A slightly different approach to sample apps

Now that I've waded in about ankle-deep, I'm thinking I should approach these sample apps a little differently.  Instead of trying to make a bunch of simple apps that I'm hoping will be related to a future marketable app, I've decided to go ahead and do the "Pick It" work now... well, most of it.

Using the criteria that I laid out in an early post (Guide It, Part 2), I'm going to score as many ideas as I possibly can.  The one addition to my earlier thoughts on this process is that I'm also going to categorize my app ideas - not just the obvious game vs utility, but within games, I'll break down whether they are action, strategy, scrollers, fixed view, physics, etc.  This will help me decide how much I want to invest in any one type of game, and should help keep things straight by putting similiar ideas side-by-side.

Next I'll to choose as many as I can reasonably develop in parallel (probably around a dozen?), and treat them like one cohesive project.  That way, I can compile my unknowns - many of which will apply to multiple apps - and prioritize my specific research.  Also, since many of the projects will use similar objects and methods (data structures and functions), I can have several games in mind when writing them, and do a better job on modularity and portability.

The goal of the sample apps is no longer just to facilitate the Learn It process, but to end up with a suite of short samples, any one of which could be further developed into a solid, marketable application.  This also fits in really well with my idea of sketching and getting feedback before mapping and drawing and commiting to a product.  The downside is that it will be a little bit before I have my first testable sample app for others to check out; the upside is that I should have a nice portfolio of samples done more quickly than I would have otherwise.  And more importantly, I should be well positioned to publish the best of them pretty quickly afterward.

Ok, I better get back to brainstorming and scoring.  More very soon!