News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Heyzap (YC W09) launches: The forming of Heyzap and some ... by Alex3917 on Thursday February 05, 2009 @07:58AM (#467703)
I had to come up with 111 business ideas for Seth's alternative-mba program this week. The idea was both to make sure we weren't choosing the business we wanted to start just because it was the first good idea we came up with, and also to prove that ideas were worthless because we could come up with a million billion-dollar ideas. There are nine of us, and so that's 999 ideas between us. We are going to take the best of these ideas and publish them all online. Of the 150 or so ideas we publish online, I suspect that 145 or so will be done by someone within the next five years. It's not that uncommon, it's just that everyone tends to think of the same stuff at the same time. That's why hit movies come in pairs.
Re:Heyzap (YC W09) launches: The forming of Heyzap and some ... by nihilocrat on Thursday February 05, 2009 @08:42AM (#467750)
Makes me think of game design:

http://lostgarden.com/2005/08/why-you-should-share-your-game...

Anyone can design a fun game, but there is a huge gap between an idea and a finished product.

Re:Heyzap (YC W09) launches: The forming of Heyzap and some ... by jaxn on Thursday February 05, 2009 @10:04AM (#467914)
You can say that again!

We did a game as part of Startup Weekend and then decided to pursue it after. Hopefully it will go into beta this week, but holy smokes it turned out to be a lot more nuanced than I ever imagined.

Really fun code to write though.

Re:Heyzap (YC W09) launches: The forming of Heyzap and some ... by jacquesm on Thursday February 05, 2009 @11:10AM (#468073)
Game programming is some of the most satisfying code you can write outside of coding up your own operating system.

It's real time, lots of subprocesses that you have to schedule properly to keep the game ticking along at a playable pace, all kinds of interaction between objects and if you're 'lucky' a good bit of math and 3d stuff.

Re:Heyzap (YC W09) launches: The forming of Heyzap and some ... by wallflower on Thursday February 05, 2009 @11:20AM (#468106)
OT: Is a subscription to Gamasutra worth it?
Re:Heyzap (YC W09) launches: The forming of Heyzap and some ... by erik on Thursday February 05, 2009 @11:48AM (#468184)
I have a subscription to Game Developer magazine. It's a typical industry magazine. Very heavy on the advertising and PR, with an occasional high quality article. They sometimes offer free subscriptions, and if you search around you might find a sign-up form. They make their money off advertising, and they seem to be more interested in increasing their readership than collecting subscription fees.
Re:Heyzap (YC W09) launches: The forming of Heyzap and some ... by jjersin on Thursday February 05, 2009 @05:04PM (#468824)
Hit movies come in pairs because the big studios try to leverage each others marketing budgets. You really think that nobody thought of an asteroid movie until Armageddon/Deep Impact?
Re:Heyzap (YC W09) launches: The forming of Heyzap and some ... by comatose_kid on Thursday February 05, 2009 @02:41PM (#468562)
You did that? Cool - I'd be interested in hearing about your experience - please consider blogging about it.
Re:Heyzap (YC W09) launches: The forming of Heyzap and some ... by Alex3917 on Thursday February 05, 2009 @03:17PM (#468604)
It's under NDA, so I can't do a day-by-day blog of everything that gets said. However, I'll certainly write something up toward the end of the experience.

We do have a public group blog though, which you can find here:

http://www.sixmonthmba.com/