work done in HTML/JS/CSS like this brilliant site by Bret Victor or enfantsterrible by WeFail. I just don’t want to go 5 years back in time to the time before Flash Player 9 and Actionscript 3. I don’t mind Javascript at all, but it feels so totally inappropriate to try and build serious apps with it (like I do with Flash and Flex). I don’t want to work on projects where I constantly have to cut back on creativity just because something just isn’t possible (yet). Flash is a platform that does not limit what I can do, so to me this boils down to either having (what I think is) a boring job or finding something more enjoyable. Work takes up too much of my life for it to be boring…

AS3 is such a mature language and if you read up on the future of Javascript, you’ll find that JS5 will be the “patched but still untyped” version of JS. Future versions after that will become what ECMA 4 tried to be before Microsoft more or less killed the project. Flash’s programming language AS3 is what Javascript will become in the future. It probably won’t be exactly like, but it’ll be close. I think that I will look for other challenges while waiting for javascript to mature where working with it no longer bores me.

Others have taken a different route and gone with the flow to do with JS what they have already done with Flash and Flex. I have no need to do that. There’s so many other things to do than have a boring job. Today, João Saleiro posted a brilliant and thorough article that more or less sums up all of my frustrations with “the future” of web development. It’s lengthy, but it’s really worth it - especially if you come from the HTML/JS side. Most HTML5 “comment trolls” don’t know anything about Flash, Flex or AS3, so they have no clue what they are missing…

Sorry. HTML5/Javascript/CSS3 The hype really bore me and I’m already used to Living in the future. I won’t spend time on learning the fancy “flavor of the month” JS-library that may be dead a couple months from now. Instead, I currently enjoy learning about electronics and microcomputers while coding in C - a language that is older than me and still just as valid. And if I ever “have to” to build something big with Javascript, I’ll certainly use something like Haxe that can remove the pain and add some fun.

Further reading?

HTML5 in way more than 5 paragraphs

The Increasing Cost of Interactive Production

The World of Pain that is HTML5 Video

The open web needs you now

PS: I do a lot of HTML, JS, CSS and have done so ever since I started in this business 15 years ago. I also do PHP and EE CMS on a almost daily basis. I just don’t see the excitement in fighting against technology to make it do what have been done already. If being on the bleeding edge requires daily pain and fighting inadequacies/inconsistencies/incompatibilities, I’ll rather look for things more fun to do?

Found a great read today regarding Twitter and how the amount of followers does not translate into a similar influence. Implementing Social media support into apps is a requirement for most projects I do these days and it’s seen by PMs as one of the most important things to include. Several times lately, I’ve had developer friends tell me how their PMs want sharing implemented over way more important features. Yesterday I was reminded by a good example.

My wife showed me a nifty little iPhone recipe app published by the Norwegian council for fruit and vegetables. This app has the all important support for Facebook and Twitter, but isn’t it way more important to be able to tag a recipe as interesting so you can look it up while at the store? Adding support for saving favorites would be much more valuable to me than telling my friends what I might have for dinner. In the case of my wife - she uses Facebook and she has her second iPhone. However she dislikes pointless updates like “vacuuming my living room” and “having cucumbers for dinner”. Why do PMs think that boring your friends is more important than actually using the app they spent so much money developing?

Is it always worth adding Twitter and Facebook links to everything in place of other features? How about users that don’t use Twitter and Facebook?

Twitter has become an important part of my day, but today it lost a lot of it’s value to me. By changing this ‘tiny’ setting, I no longer see the conversations that my friends have. I only see people twittering for themselves or directly mentioning me. I now get only 1/6th of the messages I used to get.

This is not how I use Twitter. I use Twitter to follow what my colleagues in the community and friends do and chat about. By removing this feature, the value of Twitter is now VERY reduced and I feel like quoting Eivind Ingebrigtsen that tweeted last week: “Assumption is the mother of all fuck ups. If you assume, you’ll make an ASS of U & ME”. By ASSuMing things like this - Twitter could easily kill itself… You’ll find some good commentary on this topic at the Ajax Blog as well.

Incredible. The coating on my MacBook pro is pretty worn (where I hold my hands) but today the Command key broke in two? I sure use it a lot, but since MacBook Pro is a favorite with programmers, shouldn’t the keyboard handle our everyday usage?

Update 1: 15 minutes to wait for Applecare support. Hmm…
Update 2: AppleCare says this is not covered. Suggests calling an authorized service partner
Update 3: Last 40 minutes I have tried both Eplehuset and Humac (the two suggested partners) and none of them answers the phone.
Update 4: Finally got through to Humac. They said I’d have to hand them my machine or they could send a service technician to my house. If that isn’t overkill I really don’t know what is…
Update 5: Eplehuset finally answered the phone and said “sure, no problem. we’ll fix that for you.” They’re officially my Apple Heroes!

“Something is technically wrong” at Twitter, today and most every other day. I once read an article where the author claimed that “it does not matter WHAT technology you use. Worry about that WHEN your product is a success”. I guess Twitter is the continuing proof that this does not hold up?

Maybe he wasn’t all wrong though. IF you have a success AND you’re able to monetize it - you can use those money to fix any remaining technical issues, right? It’s all just a matter of scaling the hardware and you’re good to go? Looks like that if you build your software using Ruby on Rails, you’re bound to be screwed for a long time if you’re successful and refuse to change platform. After all - Twitter isn’t Rocket Science, it’s a server based app with rather limited capabilities that is written in a high level language.

I’m currently reading “Hackers and Painters” where Paul Graham (amongst other things) explore the ideal programming language. Given the condition that you have infinite computing power, high level languages are great according to Graham. The problem is that every level of ease for the programmer has a price. From machine-code, moving upwards through the various programming languages from machine code to C and eventually Lisp - every level of abstraction comes at the cost of slower execution. Twitter is running on Rails and it seems they just don’t have the required hardware.

Or is it just hardware? To scale as much as Twitter needs to, is incredibly hard when it all comes to hardware. Wouldn’t it be great if Ruby had some features that could help this? The developers of Ruby are really certain about themselves. It’s like they have found the Holy grail of computing and have developed the ultimate language that never needs extending. That’s kind of like Paul Grahams basic idea and I wonder if the Ruby devs have read Paul Grahams book? It’s a fun read that’ll provoke and entertain when it comes to nerds, computers and designing programming languages.

PS: I sure hope they fix Twitter soon. I’m really missing it and three months ago I didn’t even use it. Now THAT’s strange!

My new office has a cool mix of people, 3 architects, 2 product designers, 1 web designer and me. The product design guys just got a 3D printer (!) and I just had to try it out using the Flashmagazine logo!

More pictures of the process on Flickr. It’s just insane. With a printer like this, you can make anything!

Gizmondo quotes a new survey that claims that OSX now accounts for 7.31% of all OS’s. For now it looks as MS is still asleep dreaming of Vista. Odd, isn’t it? They really don’t see Apple as competition, do they?

PS: Two years ago, Gartner estimated that by now, Apple should have gained a 2.9% market share…

We’re spending this years holiday at the farm where my wife grew up and today, her brother (the farmer) had to go to a Christmas party in Oslo, several hours away. I thought I’d be nice and give him a hand so he could stay in town a little longer, so I volunteered to take care of his pigs…

Taking care of 420 pigs sure is a different experience than coding all day. Today I’ve been “whacking away” at loads of shit instead of a keyboard - one and a half hours of shoveling shit and spreading sawdust for the pigs to walk / sleep on. When I was only half done, my cap was soaking wet from sweat. I wasn’t exhausted, I just got really warm from shoveling (I guess I should exercise more). So, holidays are a time for doing something different. Farming sure is a lot more physical than what I usually do :D

PS: I’ve now showered for half an hour to get rid of the smell, but I suspect I’ll need another shower to loose it completely…