ServicesMobiles : Why developing this kind of application ? In what consist Tic Tac Toe Ten ?
BM : I created this application in college because I’m a big fan of strategy and puzzle games. I thought that this concept would be something interesting for people both young and old. Until mobile apps came about I really didn’t have another outlet to get my game into the hands of lots of users. So I’m thankful for the creation of things like the Android Market and the App Store.
Tic Tac Toe Ten consists of 10 3x3 grids (1 master grid and 9 small grids embedded into the master grid). The object of the game is to win on these 9 small grids. You can configure the game’s winning condition to be "first to win one grid", "first to win two grids", "first to win three grids", or "first to win three grids in a row". Playing against my killer AI algorithm and being able to change the winning condition is something that I felt would keep the user coming back for more.
ServicesMobiles : In terms of development, submission to Android platform, any tips ?
BM : In comparison to the iPhone development process, coding up Tic Tac Toe Ten for iPhone was pretty much a breeze. It was a lot less expensive and a lot less restrictive than coding for the iPhone platform as well. I was more comfortable with Java than with Objective-C prior to starting mobile development, but once that learning hurdle was crossed, the playing fields leveled out a little. As far as tips are concerned, I’d say check, double check, and then triple check that your app is as bug free as possible before you submit. Apple has a very strict review process to police apps, but Google leaves the responsibility with you for the most part. Make sure what you’re putting out there is a quality product, if it is people will love you and praise you but if it’s not then you’ll damage your reputation and the people might never give you another shot.
ServicesMobiles : Why Android ? How do you see this platform developing ?
BM : It’s easy to see Android catching up with iPhone in terms of mobile market share. I respect Google and the way they make decisions and I believe that this pretty much open Android platform might be able to swallow up Apple’s more closed approach to mobile computing. We’ll have to wait and see but it’s not a big stretch of the imagination to see Google closing ground quickly.
I see the platform developing to integrate Google Apps and services into an ’everything device’ (maybe the Droid or Nexus One . . . who knows ?). Google’s intelligence in the cloud coupled with these devices will ultimately make people’s lives easier because they will have ubiquitous contextual data at their fingertips on a 24/7 basis. So I see Android as a platform that will enable ideas and transactions to happen quicker and hopefully easier and this is all because it’s closer to open source approach than Apple’s way of doing things.
ServicesMobiles : Any figures to give us ? How to make money on Android ?!
BM : I’d like nothing more than to tell you that I’m retiring from my day job because of how successful I’ve been with my apps but it’s just not true . . . yet. Honestly, I’m pretty new to this Android mobile marketing stuff. As far as monetization goes I’m going to try to partner with a couple of brands to have some mobile challenges and competitions that their customers/fans take part in. These types of activities create good publicity for all parties involved and turn into a little money for me hopefully. I learned on iPhone that you don’t really make that much money by serving ads in your app so I’ve decided to make Tic Tac Toe Ten for Android ad free for now.
ServicesMobiles : more on your background ? Any new plans out of iPhone, or android ? Like iPad ?!
BM : My background is a lot like Superman or Batman. By daytime I’m an IT guy and an app developer (Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne) but by night I’m a hip hop artist, a producer, and a gigging musician (Superman, Batman : check out http://www.myspace.com/brandontimothy ). I live in Silicon Valley, CA now but grew up in Chicago, IL not far from where the Obamas used to live prior to the White House. I’m a big fan of sports as well : spectating and playing. I play soccer everyday and basketball occasionally to keep in shape. Ok I think that’s enough for the background . . . I don’t want to bore you too much.
As far as plans for the future, I just released an update today for the iPhone version of Tic Tac Toe Ten and I’ll keep quiet on my iPad plans for now. Don’t want to give away too much info before it’s time. I’ll be having fun for the next couple of months trying to figure out how to make this Tic Tac Toe Ten idea of mine a worldwide phenomenon. Watch out France, watch out Africa, watch out China, watch out everywhere . . . Tic Tac Toe Ten is coming to a computing device near you soon !!!
Brandon Middleton, un developpeur bien sympathique !
Voici une video de l’application, c’est toujours mieux en image !
