The first preview release of Kobold2D (v1.0.0 preview 1) will be available for download on:
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Semi-Public Release
To be able to download the Kobold2D preview version(s) you will have to be signed up to my Kobold2D / Cocos2D Newsletter:
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On the release day I’ll send out an email with download instructions. Those signing up after the initial release date will receive the download instructions in the welcome email.
Why Newsletter-only?
Initially I want to limit the number of users downloading and using Kobold2D preview versions to those who are really looking forward to it. I hope that this will improve chances of you having a good first experience and me receiving better feedback. After all, it’s the first time I’m releasing Kobold2D to the wild and I’m careful not to release it to the masses right away.
The final public version of Kobold2D will not require a signup of any kind. And it’ll be free of course. Depending on the issues reported by previewers the final version should be available around 4-8 weeks later (October).
I’m writing a book for Apress:
I guess someone wanted to be very precise and thorough. 😀
I will blog about the book’s progress here and when it’s published I will add additional materials so readers can continue their journey here. Since this journey is just beginning - I’m submitting the first chapter aptly titled “Introduction” tomorrow - and writing a whole 400 pages book is an entirely new experience to me, I want to let you in on the journey.
Help me help you by providing feedback to the book’s content as I’m writing it!
For the coming weeks, I will announce the current book chapter title and a short description and ask you what you’d like to see in this chapter. I will make these posts every Friday starting tomorrow until the book is complete. In this post you could start by telling me what you’d expect from this book or what you’d like to see in it just given its title? I guess your answer will be “a lot” given the title’s elongated nature. :p
I hope you forgive me if content updates to this website will not be as comprehensive over the coming months, in favor of writing the book and coding sample games. Plus I’m cooking up something special on the side, but all in due time.
Oh, by the way, if you happen to know what kind of fruit that is on the cover I’d like to know. I could just ask my editor but I’d like to see if we can figure it out without the help from Apress. It doesn’t really look like a coconut to me, which would have been fitting given the subject. If you have any ideas what fruit it is, let me know! It sure looks exotic and it’s definetely not a banana nor a lemon. So what is it? The first to post the correct answer in a comment, together with a link to Wikipedia or some other website as proof, gets a copy of the book for free when it’s out (or $40 now)!
And now for something completely different …
As a side note, the Xcode project files from the Xcode Tutorial are now available for download here. I used to ask you to join my Newsletter but I don’t feel too good about hooking you up with my Newsletter using the project as a dangling carrot, so joining the Newsletter will now be a completely voluntary thing. I only send newsletters for substantial updates and important news, at most once or twice per month, so that’s the thing you want if you are already struggling with RSS overflow.
Steffen in bullet points:
- is: a professional game developer since 1999
- wrote: Learn Cocos2D Game Development
- writes: bi-weekly, extensive iDevBlogADay articles
- blogs: about Cocos2D and related matters
- hosts: Cocos2D Central Community
- sells: Line-Drawing Starterkit for Cocos2D and more
- created: Kobold2D, an improved Cocos2D
- is not: an affiliate / representative of Cocos2D
The long story, shortened a bit …
At the beginning, I was merely a Cocos2D developer just starting out with this fine game engine. I started working with Cocos2D in May 2009. Despite many years of game development experience, I struggled many times over - there was so much to learn and specifically for Cocos2D there wasn’t much documentation to go on.
Learn & Master Cocos2D Blog
A year later, I was well aware that besides growing in popularity, the basic issues of getting started with Cocos2D essentially stayed the same. Consequently, beginner’s tutorials got rampant visits from aspiring Cocos2D game developers. So I decided to start this Learn & Master Cocos2D website and blog to help you get started and answer pressing questions while trying to earn a living selling source code products like the Line-Drawing Game Starterkit.
Learn iPhone and iPad Cocos2D Game Development Book
Within hours of going live with this website in early May 2010, I was contacted by Jack Nutting, author of Learn Cocoa on the Mac. He got me in contact with Apress and a short but intense proposal period for a Cocos2D book followed. Then I blogged about the book’s progress every week. What followed were five months of writing and learning more about Cocos2D and writing books than I ever imagined. The book was finally completed and released in December 2010: Learn iPhone and iPad Cocos2D Game Development: The Leading Framework for Building 2D Graphical and Interactive Applications.
Cocos2D Central
During the time I wrote the book, this website had to take a backseat, so I did not grow the tutorials and other content as I had initially planned. With the book finished, I knew I was going to do lots of Q&A and it should be done publicly, so that everyone can benefit from it. The result is the Cocos2D Central forum and community website.
Kobold2D: Cocos2D on Steroids
Another result from my extensive work with Cocos2D is Kobold2D. It is designed to make Cocos2D developers more productive and making it easier to get started. I use it for all of my own work.
Kobold2D originated from the idea to build a consistent framework for all of my Cocos2D projects, instead of inadvertently dispersing the reusable code over multiple projects. If you’re serious with Cocos2D development or just getting started you should really check out Kobold2D.
My Leitmotif
I have always been a nutcracker and firefighter in my previous game industry jobs. I have always been sitting between chairs, as I did not fit a proper, established job description. I’m a jack of many trades, master of some. I program, I design, I write, I market, I sell, I help, I teach, I moderate, I network and I do what I think needs to be done. But most of all, I’ve always been helping other developers - that was always present in every job I did, and when I worked with the right people, those were the best times I ever had. Give me a problem and (most of the time) I’ll want to solve it. I’m happy when I can help others grow and excel. That’s my leitmotif, that’s what I’m doing now for Cocos2D developers.
