Hello my two faithful followers! It is about time that I wrote something in the writing blog. About writing. Duh.
I have been keeping up with the blog, for the most part. I have taken a few days off this year - not many. But when I really had nothing to write, or when I got up too late, or when I got too absorbed in all of my other daily activities, the thing that got skipped was my blog. Part of me writes the blog just because I can. Because it is good writing practice. And as I have mentioned before, writing the blog is like a laxative, it keeps my writing from being less blocked. And that is a good thing.
Writing for the computer application is not the same thing at all. Similar, yet, but not the same. It certainly does require a bit of creativity, but not in the wording - that has to be, by definition, exact. But it still feels like writing. A game has to have a plot. And a through line. And characters, of course. The cool thing about a multimedia game is the addition of graphics and sound!
As I mentioned in my regular post today, I had a few thoughts about one of my writing projects - my self-help book. I am currently planning on this to be an e-book only. Unless I sell lots of them. Which is always possible (but in my life (says he sort of dejectedly) but not very likely. I will keep on plugging along, though...
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Friday, April 13, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Wow, what a bad book
Mr Jordan, if you read this, I am not saying you are a bad person - just that your book - iOS 5 Games Development is not written in a manner that appeals to me personally. That being said, eeeek!
I will work through the book just because I bought it. And then I will try to sell it as quickly as I can before it becomes obsolete.
First off - the very first chapter starts off well enough - baby steps in how to set up a project in xCode. Fine. Assume we know nothing. And then, instead of taking us through the code of how to write the game, the author says "copy these files into your project." Woo hoo! I copied! Now I can feed myself? Not really. I can copy. Heck, I have been a good copier ever since I learned how to copy off of other students back in 1st grade. And though many find mindless typing of text from a book into a file useless, I find it helps me a lot. If I type it all in, it gets into my brain a little. And I can also experiment if I see how things are put together. For instance, he creates buttons in his code - rather than having us use buttons from the library. Well, he lets us build two - the main, meaty buttons, nope - just drag the file in and "lookee what I done!" Sigh. I hope it gets better...Onward to chapter Two.
Not to mention typos galore!
In the current chapter (2), there is a screen shot show two .xib files with a caption saying - your project should look something like this - create groups (he just says that he likes to do it) and then move files around. Sigh. This is a book like Juliet was mentioning - a book where the guy is all inside his own head and does what he does without thinking about it - not realizing that others haven't done this a thousand times...
Wow. I just finished the second chapter. And it is even worse than the first chapter. The man points out things that are obvious and leaves other stuff completely out. For instance, we were supposed to change some files from the first project and incorporate them in the second project. Nowhere was this explicitly pointed out. And it is unclear, often, what code he wants us to write. Finally, he says, run the application and it all should work. Well, it doesn't, because we didn't hook it all up - unless I missed a sentence that said - then do this for all of the other views...
The one good thing about the lack of effort that the author has demonstrated, is that it makes me work hard to try to figure out why things aren't working the way that they ought. At least there are sample files with the finished products in them for me to compare against! Yay! Ok, I just can't be bothered to try and fix the stupid application. I can't find a sentence that sugguests we are supposed to hook up everything. Glarg. On to the next chapter!
Now I am reading chapter five. That is all there is to do with this book - read and look at the examples. The author has not created a hands-on book. Why not give us a sample and have us add something to make it function the way that we want it to? I guess what I am going to have to do is take the example files and play with them to see what changes I can make and where I can break it. And when I break it fix it again. Sigh.
Long and short - this is not a book for doers. If you like reading about code, this book is for you! Want to buy it? Cheap (ish)?
I will work through the book just because I bought it. And then I will try to sell it as quickly as I can before it becomes obsolete.
First off - the very first chapter starts off well enough - baby steps in how to set up a project in xCode. Fine. Assume we know nothing. And then, instead of taking us through the code of how to write the game, the author says "copy these files into your project." Woo hoo! I copied! Now I can feed myself? Not really. I can copy. Heck, I have been a good copier ever since I learned how to copy off of other students back in 1st grade. And though many find mindless typing of text from a book into a file useless, I find it helps me a lot. If I type it all in, it gets into my brain a little. And I can also experiment if I see how things are put together. For instance, he creates buttons in his code - rather than having us use buttons from the library. Well, he lets us build two - the main, meaty buttons, nope - just drag the file in and "lookee what I done!" Sigh. I hope it gets better...Onward to chapter Two.
Not to mention typos galore!
In the current chapter (2), there is a screen shot show two .xib files with a caption saying - your project should look something like this - create groups (he just says that he likes to do it) and then move files around. Sigh. This is a book like Juliet was mentioning - a book where the guy is all inside his own head and does what he does without thinking about it - not realizing that others haven't done this a thousand times...
Wow. I just finished the second chapter. And it is even worse than the first chapter. The man points out things that are obvious and leaves other stuff completely out. For instance, we were supposed to change some files from the first project and incorporate them in the second project. Nowhere was this explicitly pointed out. And it is unclear, often, what code he wants us to write. Finally, he says, run the application and it all should work. Well, it doesn't, because we didn't hook it all up - unless I missed a sentence that said - then do this for all of the other views...
The one good thing about the lack of effort that the author has demonstrated, is that it makes me work hard to try to figure out why things aren't working the way that they ought. At least there are sample files with the finished products in them for me to compare against! Yay! Ok, I just can't be bothered to try and fix the stupid application. I can't find a sentence that sugguests we are supposed to hook up everything. Glarg. On to the next chapter!
Now I am reading chapter five. That is all there is to do with this book - read and look at the examples. The author has not created a hands-on book. Why not give us a sample and have us add something to make it function the way that we want it to? I guess what I am going to have to do is take the example files and play with them to see what changes I can make and where I can break it. And when I break it fix it again. Sigh.
Long and short - this is not a book for doers. If you like reading about code, this book is for you! Want to buy it? Cheap (ish)?
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
I just don't get it...
I am feeling sad and frustrated at the dearth of sales of Diary of a Plate Addict. I really did believe that I could sell 300 copies here in Raleigh. Two days in, and I have sold less than 1/10th of that total. Yup, 28 copies sold in Raleigh. Mostly to my best friends and long time beerknurd acquaintances. Which is understandable. Sure, some of them haven't ponied up the cash and probably won't. Thence begins my confusion. Diary of a Plate Addict is a souvenir book - it is full of pictures and little things that will sneak up on people - like all of the plates in the background, like the flip book, like all of the different glasses that are used as page numbers. Yes, it is expensive. But it is not a cheap book to have printed. It is, almost, a coffee table book. I had even contemplated making it into a coffee table book - hard cover, or at least heavily laminated, with a metal o ring type binding, but I am, now, glad I didn't. People balk at $25 for the book - what would they do if it were $45!
But is it truly price that is keeping people away in droves? I don't think so. Last night there were probably 300 people in the bar in the 4 hours I was there. How many people came up and asked about the book? Not one. Not a single person came up and asked me about it or took a look at it. So they didn't even know how much it cost.
What confuses me most, though, is the servers. Not one server has bought a copy. The ones I have harangued, only a little I hope, have all claimed poverty! Really? Most of the servers take home between $200 and $400 dollars in a night. Many of them have waited on me many many times and I have consistently tipped them decently. I am tempted to say to them (though I haven't) "Hey, sorry, I can't afford to tip you." One server told me about their $1000 debt or something - I basically stopped listening when she said she couldn't afford it. Really? A whole whopping $1000 debt? I laugh in retrospect. Another said she was poor - both of them I saw out drinking the night before. How much did they spend on their night out? $20? $50? $100? More?
Maybe people just don't buy books anymore. Well, that isn't the case according to Amazon! And this isn't a typical book - this is more of a souvenir than a book. True, it is interesting to read if one takes the time to do so. And the pictures are pretty good - even though taken by a bad photographer with an old point and click digital camera. But still...
I hate selling. I really do. It is part of the reason I never went into professional theatre or film - the idea of selling myself over and over and over again just didn't appeal at all. Sadly, selling books is very much like selling myself. And I hate it.
The reason this is in the writing blog is because, as a writer, I really enjoy the process of creating the work. But selling it is just frustrating as all get out! And they are both parts of the package. Glarp.
But is it truly price that is keeping people away in droves? I don't think so. Last night there were probably 300 people in the bar in the 4 hours I was there. How many people came up and asked about the book? Not one. Not a single person came up and asked me about it or took a look at it. So they didn't even know how much it cost.
What confuses me most, though, is the servers. Not one server has bought a copy. The ones I have harangued, only a little I hope, have all claimed poverty! Really? Most of the servers take home between $200 and $400 dollars in a night. Many of them have waited on me many many times and I have consistently tipped them decently. I am tempted to say to them (though I haven't) "Hey, sorry, I can't afford to tip you." One server told me about their $1000 debt or something - I basically stopped listening when she said she couldn't afford it. Really? A whole whopping $1000 debt? I laugh in retrospect. Another said she was poor - both of them I saw out drinking the night before. How much did they spend on their night out? $20? $50? $100? More?
Maybe people just don't buy books anymore. Well, that isn't the case according to Amazon! And this isn't a typical book - this is more of a souvenir than a book. True, it is interesting to read if one takes the time to do so. And the pictures are pretty good - even though taken by a bad photographer with an old point and click digital camera. But still...
I hate selling. I really do. It is part of the reason I never went into professional theatre or film - the idea of selling myself over and over and over again just didn't appeal at all. Sadly, selling books is very much like selling myself. And I hate it.
The reason this is in the writing blog is because, as a writer, I really enjoy the process of creating the work. But selling it is just frustrating as all get out! And they are both parts of the package. Glarp.
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