Matt Warren

Author: Matt

  • Creating More Apps

    One of the goals of Halotis is to create and launch a number of robust webservices for Mobile Apps.  However, before we are ready to launch those to the public for use we want to make sure they work at scale and prove that the ideas are useful. To that end we have set an…

  • Launching Stuff

    A friend an I are on an ambitious schedule to release a lot of new games into the App Store this year. Last night I submitted my first game of the year for review to Apple.  It’s the first game I’ve released under the Halotis brand in 7 months.  Invader Crush should be on the…

  • Yeoman for Modern Web Design

    While I’ve been delving into Django and Ruby on Rails for the last few years the world of Node.js has been maturing. The set of command line tools that have developed around the Node.js platform has evolved tremendously.  They have escaped beyond the confines of Node.js Apps. Yeoman brings together an app starting templating engine…

  • Lessons From Flappy Bird’s Success

    Much has been said in recent weeks about the conundrum that is Flappy Bird and how it could have possibly become the #1 Free app on the App Store. First off I think it’s great to see a small independent developer is still able to have some success on the App Store.  It has become…

  • Game Designing

    My current side project is a match 3 game like Candy Crush Saga.  They are super addictive games that work great on mobile because they are so nice and casual to play. Problem is the competition on these types of games is stiff. Differentiating my game from the crowd is difficult. Originality adds a level…

  • Meditation

    Many years ago when I was younger I had a clarity of thought and an ability to focus for a very long time without distraction.  These days it is very difficult to avoid getting distracted. The ability to focus on a singular thing for long enough to really dig into it is a real skill…

  • Meditation For Programmers

    Programmers have one of the most intensive intellectual jobs.  It requires great focus and concentration to write software productively. If you measure the productivity of a programmer you might be surprised at the range. At the bottom there are software developers that actually create negative productivity; every line of code they write is one that…

  • Candy Crush Game Analysis

    Candy Crush Saga from King has been dominating the top grossing charts for a very long time now.  The game mechanic itself is not new or particularly innovative and is of similar type as Bejewelled that was originally released in 2001 – long before the iPhone was invented.  What is it that differentiates CCS from…

  • Creating Feedback Loops

    A feedback loop for success is anything that looks at your past or current state and if you have fallen off the tracks does something to get you back on them. That’s kind of vague. So here are some examples of feedback loops: For a weight lifter – keeping a log of past lifts encourages…

  • Buying Code

    As a developer I have strong opinions about what makes good software and there is a desire to rewrite code that I find from other people so that it is ‘better’. This makes it difficult  to justify purchasing code.  I could just write something similar/better myself.  Yet, buying code is probably the cheapest most effective way…