I’m just starting work on a new product for game developers. While there are a lot of game development tools out there, I don’t think any of them are doing it right. Here are some of the best of the bunch (oh, I’m talking about 2D mobile development for the most part – 3D stuff is a whole other kettle of fish (and a kettle I care nothing about)). Stencyl – one of the oddest game development tools I’ve seen because while it’s based around a visually-oriented IDE, the logic of the game is created by dragging little blocks together to form a kind of flow chart....

On May 5th I’ll be teaching a 2-day course for beginners who want to get started in mobile game development. Have you ever wanted to create your own game for iPhone, iPad, or Android? This weekend course will show you exactly how to do that! Get all the details here: Mobile Game Development: Crash Course

Everybody’s heard the best way to make money during a gold rush is to be the guy selling picks and shovels to the miners. Very few people will “strike it rich” but even the guys who lose their shirts need the tools to mine. I want to be a miner in the worst way — I daydream about what will happen when I hit the mother lode. And I know that big strike is right around the corner, so I keep digging and digging. And yet, the money I make continues to be in the sale of tools to other miners. Sure, I come across a nugget or two in my mining (I do use my own tools), but the bulk of the...

Laptops are outselling desktop machines (by a huge margin) and tablets (iPads, specifically) are being used to replace laptops by more and more people. I can see a time within a couple years (yeah, that soon) where the only computer most people will need will be an iPhone. Sidebar: Yeah, someone using Android could pull off what I’m suggesting, but Apple has a proven track record of doing more cool things. Sorry, just a fact. A “home computer” could consist of a monitor and a keyboard — and your iPhone. Sit down in front of the keyboard and connect your iPhone to the monitor...

A few years ago I met my family for lunch after they’d taken off to get me a birthday present. During lunch I was making guesses about what they might have gotten me and my son said, “Well, we didn’t get you a ukulele, that’s for sure.” My wife and I busted out laughing and he didn’t get what he’d just done. He was only about 9 years old, so you have to cut him a little slack — and that’s been the punchline for many family jokes over the years. But birthday presents aren’t the kinds of secrets I’m talking about — you can keep those...