3 ms·

Show HN: We're siblings in high school taking on SongPop, thoughts on our V1?

37 points by NTJPaulCarole 14y ago

tomasien 14y ago
Make Games With Us is accomplishing their goals much more effectively than I would have thought possible. They're doing God's work.
- NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
  thank you! it took a lot of hard work, but it definitely paid off.
brianchu 14y ago
I think there's real potential to take on SongPop. SongPop's interface needs work, and SongPop doesn't really feel as responsive as a native app, since it kind of isn't - it's Flash compiled to native with Adobe AIR.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
  we had a great experience using xcode with MakeGamesWith.Us rather than non objective-c languages that SongPop used! They are great people to work with and we've learned so much!
chrislloyd 14y ago
It's really fun but… I feel old.
- NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
  don't feel old! we have all sorts of songs from the 60's up until today to take into account all ranges of users.
  - bryanh 14y ago
    I don't think that helped...
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
michaelkscott 14y ago
Cool stuff but how is "in high school" in any way relevant? Is it a new trend on HN for young folks to include their age (or some kind of clue) along with what they've shipped?
- jvrossb 14y ago
  People tend to post about the constraints involved in building their product e.g. boostrapped single founder, weekend project, used xyz new framework, etc... What do you think of the game? :)
  - smokeyj 14y ago
    Which constraint is being a HS student? It's like saying "Hey guys, I have no bills or kids!". My only problem is if these projects start filling up the front page based on merit besides the project itself.
    - vineel 14y ago
      It often means no formal education and less experience.
- Danieru 14y ago
  Of the four times I know this occurred three were related to makegameswithus and the other was prompted by the other three. It is a trend but not a wholly organic one.
- ctide 14y ago
  It's a new trend because then everyone discusses their age, and keeps the app bumped to the top. It's the secret to getting your Show HN seen by lots of people. Otherwise, you end up with 4 votes: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4744508 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4744508 :)
taigeair 14y ago
cool app!
- NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
  thanks for the comment and please tell your friends to download it!
  - taigeair 14y ago
    You're welcome. However, I do have some thoughts. 1. It's not easy to play because it's not multiple choice. Typing is way too hard on iphone. 2. It's hard to continue playing. You need to wait for your opponent and can only play one turn. Maybe try getting the player into the next round automatically with live players or more songs per round. 3. It's not as addictive and sticky as songpop of weak engagement loops. Good first try but I think you might need to change the game a bit. Good luck!
    - taigeair 14y ago
      Also you're trying to send the most obscure songs to your opponent?
      - NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
        thanks for your advice...we'll definitely take it into account as we begin to prototype v2. regarding song choice...we provide both most popular songs and other songs from the same artist that are perhaps less popular. that way, the users can be introduced to new music that they may not have heard before!
steve8918 14y ago
How did you get the license to use all those songs?
- NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
  long story short, we used iTunes as our source of music.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - steve8918 14y ago
    Was it through this process? I'm curious because having access to song previews could make for interesting applications. http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/blog/song-previews.html http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/blog/song-p...
  - jackhlaw 14y ago
    Errr... "5. Song previews can only be used to promote the track. They cannot be used for entertainment independent of that purpose, or as the main focus of an App or web experience." source: http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/blog/song-previews.html http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/blog/song-p...
  - quahada 14y ago
    smart, licensing is the hardest part.
DesaiAshu 14y ago
MakeGamesWithUs co-founder here. Awesome to see the positive feedback for the young devs of our games! We've been encouraging our developers to show off their work to the HN community, in part because the community has been incredibly warm in supporting them, and we thank them for it! As we've all experienced, most of the work we do through school / college goes mostly unnoticed outside of the classroom setting, and we really feel getting feedback from a community like HN will encourage the developers to continue to make awesome products, as well as inspire others who are also around their age. It's often tough for young developers to get excited about what they're building when most people their age and focused on school/sports/girls, and we hope these kinds of posts will show young devs that they aren't alone.
pixelcort 14y ago
The app seems to be making posts to Facebook without me specifically approving each post one at a time.
- NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
  yes, it's due to open graph integration. when you download the game, you have the choice to display that sort of information

37 points by NTJPaulCarole 14y ago

Make Games With Us is accomplishing their goals much more effectively than I would have thought possible. They're doing God's work.

NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
thank you! it took a lot of hard work, but it definitely paid off.

brianchu 14y ago

I think there's real potential to take on SongPop. SongPop's interface needs work, and SongPop doesn't really feel as responsive as a native app, since it kind of isn't - it's Flash compiled to native with Adobe AIR.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
we had a great experience using xcode with MakeGamesWith.Us rather than non objective-c languages that SongPop used! They are great people to work with and we've learned so much!

chrislloyd 14y ago

It's really fun but… I feel old.

NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
don't feel old! we have all sorts of songs from the 60's up until today to take into account all ranges of users.
- bryanh 14y ago
  I don't think that helped...

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

michaelkscott 14y ago

Cool stuff but how is "in high school" in any way relevant? Is it a new trend on HN for young folks to include their age (or some kind of clue) along with what they've shipped?

jvrossb 14y ago
People tend to post about the constraints involved in building their product e.g. boostrapped single founder, weekend project, used xyz new framework, etc... What do you think of the game? :)
- smokeyj 14y ago
  Which constraint is being a HS student? It's like saying "Hey guys, I have no bills or kids!". My only problem is if these projects start filling up the front page based on merit besides the project itself.
  - vineel 14y ago
    It often means no formal education and less experience.
Danieru 14y ago
Of the four times I know this occurred three were related to makegameswithus and the other was prompted by the other three. It is a trend but not a wholly organic one.
ctide 14y ago
It's a new trend because then everyone discusses their age, and keeps the app bumped to the top. It's the secret to getting your Show HN seen by lots of people. Otherwise, you end up with 4 votes: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4744508 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4744508 :)

taigeair 14y ago

cool app!

NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
thanks for the comment and please tell your friends to download it!
- taigeair 14y ago
  You're welcome. However, I do have some thoughts. 1. It's not easy to play because it's not multiple choice. Typing is way too hard on iphone. 2. It's hard to continue playing. You need to wait for your opponent and can only play one turn. Maybe try getting the player into the next round automatically with live players or more songs per round. 3. It's not as addictive and sticky as songpop of weak engagement loops. Good first try but I think you might need to change the game a bit. Good luck!
  - taigeair 14y ago
    Also you're trying to send the most obscure songs to your opponent?
    - NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
      thanks for your advice...we'll definitely take it into account as we begin to prototype v2. regarding song choice...we provide both most popular songs and other songs from the same artist that are perhaps less popular. that way, the users can be introduced to new music that they may not have heard before!

steve8918 14y ago

How did you get the license to use all those songs?

NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
long story short, we used iTunes as our source of music.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- steve8918 14y ago
  Was it through this process? I'm curious because having access to song previews could make for interesting applications. http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/blog/song-previews.html http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/blog/song-p...
- jackhlaw 14y ago
  Errr... "5. Song previews can only be used to promote the track. They cannot be used for entertainment independent of that purpose, or as the main focus of an App or web experience." source: http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/blog/song-previews.html http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/blog/song-p...
- quahada 14y ago
  smart, licensing is the hardest part.

DesaiAshu 14y ago

MakeGamesWithUs co-founder here. Awesome to see the positive feedback for the young devs of our games! We've been encouraging our developers to show off their work to the HN community, in part because the community has been incredibly warm in supporting them, and we thank them for it! As we've all experienced, most of the work we do through school / college goes mostly unnoticed outside of the classroom setting, and we really feel getting feedback from a community like HN will encourage the developers to continue to make awesome products, as well as inspire others who are also around their age. It's often tough for young developers to get excited about what they're building when most people their age and focused on school/sports/girls, and we hope these kinds of posts will show young devs that they aren't alone.

pixelcort 14y ago

The app seems to be making posts to Facebook without me specifically approving each post one at a time.

NTJPaulCarole 14y ago
yes, it's due to open graph integration. when you download the game, you have the choice to display that sort of information