Appillionaires: Secrets from Developers Who Struck It Rich on the App Store

Chapter 9: StickWars

Somewhere in the world, 1,000 feet or so beneath the surface of the ocean, you’ll find John Hartzog, creator of the hit iPhone app StickWars. Today, Hartzog is an officer in the U.S. Navy where he is part of a submarine crew. His job involves navigation and managing the sub’s on-board nuclear reactor. Of all the Appillionaires, Hartzog is the only one to have graduated from tinkering with the iPhone handset to controlling atomic hardware. If you thought your eight-core MacPro was a cool development platform, take a look at Hartzog’s nuclear marine propulsion system and weep. His new occupation does make it harder for him to update the StickWars app, though.

“Now I spend a lot of time in a metal tube under the water. The WiFi is horrendous down there; it never ever works,” Hartzog jokes. “Something to do with the several feet of steel between you and everything around you. It kills all reception.”

John Hartzog, submarine officer and creator of StickWars, pictured here with his wife.

SOURCE: Reproduced with permission of John Hartzog © 2011 John E. Hartzog.

Defending the Castle

Hartzog created the smash-hit app StickWars during the brief time between the final days of college and his enrollment in the Navy. It’s a castle-defense game where the aim is to protect your castle as waves of attackers attempt to storm the stronghold. You fling the attackers away with ...