Creating Something...Anything

I wanted to create something.  Something that I could call my own.  I've spent a bit of time in the last year working with some friends and previous co-workers on a little venture we called Redshirt Labs.  We created a small game for the iPhone that has done a very mediocre job so far.  It is a relatively complex number puzzle game that attempts to do a bit of what Sudoku does and a bit of what Kakuro does.  If you're like most people I've tried to explain this to your eyes are probably glossing over right now.  Anyway the game is called Zengaku which I've been told had some meaning in Japanese related to sums.  Something like "sum of sums" or something like that.

I wish this post was about the great success and wealth that the game has brought upon us.  Or the fame and notoriety. But alas it was not to be.  I've often compared our experience in creating Zengaku for the iPhone with a small independent film that the critics love, but no one ever hears about or if they do hear about it...they just aren't that interested.  The reviews we get are generally pretty good but our daily downloads of our free starter version are in the single digits pretty much every day.  

Since we came out with the game we were all laid off from our previous jobs.  We all worked at TVWorks in London.  The office shut down this summer and a few of us still work together at new jobs, but generally we've scattered.  We talked a bit about what it would be like to decide to work on creating apps full time, but I think that at that point we were all a bit disillusioned with the whole idea.  The tepid download pace on the App Store and squandered funds on weak ad campaigns pretty much took the wind out of our sails.  We've since stopped funding advertisements, but development is still ongoing. Unfortunately I'm the only one doing much with it at the moment and I've not got a great passion for the game so it take some real effort to get myself to work on it.  

But I promise to have a significant update out before the end of October.  At least have it submitted.  We had some ideas for Twitter and FB integration I think are interesting.  I've also been adding support for the high resolution display of the iPhone 4 and the larger display of the iPad.  But why do I keep working on this pretty much dead end product?  I must admit that my reasons are pretty selfish.  I have other ideas for apps that I am pretty excited about.  But starting with a blank canvas is a bit daunting.  So I use Zengaku as a bit of a testing ground for some of the things I'd like to do in my other applications.  I want to create an iPad application.  So I'm turning Zengaku into a universal app.  I want to make sure that my word of mouth marketing is better for my next application so I'm experimenting with Twitter and Facebook integration with Zengaku.  Am I wasting my time or is there a method to this madness?  I'll let you know if it all works out.  I'll also send updates on my progress.  I also think I'll share a few of my Johnny Don't stories with you as well.  Hopefully it will help me to learn from them next time as well.

So there you have it.  Zengaku is my one dot oh product.  My first stab at dealing with marketing, sales, finance and legal issues.  Not to mention trying to motivate a group of engineers to care about all those not so technical things too.  It was not easy, but I've come a long way and I think I know what to do better next time.  It wasn't a success by any stretch.  But it was something.  And that's all that really mattered this time. Next time what I create will matter a bit more.  But this time.  It's just a low cost learning experience.

PS.  Someone put up a review in the US recently that told us to fix pinch-to-zoom in iOS 4.  We've got that one done already, we just need to finish some of the other features on our list before we (or I) ship.  One other feature I should mention is that we're going to add a pretty significant number of puzzles to our paid application.  And possibly reduce the cost for a while... you know just to experiment a bit.