iPhone® Game Development

Chapter 4. Building Novelty Apps

In This Chapter

Programming: iFlame

Programming: iDrum

Programming: Bonfire

Analyzing business aspects

The shortest distance between any two points is always a straight line. The shortest distance between you and making your first 99 cents on the App Store is always by making a novelty application. Most iPhone novelty apps tend to be one-trick ponies. For example, you can find applications to allow your iPhone to feature any of the following: strobe light effects, a desk clock, a virtual drink, and much more. And of course, there are the many infamous iPhone farting applications.

We think everyone should try their hand at creating an iPhone novelty application of their own. Even if the application already exists, there is a lot of value in creating an application for yourself. Take a moment to come up with a list of potential iPhone novelty applications of your own. Then compare this list to ours and see if you come up with any more ideas. Great ideas eventually grow up to become great applications.

Here is a list of some of our iPhone novelty application ideas to help get you started thinking of your own:

• Snow Fall. Imagine a snow globe on your iPhone. You could let users create virtual wind on the screen by blowing on the microphone. And you could use the accelerometer to have the snow always float back down.

• Sleep Sound. Have the iPhone play a white noise audio file in a loop. Maybe allow the user to set an alarm after a certain amount of time or for a ...