Wish I Could Say More

I've been spending time with the iPhone 3.0 SDK since it came out. Because of the NDA, I can't say anything specific or technical, but if you've got the hard drive space for an extra set of developer tools, I highly recommend checking it out. Apple's done a phenomenal job with this update. An awful lot of stuff in this release for us developers - really almost more of a developer's release than a user's release, despite the cool stuff for users.

TouchFighter

On both Apple's dev forums and on the iphonedevsdk.com forums there have been several threads lately about the source code to a project called TouchFighter II. TouchFighter II is a game demo that Apple gave out at WWDC and is also, from what I've been told, giving it out at their iPhone tech Talks. It contains a lot of invaluable, reüsable objects that you can drop into your project and use. Although a few of the classes, like Texture2D, are available in other Sample Source projects, much of it is not.

The first thing I'm going to say is: get yourself a copy of this. If you went to WWDC, then go to the attendee site, log in and grab it. If you didn't, and you have an interest in writing iPhone games, then go to one of the Tech Talks that Apple gives. Even if you have to drive a few hours and take a day off of work, go. it would take you more than a day to write the functionality you will get for free from TouchFighter's code.

I have been asked by several people if I could send them a copy of the source code. I wish I could oblige, but the source code was given to us at WWDC under a blanket NDA. That NDA is not the NDA that was recently lifted by Apple, by the way, and is still very much in effect. You MUST get this source code directly from Apple. Do not ask other developers to provide you with a copy, as that puts them in a difficult position. Nobody likes to say no. I don't like to say no. This source code is invaluable, especially if you want to write an iPhone game, and I would love to see more developers able to benefit from it. But legally, I have to say no. If I were to give out the source code, I would risk losing my membership in the iPhone Developer Program. Considering that the iPhone is the basis of most of my income right now, that's not a risk I'm willing to take. Those of you who have asked me for the source code, please understand my situation and why I can't oblige, as much as I wish I could.

If you didn't go to WWDC and can't get to a Tech Talk, then open an enhancement request or call ADC to let them know you want them to make the TouchFighter II source code available in the iPhone Dev Center. If there is another way to get the source code besides the two I have mentioned, those are the people who can tell you.

Holy %@#$!

It looks like Apple finally decided on a course change. This morning, they dropped the NDA. The timing couldn't be much better, as the book is almost ready to go to press. We've got a few comments from the production people to address in a few chapters, and then a final review of the bluelines, and then it's off to the printer.

I'm so happy, I'm practically giddy. Up until just a few days ago, we were hearing from people inside Apple that they didn't think it was likely that the NDA would drop any time soon.

It's like Christmas came early for me.

Smells Funny...

Over at MacRumors.com, Arnold Kim posted that App Store rejections are now being labelled as being "UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE", presumably to stem the negative press that Apple's been getting over their arbitrary and anti-competitive App Store rejections lately.

I hope it's an untrue, unfounded rumor. While I understand Apple wanting to keep some oversight over the App Store, rejecting applications that compete with Apple's offerings is downright skeevy, and nowhere in the rules does it state that you can't compete with Apple, or at least they weren't when Steve Jobs stood up on stage at WWDC, and they weren't when I signed up. It's possible they've updated them now with language to cover these situations.

If all the rumors are true (and I hope they're not), then this move by Apple to place rejection letters under NDA is a move worthy of the RIAA or MPAA... or Microsoft. It's the kind of heavy-handed tactic that makes people hate and resent your company, and there's absolutely nothing in the letter that would constitute a trade secret or patentable claim. It's absurdist, but it will probably work because Apple holds the keys to the kingdom, and anybody who has invested countless hours into writing an iPhone app is not going to risk getting their developer status yanked for breaching the NDA, even if they haven't.

Apple is one of the few large corporations that I don't hate, and I most definitely do not want that to change. I like their products, I like their development tools, and I like the Apple developer community. In the past, it's always felt like Apple has strived to create a balance between their own needs and those of third party developers, but with the iPhone and App Store, it feels much more like they're saying "we're playing with my ball, so I get to make up the rules", only the game we seem to be playing is Calvin-Ball, because the rules seem to change to fit Apple's whim.

All this stuff going on lately with Apple... it worries me. I'm not about to jump ship anytime soon, but I do hope this is a blip that is quickly corrected.

Book's Almost Done

I just finished Chapter 16. I'll give it another read-over in the morning then it will go off to my writing partner for his review, then we'll bat it back and forth a few times until we're both happy with it. There are only two more chapters left, and one of them should be tiny.

The book has ended up being a lot longer than we first envisioned it. Our original concept was a very basic, very beginner-level book. What we ended up writing was almost a soup-to-nuts book that will end up being over 500 pages including front and back matter. The current manuscript is at 470 pages with two chapters left, and that doesn't include the index, TOC, preface.

I'm a little bummed, we ended up cutting a chapter that I would have liked to write. It would have made the book too long and it didn't really belong in a book with "Beginning" in the title, but I thought it was important and kinda wish we had the luxury to include it.

Looks like we missed our deadline by probably ten days. Not bad considering it's over 150 pages longer than our contractual requirement. We probably could have made the deadline, but I think the quality would have suffered, and since the NDA is still in effect, we can't deliver the manuscript anyway, so I think we did the right thing by taking an extra week or two.

I'm actually really, really happy with the book. Dave's a great writer and our tech reviewer is phenomenal, so having the two of them keeping me honest can't help but make me look good.

Man, am I tired. I haven't had a day off in two months, and I haven't had a day shorter than 13 hours in six weeks. Once I send the last chapter to Dave, I'm going to jump for joy, and then sleep for a week.

NDA Article

Ars Techica has a good article today on the whole iPhone NDA. Much more articulate than my earlier rant on the subject, but the gist is the same.