4 ms·

5-Year-Old Designs an iPhone App (video)

77 points by jeffio 16y ago

guynamedloren 16y ago
What a brilliant kid. I'm only 21 right now, but I look forward to the day I can bring new life (and accordingly hope/intelligence) into this world. Inspiring.
dkokelley 16y ago
You have an adorable (and bright) son. Any plans to develop his game with him? My favorite lines: "I get all the money cause it was my idea" and "It has an apple on the back and that makes me hungry"
- jeffio 16y ago
  Well the game he's got in mind is a Harry Potter game so I wouldn't be able to create it without getting copyright. But he is talking about maybe somebody who made the other iPhone Harry Potter game will see his video and make his game :)
  - corin_ 16y ago
    If that doesn't happen (seems fairly unlikely), could maybe find a non-copyright idea that would interest him as much and work towards making an actual game?
    - dkokelley 16y ago
      He could certainly make a generic 'wizard' game, provided there is enough separation to keep the Harry Potter people from getting upset.
- jeffio 16y ago
  If you want to see another funny video of him, check out http://jeff.io/posts/working-from-home-again http://jeff.io/posts/working-from-home-again.
plusbryan 16y ago
Kids these days have so many awesome tools at their disposal. Thanks for sharing!
corin_ 16y ago
You have an awesome kid. To anyone on HN who developes iPhone apps... please work with him (and his father) to make this, would be amazing.
- dkokelley 16y ago
  The prohibiting factor is the licensing restriction (assuming Harry Potter branding). You would have to create a generic 'wizard' game.
- alanfalcon 16y ago
  His game would work wonderfully. Choose from three spells. Call them Expelliarmus, Immobulus, Stupefy (or whatever). But really it’s rock, paper, scissors. Swipe left to right on your phone to add a jolt of whatever spell is selected. This moves the “center” 10 pixels towards your enemy if you’re using the same spell, 5 pixels if you’re using the weaker spell, 15 pixels if you’re using the stronger spell. Of course, your opponent is moving the “center” the opposite direction at the same time, following the same rules. You can switch between the spells at any time, but time spent switching is time not spent swiping. The idea is to push the “center” of the beam all the way to your opponent, where he takes damage and the center is reset. Take damage three times and you lose. It definitely would work much better with Harry Potter characters and spells, possibly a marketing tie-in to Deathly Hallows part 2. Add sparks and glows and all manner of cool sound effects and special effects. Include sound bytes from the characters battling. Make one kid ridiculously happy.
  - jeffio 16y ago
    I just read this outloud to Anim and he says he wants to be able to "pick all the spells in Harry Potter". I think the rock-paper-scissors gameplay would be pretty smart. I'll see if I can convince him :) Oh, he just said that you could have the game for free because of your good ideas. Thanks for your really detailed reply — and everybody else's too! Now I'm thinking I'll have to build this for him. My wife's going to shake her head if I tell her that I just added another sideproject to my list of sideprojects.
PhatBaja 16y ago
Wrap it up
corin_ 16y ago
Completely off-topic: where does the name 'Anim' come from?
- jeffio 16y ago
  Anim comes from an Ojibway (Native American) word meaning thunderbird. We pronounce it "ah-neem".
netcan 16y ago
You have a very bright kid, cute too. I was especially impressed that he represented the characters as dots instead of trying to draw them, because it was obvious what they do. The "squares," he drew out more completely because he didn't know what to call them and drawing it was the best way to explain it (dad understood).
Samuel_Michon 16y ago
"Win or not-win" is a great attitude towards multi-player gaming. 'Not-winning' not only sounds better than 'losing', it goes to the core of what imho matters most in gameplay: social interaction, not competition.
orlandop 16y ago
I'm really impressed with the way he imagined the UI, and his way of using dots and the life gauges. You must be a really proud dad, as you definitely seem to be.
dmix 16y ago
My UI sketching workflow have been srsly lacking in sound effects.
jeffio 16y ago
Update: Some people have asked if I've done any apps with Anim yet and yes we have! I should have linked it in the original post but anyways, the app is called "DJ Baby", we created it last year. It's an iPhone app (http://bit.ly/djbabyitunes http://bit.ly/djbabyitunes) but we also have a free flash version here: http://www.cometcoast.com/djbaby http://www.cometcoast.com/djbaby.

77 points by jeffio 16y ago

What a brilliant kid. I'm only 21 right now, but I look forward to the day I can bring new life (and accordingly hope/intelligence) into this world. Inspiring.

dkokelley 16y ago

You have an adorable (and bright) son. Any plans to develop his game with him? My favorite lines: "I get all the money cause it was my idea" and "It has an apple on the back and that makes me hungry"

jeffio 16y ago
Well the game he's got in mind is a Harry Potter game so I wouldn't be able to create it without getting copyright. But he is talking about maybe somebody who made the other iPhone Harry Potter game will see his video and make his game :)
- corin_ 16y ago
  If that doesn't happen (seems fairly unlikely), could maybe find a non-copyright idea that would interest him as much and work towards making an actual game?
  - dkokelley 16y ago
    He could certainly make a generic 'wizard' game, provided there is enough separation to keep the Harry Potter people from getting upset.
jeffio 16y ago
If you want to see another funny video of him, check out http://jeff.io/posts/working-from-home-again http://jeff.io/posts/working-from-home-again.

plusbryan 16y ago

Kids these days have so many awesome tools at their disposal. Thanks for sharing!

corin_ 16y ago

You have an awesome kid. To anyone on HN who developes iPhone apps... please work with him (and his father) to make this, would be amazing.

dkokelley 16y ago
The prohibiting factor is the licensing restriction (assuming Harry Potter branding). You would have to create a generic 'wizard' game.
alanfalcon 16y ago
His game would work wonderfully. Choose from three spells. Call them Expelliarmus, Immobulus, Stupefy (or whatever). But really it’s rock, paper, scissors. Swipe left to right on your phone to add a jolt of whatever spell is selected. This moves the “center” 10 pixels towards your enemy if you’re using the same spell, 5 pixels if you’re using the weaker spell, 15 pixels if you’re using the stronger spell. Of course, your opponent is moving the “center” the opposite direction at the same time, following the same rules. You can switch between the spells at any time, but time spent switching is time not spent swiping. The idea is to push the “center” of the beam all the way to your opponent, where he takes damage and the center is reset. Take damage three times and you lose. It definitely would work much better with Harry Potter characters and spells, possibly a marketing tie-in to Deathly Hallows part 2. Add sparks and glows and all manner of cool sound effects and special effects. Include sound bytes from the characters battling. Make one kid ridiculously happy.
- jeffio 16y ago
  I just read this outloud to Anim and he says he wants to be able to "pick all the spells in Harry Potter". I think the rock-paper-scissors gameplay would be pretty smart. I'll see if I can convince him :) Oh, he just said that you could have the game for free because of your good ideas. Thanks for your really detailed reply — and everybody else's too! Now I'm thinking I'll have to build this for him. My wife's going to shake her head if I tell her that I just added another sideproject to my list of sideprojects.

PhatBaja 16y ago

Wrap it up

corin_ 16y ago

Completely off-topic: where does the name 'Anim' come from?

jeffio 16y ago
Anim comes from an Ojibway (Native American) word meaning thunderbird. We pronounce it "ah-neem".

netcan 16y ago

You have a very bright kid, cute too. I was especially impressed that he represented the characters as dots instead of trying to draw them, because it was obvious what they do. The "squares," he drew out more completely because he didn't know what to call them and drawing it was the best way to explain it (dad understood).

Samuel_Michon 16y ago

"Win or not-win" is a great attitude towards multi-player gaming. 'Not-winning' not only sounds better than 'losing', it goes to the core of what imho matters most in gameplay: social interaction, not competition.

orlandop 16y ago

I'm really impressed with the way he imagined the UI, and his way of using dots and the life gauges. You must be a really proud dad, as you definitely seem to be.

dmix 16y ago

My UI sketching workflow have been srsly lacking in sound effects.

jeffio 16y ago

Update: Some people have asked if I've done any apps with Anim yet and yes we have! I should have linked it in the original post but anyways, the app is called "DJ Baby", we created it last year. It's an iPhone app (http://bit.ly/djbabyitunes http://bit.ly/djbabyitunes) but we also have a free flash version here: http://www.cometcoast.com/djbaby http://www.cometcoast.com/djbaby.