My name is Alan Taylor and I am the developer behind the new WebOS game Orcrest, which I have been working on for two and a half years. The game should really be Orcrest II as it follows from a game I wrote for Acorn’s BBC Model B which was published in 1985. It started from a drawing I did of a purple egg to which I added eyes and feet and later animated in BBC Basic. After a number of sleepless nights I had the re-written it in assembler and a 50 level platform game was born. The game was published just as I started university, studying applied Physics. I started work on Orcrest II four years later. This was on the Atari ST and was much more ambitious than the original. The key challenge was to develop an 8-way parallax scrolling platform game with intelligent baddies and a puzzle solving element. I managed to complete the character design and a scrolling proof-of-concept but the development was abandoned due to performance issues, which I couldn’t solve, and me joining a band as a drummer. The band years ended all thoughts of re-starting Orcrest II and it wasn’t until I saw ‘The Social Network’ film, that my desire for development returned. I was inspired and started thinking about returning to the game.
Calling East Coast (USA) Enyo Developers
As you may (or may not) know, MoDev East is happening this week on the 12th and 13th of December at the Gannett Conference Center in Mclean, VA. The Enyo team are also going to be present so this is a good chance to pose any questions you may have, or just to pop in and see them. What’s more, they are giving away a free pass to any interested Enyo developers. All you have to do is to get in touch with them via Twitter @EnyoJS.
webOS Internals founder to OM/PIC “Too little, too late”
When Steve Jobs pulled out the iPhone at Macworld 2007 it was a game changer. Smart phones became what they are today because the iPhone flipped the market on its proverbial lid. Google built a search engine into a billion dollar industry and the web has never been the same because they changed the game. Say what you want about Microsoft but when they licensed their software and NOT hardware it changed the computer market forever. Similarly, mobile computing was in its infancy when Palm and US Robotics came along and released the Palm 1000. The PDA market exploded because Palm changed the game.
Each game-changer was innovative, fresh, and excited people. Palm recaptured that exciting spirit at CES in 2009 with the debut of the Palm Pre. But after HP stopped developing webOS hardware in 2011 it all but killed the innovation of webOS to the mobile world and fans of the platform were left without hope it would ever reach competitive market share. Open webOS was born but that game was so new it didn’t have a rule book. The game was over before it really began or so it seemed. Continue reading webOS Internals founder to OM/PIC “Too little, too late”
Android in a Card (Pre3)
A lot of the buzz this year has been around the Application Compatibility Layer for the Touchpad which enables Android apps to run under webOS. It is hopefully close to official release and there is a possibility that if it is successful, the Pre3 may be its next destination. But until then, let’s say hello to our friends in the Russian Federation – particulary Nikolay Nizov. Would you like Android in a card on your Pre3?
A webOS Christmas Wish List
As a parent, Christmas time means I get to hear my 8 year old oggling over every toy commercial she sees. In fact, that’s usually the first indicator that I have to sit her down with a pencil and a piece of paper to get her to write a letter to Santa Claus. Once the letter is done I can remind her that she already wrote to Santa to make the begging lull…a bit.
But this year I got to thinking…what would I ask Santa for? I mean other than a unicorn and a rocket launcher, of course…here’re my top 3. Continue reading A webOS Christmas Wish List