Dan Russell-Pinson

Another contribution to the Internet… ;)

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Posted in Development, Humor

One of my contributions to the Internet…

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Posted in Development, Humor

I’m very happy to report that Children’s Technology Review has given Off the Rails its Editor’s Choice designation. They awarded it an overall rating of 94 out of 100.

You can read their full review here:
reviews.childrenstech.com/ctr/review.php?id=18323

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Posted in Games, Off the Rails

Imagine designing a roller coaster while you’re riding it!

After four months of intense work, I’m very happy to announce the release of my 11th app, Off the Rails! Off the Rails is a unique game that lets you build complex roller coasters just by tilting your screen. You can create loops, corkscrews, barrel rolls, jumps and more while earning 75+ different game objectives. If you really love the roller coaster you just made, you can save it and ride it again and again with your choice of 14 different vehicles.

When you’re creating a coaster you see the scene from a 1st person point of view. You control where the roller coaster track moves by tilting your screen forward, back, left and right.

After you’ve saved your roller coaster, you can ride it with your choice of 14 different vehicles. You earn money to purchase the vehicles by collecting green boosters located throughout the scene.

As the name of the game suggests, you can create jumps where your vehicle goes “off the rails”. This feature makes for some really crazy roller coasters!

While you’re creating or riding your roller coaster, there are several cars riding the same track behind you. This can lead to some pretty epic crashes.

The learn section has lots of great information about roller coaster physics including centripetal force, G-forces and other interesting facts. Why are roller coaster loops teardrop shaped instead of circular? Visit the learn section to find out.

FEATURES:
– Create up to 5 player profiles
– Choose from 14 different vehicles
– Complete more than 75 game objectives
– Learn about roller coaster physics
– Save your favorite roller coasters
– Two different roller coaster types
– Intuitive game controls
– 3D physics simulator
– Realistic sound effects

Off the Rails is available for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch in the App Store:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/off-the-rails/id928000230?mt=8&uo=4&at=10l6aE

Off the Rails is also available for Android phones and tablets in the Amazon AppStore:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QPCLNSA

I hope you enjoy Off the Rails and please be sure to tell your friends!

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Posted in Games, Off the Rails

I got a ton a great pictures from the Circa Survive show last night in Charlotte, NC. Unfortunately, Nick and Steve were in almost complete darkness for the entire show, so I didn’t get very many shots of them this time around.

To see all the pictures, visit my Flickr page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/82813377@N00/sets/72157649682947706/

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Posted in Music, Photography

I was lucky enough to see my favorite band, Circa Survive, again last night at Amos’. This was my first chance to hear them play songs from their new record, Descensus, and they did not disappoint. Schema, their first single from the album, sounded particularly great live. One of the highlights for me personally was hearing them play Frozen Creek which I’ve never heard live before.

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Posted in Music, Photography

I just returned home from the 360 iDev Min conference in Greenville, SC.  I had a great time and met some amazing people, but I couldn’t help feeling like  I was the odd man out.  The conference centered around creating iOS apps, which is technically what I do, however it’s become clear that creating iOS “apps” is a completely different endeavor than making iOS games.

Maybe app developers are from Mars and game developers are from Venus?  (It’s a good thing I’m confident in my masculinity.)  Of course, we both share similar experiences such as having to understand Apple’s submission guidelines, creating screen shots, composing our app descriptions and keywords, and promoting our apps.  However, when it comes to the actual “craft” of creating apps vs. games, our worlds are very different.  The best analogy I could think of is that game developers draw pictures on paper and an app developers write math equations.  We might both be using the same pencil and paper, but the creation process and end result are two different things.

Since I’ve switched to Unity for my game development, the disconnect has become even greater.  I no longer use Xcode on a daily basis and, after years of coding in Objective-C, I now spend my days immersed in C#.  Also focusing on multiple platforms, like android, has further pulled me away from my earlier Apple-centric days.  I no longer have as direct a connection with Apple’s technologies and new features as I used to.  It’s safe to assume that I won’t be learning Swift anytime soon.

Just to be clear, I’m certainly not trying to say that one pursuit is better than the other. Creating an outstanding iOS app is a noble craft in its own right.  Developing an app, like Clear or Hours for example, that solves a problem and does so with an elegant design and UI is no easy task and is a beautiful thing to behold.

Of course, I still plan to stay connected with my “bothers and sisters in arms” in the app developer community.  Going forward though, I plan to focus a little more of my limited time and energy on my game developer groups and conferences.

Happy coding!

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Posted in Development