Micro ISV Digest

A weekly roundup of Micro ISV news, announcements and relevant blog posts. I hope you all have a great New Year.

News and Announcements

• Boris Yankov launched Fusion Desk, a time tracking and project management tool for individuals and small teams. BoS Link.
• Andrey Butov released the first public beta for his Blackberry Spam Filter. BoS Link.
• Sdani released the first public beta of Minalyzer, a data analysis tool. BoS Link.
• Phil launched ServiceGadget, a generic services industry version of his chimney sweep software.
• Liam McLennan launched his ASP.Net Datepicker control. BoS Link.
• Amol Naikwadi launched Getelancer via BoS.
• Venky launched Bugzwagon via BoS.
• Nick Hebb released an Office 2007 compatible version of FlowBreeze.
• I released a new version of Oriador Staff Rota.
• Ian Landsman relaunched his Help Desk Talk blog.

Relevant Blog Posts and Articles

• New Year's Resolution: I will fix my pitch, from Guy Kawasaki.
• Should you offer a hosted and non-hosted version, from OnStartups.
• Some great stuff in Signal vs Noise's Year in Posts: 1 2 3.
• Setting up a paypal test environment, from Sean Winstead. Also, Do Not Read Blogs.
• Paying it forward, from Andrey Butov.

Further (mostly relevant) Reading

• Beyond Thinking Different to Doing Different.
• The Anti-Normy Decision Framework.
• Which Superhero are you?
• The Best Games of 2006, from Jay is Games.

Tags: microisv digest entrepreneurship startups shareware

Temple of Osiris Flash Update

I've uploaded a new version of the Flash Temple of Osiris teaser.

There's no substantial changes to the look + feel or the sound, but I ironed out a couple of bugs from the first version. So far, I'm finding tracking down bugs in games more fun than tracking down bugs in straight software... I wonder how long that will last.

Also, since the game uses a rather large resolution for a Flash game, I've created a smaller more portal friendly 320x240 version too.

Temple of Osiris (Flash 320x240)

Tags: flash games microisv

Micro ISV Digest

Firstly, Merry Chrismas.



Secondly, a very short weekly roundup of Micro ISV news, announcements and relevant blog posts.

News and Announcements

• If you need an excuse to take some time off over the next couple of days, tie up your PC with the Visual Studio 2005 Service pack.

Relevant Blog Posts and Articles

• Lichen as a business strategy, from EfCN.
• Every feature is an opportunity to do something wrong, from Engadget.
• Simplicity ain't so simple, from Tate Needham.
• Marketing Research defined by Gameproducer.

Further (mostly relevant) Reading

• The Mark Twain Guide to Better Blogging, from CopyBlogger.
• Great Battles, via Know HR.
• How to design a logo of letters.

Tags: microisv digest entrepreneurship startups shareware

Temple of Osiris

The first Flash teaser version of Temple of Osiris is now available to play online. Temple of Osiris is the first game I'm working on with Andrey Butov, hopefully the first of many.

This will probably be the last you'll hear from me beforehand, so I hope you all have a Merry Christmas.

Tags: microisv games flash

Micro ISV Digest

A weekly roundup of Micro ISV news, announcements and relevant blog posts.

News and Announcements

• Tim Weiler launched Syncura, a document sharing service. BoS link.
• Jaap released a beta version of Groovy Desk, a desktop search tool. BoS link.
• Can Balioglu released Averina, an anti badware tool. BoS link.
• Neville Franks released a new version of Surfulator.
• I released a new version of Oriador Staff Rota.
• Andrey Butov and I announced a joint game development venture, and he announced that his next product will be a Blackberry spam filter.
• Flash on the desktop? Adobe Apollo, via John Gunning.

Relevant Blog Posts and Articles

• Everyone was still talking about Simplicity: Scott Meade's Simplicity, not Simplistic, Ian Landsman's Simplicity in Software.
• Meanwhile, Joel had moved onto Elegance.
• Elegant solutions combine simplicity and power, on ChangeThis.
• Networking for Introverts, and Avoid becoming the stressed out, overworked entrepreneur, from EfCN.
• Go West, Is the valley better for software startups? from Dharmesh Shah. Also, Why the best products sometimes win.
• Investors are sharks, not lifeguards, from Wil Schroter. Also You can't teach Motivation.
• Time for a new Indie Standard price? Joe Indie.

Further (mostly relevant) Reading

• How to be better at almost everything, from Creating Passionate Users.
• How art can be good, from Paul Graham.
• Brand as mythology, from Seth Godin.
• Understanding Burnout, a series on Slow Leadership.
• Developer or Serial Killer, thanks Andrey.

Tags: microisv digest entrepreneurship startups shareware

Teaming up with Antair

Andrey beat me to the announcement, but we're going to be working together on Temple of Osiris and another game idea. It should be an interesting experiment in Micro ISV co-operation.

I've never made any secret of my gaming habit, and I've always liked the idea of working on games, so I'm very excited by the whole venture. I like what Andrey has done so far with the first Temple of Osiris alpha version, and it's going to be a fun project.

We'll be sharing more about the next game project as it takes shape, and reporting on the Micro ISV co-operation experience as it happens. We'll both be continuing to work on our existing non-gaming products independently.

Tags: games microisv

Micro ISV Digest

A weekly roundup of Micro ISV news, announcements and relevant blog posts.

News and Announcements

• JSD launched Color Fitting, a color scheme tool. BoS link.
• Tuyware released Formware, a .Net component for creating irregular shaped forms. BoS link.
• Andrey released the first alpha version of Temple of Osiris.
• Tate Needham releasedof a new version Automise.
• A new version of TurboGears was released.

Relevant Blog Posts and Articles

• Things you shouldn't worry about, from Patrick McKenzie.
• Joel on Simplicity
• The Bits du Jour Experience, from Andrey Butov.
• Beware the usability Stockholm syndrome, from Greg Moreno.
• Selecting a Co-Founder, from Dharmesh. Also, Do Cheapskates make the best early customers?
• Why it's important to test in production, from Stephane Grenier.
• Building a user community, from Creating Passionate Users.
• Cooperation vs Competition article, via BoS.

Further (mostly relevant) Reading

• How not to run a business, from Christopher Hawkins.
• Finding an Artist, from GameProducer.
• Giving it away, via gapingvoid.
• Free Advertising, from Yaro Starak.

Tags: microisv digest entrepreneurship startups shareware

Look away now

I mean it, if you value your productivity, don't read the rest of this post.

If you've got a deadline, or something high priority to do, hit back, close or whatever it takes you to avoid the following information.

Remember Dice Wars? It's a simple browser-based Risk game, I posted about it a couple of months ago.

Today I found KDice (via Kotaku). An excellent online multiplayer version, it's just as easy to pick up and play, but much more compelling than the solo version.



Don't say I didn't warn you.

Tags: flash games

Micro ISV Digest

A weekly roundup of Micro ISV news, announcements and relevant blog posts.

News and Announcements

• Max launched Status Max, a housing loan applications service. BoS link.
• Prashant launched Virtual Ant, an Ant scripting tool for Java developers. BoS link.
• Jack Wang launched HTML Snap, a web site capturing developers tool. BoS link.
• Ezrie announced Mitzvah Notes, a service for parents to post notes to their children's schools. BoS link.
• Nicu released a time tracking app for freelancers, Fanurio Time Tracking. BoS link.
• Patrick Kirk announced his warcraft gold system. BoS link.
• Stucko continues to work on his Auction Listing Creator, feedback via BoS.
• Carmen Ferrara released a beta version of iPresent Presio.
• Stephane released a new version of LandlordMax.
• Google released an API for spreadsheets.

Relevant Blog Posts and Articles

• Solving problems is a bad idea, from John Seiffer.
• Solve big problems by paying attention to small things, from 37signals.
• How to get referrals, from Seth Godin.
• Web 2.0: Hype vs Reality, from Dharmesh. And the response from Jeff Burchell.
• The rules of engagement, from Tara Hunt.
• Value Creation in a Startup, from Andy Monfried
• Business for Geeks: Copyrights, from KC.
• You're already ready, from Wil Schroter.
• New, small software company best practices, from Scott Meade.

Further (mostly relevant) Reading

• Giveaway of the Day (like bits du jour with the ultimate discount) discussed on BoS.
• The Five Essential Elements of an Influential Blog, on CopyBlogger.
• Independent and Casual Game Articles on the Game Programming Wiki.
• When developers design the UI, on Coding Horror.
• Pam's favorite things (Andy Brice made the list), on EfCN.

Tags: microisv digest entrepreneurship startups shareware

Drawing with MS Paint

This video is amazing.... I guess an artist can learn to create something special with any tool.

How to draw in MS Paint (Andrew Chen's blog).

Gaming for attention

I was thinking about this whole situation with our house, and how we might be forced to sell it to make way for developers. At the moment it's kind of in limbo. There doesn't seem to be any firm plans, and there doesn't seem to be great public support for a destructive widespread development. But, I figured if it does happen, maybe a game would be a good way to attract traffic to a website about it...

Presenting early attempt #1: Protect the houses!

The game mechanics are just simple variations on classics (breakthru/missile command), but it seems fairly fun to me so far. I'm still brainstorming, last night I was thinking that the game couldn't really be complete without some kind of water element! Any comments or suggestions?

One of the big things I've noticed about developing games vs. business software is that the tweaking phase takes a much higher percentage of the development time... actually putting a simple game together can be quite a quick process, but then modifying the variables and the structure to turn it into anything even approaching fun takes ages. Also, even basic functional graphics can take up a lot of time. I can tell I'd have no choice but to follow Andrey's lead and work with a dedicated artist if I ever wanted to do this seriously.

Tags: games flash