Down the rabbit hole

/ 30 June 2011

Things we do every day can be very hard for computers to emulate. I’ve loved the game Sprouts since first encountering it in Macroscope by Piers Anthony. It is a simple game that even small kids can play, yet it allows for endless doodling. The resulting designs are beautiful. I often play it solo. I’ve yearned for an iPad version that captures some of the beauty of the game, but not found one. (Well, I found one, but it is so ugly I had to delete it.) I’ve decided to try to write my own.

Sprouts is about connecting dots with lines. How do you draw lines? In sprouts the lines may not cross. How do you detect that they will? I’ve had to go down the rabbit hole of iOS programming the past couple weeks and I’m loving it. In the process, I’ve learned that StackOverflow is a blessing for anyone getting wet with code. I even had a chance to share a sample app there.

Bottom line, I’m having a blast. But you probably won’t hear much about it here! Maybe someday I’ll be able to point you to the app. Next step: implementing this awesome vector brush in iOS.

Lines

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